First Part of The President

I'm torn about this book so far. On the one hand, its different from Facundo, and that certainly can't be a bad thing, right? On the other hand, the bizarre language (the repetition of made-up syllables) and the theatrical quality to the dialogue makes it seem, well, a bit like a play, at points anyways. And to be honest ive never been one for plays, watching or reading. Which is why, strangely, i actually wish id spent the last few hours reading a more factual book like Facundo, which, while drier and more technical, always left me feeling as though id learned something. For whatever reason thats always been my issue with fiction: it didn't happen. My dad used to avidly read the Ann Rule true crime novels, and when i asked him why, he basically told me that its so much more involving and, well, upsetting, given that it actually happened. Might be why i tend to prefer non-fiction historical type books. Nevertheless, after i got into it a bit more, The President started to get better.

At the beginning, and possibly due to the mood i was in when i started, i found it hard to keep track of exactly what was going on... I imagine the author intended for the scheme to reveal itself as the book went on, and to his credit, after about 100-120 pages it started to become clearer to me, which has since made reading this book much more enjoyable. 

I found the description of the street people at the beginning to be interesting, since for some reason i imagined Latin American dictatorships to have immaculate cities, with the destitute forced out. Im not sure why i made this assumption, knowing as i do little to nothing about the topic, but I suppose it might have something to do with the pomp and circumstance of the military displays that always feature prominently in any (fictional) movie on the subject. 

Once again, Ill digress and just mention a favorite quote... 

I've just spent 15 minutes looking for it and i can't seem to remember where is was. It was something along the lines of someone being "full of wind from the drink"... I need to use my time more wisely i feel... and yes, i have the sense of humor of a 10 year old.