In 1964, Stanislavo, a zealous young man devoted to his ideals turns his back on his privilege to join the leftist movement in the jungles of Venezuela. There he meets Emiliana, a nurse and fellow revolutionary. Though their intense connection seems to be love at first sight, their romance is upended by a decision with consequences that will echo down through the generations. Almost forty years later, in a poor barrio of Caracas, María ekes out a precarious existence as a housekeeper, pouring her love into her young son. Her devotion will not be enough, however, to keep them from disaster.
Puyana has said he grew up watching movies and reading comic books, not literary novels. That tracks: His fast-paced novel is full of foreshadowing, cliffhangers and cartoonish thugs. But Puyana entered adulthood as Chávez took power, and this book is really about politics ... Freedom Is a Feast, both a passionate indictment of Chávez and his cronies and a prelude to the present day, is not a hopeless book.
