I didn’t find myself caring about any of these characters and thus couldn’t empathize with the way they felt about their situation, and also didn’t like how they handled stuff

I'm not sure if it's because I rarely read books written by men anymore (all the stories I'm interested in and upcoming hot books in my orbit seem to be from women sorrynotsorry!!!) but there were times when I was reading this where I was like, "damn. this is written by a man." [not complimentary] 3.5/Maybe it's the way men describe women in general, particularly in sex scenes or as the receiver of their affections and desire. Maybe it was a purposeful, affected tone because the narrator does have a particular voice and point-of-view. I do think we as readers are supposed to see through his objectives and narration as fallible and cynical.

The premise of this book is fascinating enough, an attempted chronicle of the life of a stranger-turned-acquaintance. Antonio is injured during the assassination of Ricardo, who he really only knows by playing pool with him and the select personal details Ricardo deigns to share with him. His journey to understand the life of this often-mysterious man is less about Ricardo himself and more about Bogotá and Colombia as a whole. With Ricardo as the unformed hero and unknown obsession, the backdrop comes in and out of focus in a smart and interesting way. This book is about memories and narratives, whether national or personal.