While the writing was quite beautiful for the book, and I immensely enjoyed the magical realism, I did find myself losing the storyline at times and mixing up some of the characters. I really liked the arc of Dona Constanta but then it felt like once she reached the guerilla’s camps and started having an affair her transformation happened then kinda stopped. I really liked Aurelio and his connection with the forest and with his daughter but also his growth kind of seemed to stagnate near the end. The descriptions of the torture camps were quite vivid and I really enjoyed the “fictional” political bureaucracy and the flippant ways in which wars and policies were decided by corrupt politicians. In general I enjoyed the “fictional” country with their blend of different Latin American histories and politics and in that way almost felt like a parable.