On a Night of a Thousand Stars

DNF at 25%. The book's not awful, but it's definitely not for me. Half of the story is a low-stakes romance set amidst Argentina's Dirty War. The other half, where a young socialite investigates whether her rich, handsome, urbane father was also a hero during the Dirty War, has even lower stakes. (For a while, I held out hope that we'd learn he had actually done bad things which could at least create the potential for drama, but this did not strike me as that type of book.)

While there are is some good information about Argentine culture and history, much of it is communicated through these info dumps that while often related to what's going on are poorly integrated into the character's voice & journeys.

Also, to be just a little political, but every time the rich male protagonist claims that his family–large land owners who are also “good Catholics”–has a reputation for being “politically neutral,” I cringed. Considering the role of class and religion in Argentina's history this is, at best, tone deaf.

I think the book is trying to balance information about Argentina and its often tragic history with a lightweight romance plot. But its blindspots and blandness made it an experience I felt I had to walk away from.