The Feast of the Goat

A Novel

By: Mario Vargas Llosa, Edith Grossman - translator

Narrated by: Alejandro Vargas-Lugo, Coral Peña, Ian Guerra

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

In The Feast of the Goat, this 'masterpiece of Latin American and world literature, and one of the finest political novels ever written' (Bookforum), Mario Vargas Llosa recounts the end of a regime and the birth of a terrible democracy, giving voice to the historical Trujillo and the victims, both innocent and complicit, drawn into his deadly orbit.

Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of l961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution already underway that will have bloody consequences of its own.

"A fierce, edgy and enthralling book ... Mr. Vargas Llosa has pushed the boundaries of the traditional historical novel, and in doing so has written a book of harrowing power and lasting resonance."--The New York Times

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Critic reviews

<p>“A fierce, edgy and enthralling book...Mr. Vargas Llosa has pushed the boundaries of the traditional historical novel, and in doing so has written a book of harrowing power and lasting resonance.” —<i>The New York Times</i><br><br>“[Vargas Llosa] is one of our greatest and most influential novelists. His new novel confirms his importance. In the world of fiction his continued exploration of the often-perilous intersection of politics and life has enriched 20th century literature...In <i>The Feast of the Goat</i>, Vargas Llosa paints a portrait that is darkly comic, poignant, admirable and horrifying all at once.” —<i>Los Angeles Times</i><br><br>“The book brings readers to the precipice of terror and lets us look into the abyss of cruelty as it poses and answers the question: Why do people not oppose dictators?...He has by his body of work already secured a place as one of the monumental writers of our time.” —<i>The Boston Globe</i><br><br>“With the publication of <i>The Feast of the Goat</i>, Vargas Llosa reassumes his place as one of the world's most important contemporary novelists.” —<i>USA Today</i></p>

Exceptional

Extraordinary - characters, story line, historic summary/insight - truly engaging, educational, an eye-opener not to be missed!

Extremely well written

I’m a descendant of a couple that left during Trujillo’s time. I had been hearing about the horrors all my life but I had no idea how terrible it was. Mario Vargas Llosa writes an powerful story describing to the maximum his personality, the personality of all the horrible men that surrounded him and supported his reign of terror.
Also the voice performance of the actors was amazing. I feel like I watched a well done movie. Great book, great writing and great performance.

justt wow

it was written from different perspectives, all with their own plots. a great read! it makes you sit there and think.

Superb story, excellent, audio performance.

Llosa Is an author of the highest level, and the audio production was extraordinary. I’ve never heard of better audio narration of any book.

Piercing and Profound

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This book is about the Dictator Trujillo and his brutalization of the Dominican Republic from 1930-61. Over 50,000 Dominicans ‘disappeared’ over that time, their bodies fed to the sharks off the coast. People did things to friends and neighbors in the name of loyalty to their Dear Leader, whose appetite was voracious. He promoted ‘Law and Order’ and nationalism while systematically suborning all the machinery of society to his own whims. If nothing else this book will demonstrate the fallacy of following a cult of personality, and just how superficial and ultimately futile it is to try and be a part of that movement. The book won a Nobel prize in literature. The dictator’s story is universal, tragic and common in human history. It will go on if people remain uneducated and idle.