Daren
I tried to enjoy this, I wanted to enjoy this and in isolated spots I did, which is why I gave it three stars. For the most part however it was dry and dense and went too far into politics and complexities that didn't hold my interest.
The entire book is frames around 'short walks' for each chapter (pretty much) he ends up on a walk somewhere, and his narrative fans out from that - perhaps the people he meets, the person accompanying him, the history of the location etc. Sometimes more than one string to the chapter.
Supposedly this is Colombia after it evolved from the narcostate, when it is more tourist friendly, when it is on the rise. For all that Feiling finds plenty to be grim about and plenty to wrote about the cocaine trade, even if it is the former cocaine trade! It is largely a series of grim tales and continues to focus on the experiences of the past, not the future as promised. People he meets include former guerilla's, former paramilitaries and loads of other random people with stories to tell. He delves into history - recent and the times of the conquistadors.
I skimmed in parts, the density wore me down, made it hard to immerse in the read. The sidelines he sets off on don't always feel relevant to the narrative (in fact for me the narrative is hard to identify for too much of the book), and it becomes that hard to enjoy combination of dense and disconnected.
Feiling's The Candy Machine
was excellent, but it had focus. It was also dense, but it ploughed a straighter line.
3 stars
I tried to enjoy this, I wanted to enjoy this and in isolated spots I did, which is why I gave it three stars. For the most part however it was dry and dense and went too far into politics and complexities that didn't hold my interest.
The entire book is frames around 'short walks' for each chapter (pretty much) he ends up on a walk somewhere, and his narrative fans out from that - perhaps the people he meets, the person accompanying him, the history of the location etc. Sometimes more than one string to the chapter.
Supposedly this is Colombia after it evolved from the narcostate, when it is more tourist friendly, when it is on the rise. For all that Feiling finds plenty to be grim about and plenty to wrote about the cocaine trade, even if it is the former cocaine trade! It is largely a series of grim tales and continues to focus on the experiences of the past, not the future as promised. People he meets include former guerilla's, former paramilitaries and loads of other random people with stories to tell. He delves into history - recent and the times of the conquistadors.
I skimmed in parts, the density wore me down, made it hard to immerse in the read. The sidelines he sets off on don't always feel relevant to the narrative (in fact for me the narrative is hard to identify for too much of the book), and it becomes that hard to enjoy combination of dense and disconnected.
Feiling's The Candy Machine
was excellent, but it had focus. It was also dense, but it ploughed a straighter line.
3 stars