Have you ever been told that the correct way to sample a wine is first
take a tiny sip, swirl it in your mouth, let the flavor sweep your palate and
senses and then spit it out. The experience of reading this book, is something
akin to that. You have to read a sentence, let it brew in your head for a while
and then re-read to crystallize the understanding or nuances hidden in the
intricate web of words. So it takes lot of effort and focus to read even 1
page, because its like reading 3 pages in 1. And the effort of reading it
really tires your brain, because we are so used to speed-reading and skimming
page-turners. In this book, even if you miss one para, the rest of it does not
make any sense, though it’s a different thing that 40% of the stuff written in
this book is philosophical and will bounce over your head.
Gabriel Marquez is perhaps one of the most acclaimed, revered and widely
read writer of our time, and this particular book is autobiographical in
nature, where in he describes his journey starting from childhood till he
gained recognition as a writer. The struggles he and his family had to go
through in Columbia and his personal dilemma of choosing a profession
considering all the parameters of family approval, financial viability till the
moment when he proposes to the woman he loves in a very filmy fashion and who
eventually becomes his wife etc. But most importantly, the book elaborates on
the difficult journey and metamorphosis of an immensely talented writer. It is
a tale of people, places and events as they occur to him: family, work,
politics, books and music, his beloved Colombia, and his eternal love for
poetry.
Marquez was one of the earliest proponents and adopters of Magical
realism genre. Magical realism is a style of fiction and literary genre that
paints a realistic view of the modern world while also adding magical elements.
This book was originally published in Spanish and it became a huge bestseller
across the globe, then it was elegantly translated into English by Edith
Grossman.
Marquez begins his narrative with a journey. He is in his early 20s,
living in Barranquilla and scratching out a living as a journalist, when his
mother appears one day out of the blue at a bookstore where he often hangs out.
As the eldest son, he must accompany her to the town of Aracataca to close the
deal on the sale of the family home. The uncomfortable journey via boat and
train is filled with mishaps, and he spends a good part of it convincing his
mother about his decision to drop out of university to become, of all things, a
writer. The house remains unsold, but for Garcia Marquez it proves the catalyst
for this larger journey into the past and that’s how the story unfolds…
The book is not linear. One memory casually slips into another, leading
him to an interesting digression about some other event or character. He often
mentions his family home as a lunatic house with 11 kids and parents and
relatives. And he does give them the credit of providing him with ample content
as a writer.
His father was a homeopathic pharmacist who disappeared for long periods
of time often indulging in illicit affairs, leaving his mother with 11 children
to raise. But Garcia’s memories are anything but bleak, for everyone in his
world at that point of time was relatively poor and struggling. The last 200
pages in the book talk about his journalistic career in Bogota and how he
weathers his country’s political upheavals with the same sense of equilibrium as
he managed his family encumbrances. It is around the time of the popular
uprising of April 9, 1947, that he reconnects with the girl he has known since
childhood who will become his wife. This chapter of the story ends with Garcia
Marquez on a plane headed for a conference in Geneva, and he writes a letter
proposing to the woman he loves mentioning that if doesn’t hear from her within
a couple of days, he will spend the rest of his life in Geneva. Fortunately, he
receives the response immediately and that’s how the story ends in a symbolic
way as he embarks on the part of his life that will eventually make him a
citizen of the world.
