As Maduro’s Venezuela experiences a mass exodus of its intellectual class, Ulises Kan unexpectedly finds himself the beneficiary of a will with certain conditions: he must successfully transform a grand family home into a shelter for dogs in order to inherit a luxurious apartment…

The synopsis might sound a bit bizarre, but it is a rather tricky story to sum up (and review!) without spoilers. It’s a wild ride and probably a bit of a marmite book as a result - I think the best approach is to just willingly lean into the absurdity, as I did. So much happens, particularly in the second half, that I was left reeling, yet I really did enjoy it. Sure, some of what occurs is ridiculous and some of the characters are crackpots, but I didn’t mind because nothing unfolded as I expected and that was actually kind of fun.

There’s an underlying ominous feel as Venezuela’s post-Chávez economic and social crises deepen in the background, affecting daily life in various ways, but especially the resulting refugee crisis and skyrocketing crime. There’s a lot about corruption and also about dogs - not the most standard of theme combinations, but it works. (As a dog person, I’m obviously not biased…) The fact that I never saw anything coming added a mysterious bent to the book. 

I had expected more of a focus on politics - the commentary around the cults of personality that surround both Chávez and Bolívar (and also Bolívar’s dog…) is fascinating, but it’s pretty subtle. That said, given my very surface-level knowledge of Venezuelan politics, there was probably plenty that I didn’t pick up on. That’s not a criticism of the book though, it’s more a case of misplaced expectations - based on the book’s blurb I had thought the political commentary would be far more explicit.

A wild ride of dogs, corruption and the cults of personality surrounding Bolívar and Chávez within a Venezuela in deep crisis, which kept me guessing throughout.