About this title: When Urania Cabal returns home to the Dominican Republic, she is swept up in her memories of the days of Trujillo's dictatorship, when her father was in the midst of it all as secretary of state. She recalls the horrors of the regime, and also the conspiracies and the rumbling of a revolution that would ultimately bring Trujillo down in a wave of violence that has its own repercussions. Mario Vargas Llosa's novel explores a world long gone in which life in the Dominican Republic was undergoing sweeping changes that would bring it into the modern world. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374154769ISBN:0374154767
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374154769ISBN:0374154767
Description: Very Good. 0374154767 Condition: VERY GOOD. (Book may have one or a combination of the following characteristics: former library book, cover wear, name written inside cover, light underlining/highlighting, remainder mark, etc. Overall, the book is in solid shape. This is a blanket description. Please email us if you require a specific, detailed description of the book condition. We will typically respond within one week of your request). read more
"Perhaps this a classic case of being lost in translation, but this portrait of the end of the Trujillo era in the Dominican Republic is surprisingly (and disappointingly) dispassionate for being a description of such a turbulent and horrifying. Almost clinical in its depiction of the events leading up to the assassination of Trujillo and the replacement of his government by one more geared to placate the Yankees, one would expect much more of an author of Llosa's talent and pedigree. Indeed, one is hesitant to call this a novel, for it is much more a history, though Llosa dares to delve into the psyches of the major players, and I suppose this is a novelistic conceit. Still, his readers could have done with considerably more of a novel of these times, perhaps focusing on more easily fictionalized characters not at the center of the history of the times."
"I was intrigued by Vargas Llosa ever since I read about an incident in his life when he punched Gabriel Garcia Marquez square in his eyes because the latter was hitting on the former's then wife. Such a base reaction from a man to avenge a perceived loss of honor can only come from someone with deep passions wherever they lie. I took up this book also because it was a political story set in Trujillo's Dominican Republic and promised to be an expose of the horrors of that regime. I came away with a mixed sense of satisfaction and disappointment. The satisfaction caused by a neat rendition of Trujillo, the thuggery of the regime, and the not too surprising "ditch me at the altar" American foreign policy portrayal. The disappointment caused by a suffocatingly contrived sub plot of a young girl's honor being compromised by her own father to curry favor with a disapproving dictator. As easy as it is to believe that a rapacious dictator like Trujillo could have stopped at nothing perverse, surely it does not merit a central feature of a book that held out a greater promise of speaking to the cultural and political antecedents of what got the Dominican Republic to its unseemly fate in the Trujillo years in the first place?"
"I liked this but not as well as the other Vargas Llosa books I have read.
This is a novelization of the last days of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and the events leading up to his assassination. It focuses on the activities of three parties. One is Trujillo himself and his coterie. Another is the group of assassins. And the third focuses on the daughter of one of Trujillo's advisors who managed to escape to the United States prior to the assassination and is visiting Santo Domingo for the first time since her departure.
An interesting read, gives a lot of insight about what it is like in the inner circle of a Latin American dictatorship. Or at least it felt like insight - I had to keep reminding myself that it was a novel because it seemed so real."
"This is a well written account of characters that were involved with the end of Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. It provides different points of view taken from different points of time in the development of the story. It has graphic depictions of the tortures that were carried out by Trujillo's henchmen which are difficult to read because they are so detailed. Though I don't consider it gratuitous since it is an integral part of the Trujillo story, I still found it difficult to read.
I think what I learned from this that was most disturbing was the degree to which the United States was complicit in keeping this monster in power. It was another instance, like many countries in Central America, where US involvement favored a so-called right wing dictator just because he was opposed to communist principles. As long as he was willing to sustain a "capitalist" economic system (though one that favored only an elite minority of the population), egregious human rights violations were acceptable."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
