For me, not one of the high points in Marquez work, the poor Erendira attempts to escape her fate as a prostitute in choosing a hapless guy who remindFor me, not one of the high points in Marquez work, the poor Erendira attempts to escape her fate as a prostitute in choosing a hapless guy who reminded me a little of Fabrice from Stendhal's Chartreuse de Parme to help her. The other stories are ok as well. Yes, the writing is great, but the "sold into prostitution and wants out" trope feels a bit worn to me at least in this tale....more
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera: "it was inevitable: The smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited lovGabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera: "it was inevitable: The smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."
I saved my favorite opening phrase for my last. When we realize that cyanide smells like bitter almonds, this phrase opens like a lotus flower revealing an amazing amount of depth, sensuality, and irony. The entire book is going to be about unrequited love as we as told here. The reader's curiosity is also piqued by the questioning of where the smell of cyanide could be coming from. I have always found that this apparently simple phrase was plump with meaning and perfectly suited to the book it introduces - perhaps the most perfect opening line I have ever found....more
Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember thatGabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
This long phrase is so full of life and humor that although I mentioned Márquez yesterday, I couldn't help but mention it again. First off, to start off the novel with a firing squad on the subject of the sentence, time is thrown into a loop which winds and weaves its way through generations of Buendías throughout the novel. The magic of discovering ice is also one of the fine touches that Márquez is so known for: taking the ordinary and turning into something spectacular. The fact that the character and his father are both mentioned here foreshadows the complex and rambling family tree that the reader will get intimately familiar with (and confused by) throughout the book. I read this one in high school (kind of a jab at the anti-Columbian attitude of Cuban Miami by my forward thinking AP English teacher - the best professor or teacher that I ever had) and have probably re-read it about eight or nine times, each being more enjoyable than the last.
I have since read all of Mario Vargas Llosa's work who is probably the most comparable South American writer of the same period and have to say that I was seduced by his writing quite a bit. One Hundred Years still stands out as a monumental piece of literature, and if you enjoy it, I would suggest trying The War at the End of the World by MVL as well....more
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