5 "a psychodrama, a melodrama, a crime drama, a fuckin masterpiece" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Amazon Crossing for an e-copy. This was originally published in 2018 in Spanish. The English version was released July 2020. I am providing my honest review.

I am completely blown away and terrified. I have also found a new author to love and admire.

Ms. Restrepo has created a novel of the most extraordinary type....a sociological horror, a feminist manifesto, a critique of machismo and classism. These are all very important things but to do in a brilliantly dark and grotesque literary form is artful and genius.

The Tutti Fruttis are five of Bogota's young male elites. Life on a platter, silver spoons in their mouths and up their asses, with golden cocks and no cares in the world. They take what they want, who they want and want for nothing. They preen and in each other see themselves. This is their story.....

All are self-indulgent, scornful, blase and cruel... They own not only Bogota but the world. Love is just a word and pleasure and hedonism are the norm. They are insatiable.

All are narcissistic kings but one is also a psychopathic sadistic demon lord....

The writing is robust, vigorous, detailed and gorgeous. This book seeps into you like a very fine French skin lotion until you realize the poison that lays within....

Ms. Restrepo you have created something so important and dark here.... Thanx ever so much !

A novel based on a true story are some of my favorite reds. This offering holds true. Set in Bogata Columbia sl7ms makes for a great setting and dramatic feel of the narrative. Great novel, recommended.

not enough Restrepo is translated-she's a powerful writer who lulls you into narrators you'd otherwise not bother with. Here she recreates, perfectly (too perfectly?), the toxic masculinity of privileged male scions of Bogota's upper class. This is based on a real story, a real crime, and Restrepo pulls you straight into it with the creepers, constant nicknames, and ugh, the superiority complex. Femicide is a major issue though Restrepo doesn't quite convey the broader reverberations this crime had on Columbia on the whole

Perhaps it was the translation, but what sounded like a great read, was in fact a difficult read and one that I did not particularly enjoy.

Set in and around Bogota, Columbia, this is a powerful novel based on a true life crime – which makes it even more harrowing. The Tutti Fruttis are a group of 5 old school friends, now in their 30s, linked by drugs, alcohol, women and a sense of shared privilege, who act as selfishly and irresponsibly as they did when younger. Loyalty to each other is paramount – until one of them goes just too far and commits a terrible crime that calls into question their friendship and their past relationship, and puts that loyalty to the ultimate test. It’s a masterful exploration of toxic masculinity, misogyny and the faultlines of social class, and the men’s exploits are both disturbing and deeply troubling even before one of them seems to lose control. A horribly compelling read.

This book is based on the true rape, torture and murder of a poor girl that happened in Bogotá. The author's focus on the structure of how wealth and masculinity allow men to do whatever they want was eye-opening, even though this was fiction, it is based on actual events. I thought this was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

As much as the premise of this one sounded interesting, it just wasn't for me. I didn't click with any of the characters, or dialogue, and I really didn't care after about 1/3rd of the way through, so this one was a DNF for me.

A passionate but brutal novel about a group of privileged Colombian men and their complicity in the crime against a young girl. I immediately sunk into the narrator's oddly-pitched voice and his uneven attempts to understand his role in both life and the greater world. However, the tone of the novel switches abruptly halfway through, and there was a point to this switch - it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Still, the progression was a little bit clumsy and it took me a while to get my bearings again. But it's an otherwise razor-sharp, incisive novel. Deftly translated from the Spanish.

The Divine Boys begins with a kaleidoscope of beautiful words coming at the reader as if from an AK-47. We are quickly introduced to five affluent young men in Bogota Colombia who have been pals since grade school. One boy, Mun'eco, seems to be the leader of the pack, but that is not always a certainty. One thing the guys do is stick together. All of this is told in rapid fashion as the author gives rapid color to her story. It's hard to keep up with. But eventually we get to the point where Mun'eco is accused of kidnapping a seven year old girl. To this point the story has been followed as if chasing the caboose of a bullet train. But now it takes a new turn. An ugly turn.. The girl is soon found, raped and murdered.
To this point The Divine Boys has been hard to follow, but I wanted to, so I kept at it. Once the latest turn of events occurred, I decided that it wasn't worth the effort, and I regretted even beginning the novel.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.