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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"don't let yourself die without knowing the wonder of fucking with love" writes márquez, noble prize winner!
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I first heard about Garbriel García Márquez’ novel Memories of My Melancholy Whores through a series of quotes posted on Once a Loyal Lover, a blog by Jem Magbanua. The sensual words she chose to highlight from Márquez’ 2005 novel piqued my curiosity so much, I literally grabbed the book out of a friend’s hand at a bookstore recently. And I am so glad I did…if for no other reason that a chance to get reacquainted with this author I haven’t read in many years.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is classic Márquez’ — filled with rich juicy details that drip from your fingers as you turn the pages. It is a sad tale of an old man facing the end of his life in the shadow of his solitary existence, punctuated by the absence of love. Heartbreaking and frustrating in many ways, I had great empathy…sympathy?…for the 90-year old protagonist who slowly begins to understand his ability to love—finally.
It was a short tome, and as I turned the last page I found myself aching for just a little more. Thankfully, there are plenty of other Márquez’ novels to choose from—including my favorite Love in the Time of Cholera.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is classic Márquez’ — filled with rich juicy details that drip from your fingers as you turn the pages. It is a sad tale of an old man facing the end of his life in the shadow of his solitary existence, punctuated by the absence of love. Heartbreaking and frustrating in many ways, I had great empathy…sympathy?…for the 90-year old protagonist who slowly begins to understand his ability to love—finally.
It was a short tome, and as I turned the last page I found myself aching for just a little more. Thankfully, there are plenty of other Márquez’ novels to choose from—including my favorite Love in the Time of Cholera.
As always from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this novella contains stunning descriptive language, players who act at once languid and fiery on their balmy equatorial stage, and no shortage of wise and practical meditations on time, age, sex, and love. I enjoyed his writing nearly as much as ever, and found that here, as in his longer works, he captures with precision the small struggles of everyday life in the beautiful web of his fiction.
I'm not as enamored with the plot, though. I wasn't able to fully dive into the story because I kept being drawn back out by my unending discomfort with the protagonist. I had a hard time believing that the young girl he calls Delgadina would be numb to that discomfort to the extent that she could sleep peacefully through their encounters and feel at ease while he treated her body with an unearned intimacy, much less actually develop genuine love for the old man. When Rosa Cabarcas announced at the end of the story that the girl was madly in love with him, I was confused by how little that alleged truth aligned with my own conclusions. Looking forward to reading some analysis of the story to see what I may have missed, but I have a hunch that my desire to keep the old man at arm's length for his cantankerousness and entitlement with regard to women will remain intact.
I'm not as enamored with the plot, though. I wasn't able to fully dive into the story because I kept being drawn back out by my unending discomfort with the protagonist. I had a hard time believing that the young girl he calls Delgadina would be numb to that discomfort to the extent that she could sleep peacefully through their encounters and feel at ease while he treated her body with an unearned intimacy, much less actually develop genuine love for the old man. When Rosa Cabarcas announced at the end of the story that the girl was madly in love with him, I was confused by how little that alleged truth aligned with my own conclusions. Looking forward to reading some analysis of the story to see what I may have missed, but I have a hunch that my desire to keep the old man at arm's length for his cantankerousness and entitlement with regard to women will remain intact.
I went to the library to pick up a couple of books. I stumbled upon Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As soon as I got home, I began to devour the novella. It had the same delicate prose I fell in love with in One Hundred Years of Solitude without the density (or similarly named characters). I was intrigued by the story of a 90 year old philandering man who had escaped the infirmities of his age.
I was not, however, intrigued by the need for the man to bed a virgin. That, I found disturbing. On his 90th birthday, the man calls a brothel and insists that the Madam find him a virgin. She does, and he goes to see the 14 year old girl that night. She's exhausted from working at a button factory all day and is asleep. He is unable to wake her, and instead spends the night in the room with her. This is the launching point for his delusional love story and the fork in the road for me as a reader.
There is no question that Garcia Marquez is a wonderful and talented writer. He weaves stories with such detail and finesse that you are almost coerced into reading more. His writing is seductive, and this novella is no different. However, he creates the character's delusion of love so adeptly (in fact, the girl sleeps through every visit to the brothel. He doesn't even know her name and is forced to make one up) that, as a reader, I have to ask is the author complicit in this love affair. Does he approve of a 90 year old man lusting and longing for a poor 14 year old girl? I finished the book, but it was not a pleasurable read. It was arduous and uncomfortable.
I went to Amazon and read a few reviews of the book. I wanted the opinion of a lay person, not a literary critic. How did they feel when they read the book? Clearly, I was in the minority. People went on and on about how wonderful the book was. How beautifully written. Another feather in the cap of a well-decorated author. Finally, I ran across a few reviews that held similar reservations to mine. I wasn't the only one put off by the blatant male privilege and entitlement and pedophilia. It's not as if these topics have never been explored in books before. It's not that I feel that they shouldn't be explored either. I think the hard part for me is that the behavior is not only condoned by Marquez, but possibly celebrated.
I was not, however, intrigued by the need for the man to bed a virgin. That, I found disturbing. On his 90th birthday, the man calls a brothel and insists that the Madam find him a virgin. She does, and he goes to see the 14 year old girl that night. She's exhausted from working at a button factory all day and is asleep. He is unable to wake her, and instead spends the night in the room with her. This is the launching point for his delusional love story and the fork in the road for me as a reader.
There is no question that Garcia Marquez is a wonderful and talented writer. He weaves stories with such detail and finesse that you are almost coerced into reading more. His writing is seductive, and this novella is no different. However, he creates the character's delusion of love so adeptly (in fact, the girl sleeps through every visit to the brothel. He doesn't even know her name and is forced to make one up) that, as a reader, I have to ask is the author complicit in this love affair. Does he approve of a 90 year old man lusting and longing for a poor 14 year old girl? I finished the book, but it was not a pleasurable read. It was arduous and uncomfortable.
I went to Amazon and read a few reviews of the book. I wanted the opinion of a lay person, not a literary critic. How did they feel when they read the book? Clearly, I was in the minority. People went on and on about how wonderful the book was. How beautifully written. Another feather in the cap of a well-decorated author. Finally, I ran across a few reviews that held similar reservations to mine. I wasn't the only one put off by the blatant male privilege and entitlement and pedophilia. It's not as if these topics have never been explored in books before. It's not that I feel that they shouldn't be explored either. I think the hard part for me is that the behavior is not only condoned by Marquez, but possibly celebrated.
Not what I expected at all. There was something about the flow of the language. Overall I felt sorrow for this lonely old man.