Summary

From her hotel room, Urania Cabral asks herself why she has returned to the Dominican Republic after 35 years. In third-person narrative, we hear her doubt whether she has come out of sentimentality or to see “the ruin” of her father, Agustín Cabral, who we learn has had a cerebral hemorrhage (4). Interspersed with these thoughts are descriptions of the ocean and the colonial city of Santo Dominigo alongside her memories of the old city, back when it was called Ciudad Trujillo after the dictator.

After a long deliberation, Urania decides to go outside, though she never notes her destination. During her walk, she describes the “explosion of savage life” around her, “immune to the tide of modernization,” contrasting it with the small city she left 35 years ago, its “soul shrinking in terrified reverence for the Chief” (6). Almost every sensation sends her thoughts spiraling into...