The Feast of the Goat, Mario Vargas Llosa
The Feast of the Goat, Mario Vargas Llosa
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The Feast of the Goat
A Novel

Author: Mario Vargas Llosa, Edith Grossman

Narrator: Alejandro Vargas-Lugo, Coral Peña, Ian Guerra

Unabridged: 18 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/15/2021


Synopsis

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

About Mario Vargas Llosa

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1936. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.” He also won the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s most distinguished literary honor. His many works of fiction and nonfiction include The Feast of the Goat, In Praise of the Stepmother, and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, all published by FSG. He died in Lima at age 89 in 2025.

About Edith Grossman

Edith Grossman (1936 - 2023) translated the poetry and prose of major Spanish-language and Latin American authors, including Nobel laureates Gabriel García Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, as well as Alvaro Mutis, Mayra Montero, and Miguel de Cervantes.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on April 06, 2022

The Irish Independant did not exaggerate on the back cover when they say this book "makes for page-turning reading that entertains, educates, and horrifies in almost equal parts." The story of the Trujillo regime and the chaos surrounding his assassination is told by Urania, daughter of one of his i......more

Goodreads review by فايز غازي on November 21, 2023

- "حفلة التيس" رواية تاريخية، تدور أحداثها على أرض جمهورية الدومينيكان في الأسبوع الأخير للدكتاتور رافييل تروخيو قبيل اغتياله. - معظم الشخصيات كانوا شخصيات فعلية يحيطون بالدكتاتور ويشكلون حكومته وعائلته، واذا كان يوسا قد بحث ودرس جيداً عن أفعالهم لكنه أبدع في تخيّل نفسية كل واحد منهم، أهوائهم، ضعفهم،......more

Goodreads review by Ahmad on August 07, 2021

La Fiesta del Chivo = The Feast of The Goat, Mario Vargos Llosa The Feast of the Goat is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and its aftermath, fr......more

Goodreads review by Jim on March 22, 2022

[Edited and pictures added 3/22/22] A political and historical novel about Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. This novel is a factually correct version of the events focused around his assassination in 1961 when Trujillo was 70 years old. We see the life of this man w......more

Goodreads review by Dr. Appu on April 14, 2025

Have you ever had the feeling of not being able to do anything the day you finish reading a novel? Mario Vargas Llosa is an author who will give you that experience when we read his works. His masterpieces, such as “The Time of the Hero” and “Conversation in The Cathedral,” will make you contemplate......more


Quotes

“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

“[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 The Feast of the Goat, Vargas Llosa paints a portrait that is darkly comic, poignant, admirable and horrifying all at once.” —Los Angeles Times

“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.” —The Boston Globe

“With the publication of The Feast of the Goat, Vargas Llosa reassumes his place as one of the world's most important contemporary novelists.” —USA Today


Awards

  • Nobel Prize in Literature
  • PEN Literary Award - Finalist