I'm not sure if it's the hallmark of South American authors, but this book, the atmosphere created, the writing style all reminded me of [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/610TvZHmkfL._SL75_.jpg|3295655]. It is a very intense story, maybe even more because it is based on real events, but the way [a:Mario Vargas Llosa|22515|Mario Vargas Llosa|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1264454700p2/22515.jpg] filled the historical skeleton out with hundreds of little stories, it's just remarkable.

The way the timeline is presented is quite unusual for books, because it's not an easy one to do such non-linear storytelling. It is more the realm of movies, but this book puts most movies to shame in that sense. The way the thoughts of those different sides, the different people are described just makes it impossible to pass a simple judgement, which makes it even more worthy for me, since it makes people really think and decide for themselves, keep the debate open about what's important.

It's indeed a story of misunderstanding. Not a single person have seen the events the way they were happening, though couldn't do that because their lack of information and often overwhelming preconceptions. Which just begs the question - how many stories, people, events do I misunderstand around me? Most certainly I should be more curious about figuring out the truth.

A heavy book indeed. But it was worth it.