Neuman skillfully explains just how insane ... Neuman homes in on the latter — the nationwide electricity blackouts of 2019 — as an effective narrative means of introducing us to ordinary Venezuelans and what the great disintegration reduced them to.
Journalist Neuman presents a jaunty, intimate look at the recent (and ongoing) implosion of Venezuelan society that emphasizes the perils of the petrostate and the human cost of endemic corruption.
... a searing indictment of the Venezuelan petro-state ... Neuman denounces Chávez and Maduro but gives the conservative opposition and U.S. foreign policy their fair share of criticism as well. Neuman, who lived in Caracas for years, writes lyrically and uses in-depth interviews and reflections to put individual faces to Venezuela’s dissolving bonds of fellowship. However, his ham-fisted metaphors and patronizing comments sometimes detract from the book’s geopolitical insights and heartfelt laments ... A riveting personal exploration of Venezuela’s slow-moving collapse.
