You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" represents the first major work of Gabriel Garca Marquez. Initially appearing as a serialized true account in the Columbian newspaper El Espectador, the book version saw the first light of the day in the year 1970. This truly represents the birthing of a master story teller, a consummate weaver who sublimates fact and fiction and a spontaneous genius who conflates the surreal with the apparent.
In the year 1955, a Columbian destroyer "Caldas", homeward bound from Mobile, Alabama meets with an untimely natural disaster courtesy an angry and choppy ocean in the Caribbean. Eight crew members were thrown overboard and seven met with an icy feet ending up in the bottom of the sea. Only a kind turn of favour in the form of a miracle and a stupendous display of resoluteness and courage prevented Luis Alejandro Velasco from meeting with a fate akin to that of his unfortunate comrades at sea. Clinging on to a raft, tormented by an angry sun and a bunch of even angrier sharks (not to mention a mood changing huge mass of water), Velasco clings on to life for ten days before fortuitously arriving at a Columbian shoreline.
Marquez describes the ten harrowing, blister inducing days spent by Velasco in the tiny raft with only the ominously circling sharks for unsolicited company. The grandeur of the writing lies in its brutal simplicity. Shorn of overt exhibitions of glorious exaggerations and also bereft of tear inducing allegories, Marquez splendidly sticks to just placing the facts on record. The narrative is crisp and sharp, the context crystal clear and the contours, matter-of-fact. Garcia Marquez never veers away from the experience of Velasco and yet, by being incredibly minimalist, he manages to convey to the reader much more than what a veritable tome alluding to emotions and theatrics, could have conveyed.
Setting out events as they actually occurred in a manner bordering on the lethargic even takes a great amount of talent. For an overpowering tendency is to resort to embellishments, enhancements and gloss overs. Overwhelmed by the sense of the occasion, it is easier or even forgivable, to lapse into a cascade of bombastic literature and imaginary escapades. However this affliction never succeeds in clawing within the veins of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The adornment of his work is an adherence to the basics and a persevering attachment to the fundamentals. It is for the reader to don the mantle of judge, jury and executioner. The author just feeds in the rudimentary materials.
"The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" - Sinks you without even rocking the boat!
In the year 1955, a Columbian destroyer "Caldas", homeward bound from Mobile, Alabama meets with an untimely natural disaster courtesy an angry and choppy ocean in the Caribbean. Eight crew members were thrown overboard and seven met with an icy feet ending up in the bottom of the sea. Only a kind turn of favour in the form of a miracle and a stupendous display of resoluteness and courage prevented Luis Alejandro Velasco from meeting with a fate akin to that of his unfortunate comrades at sea. Clinging on to a raft, tormented by an angry sun and a bunch of even angrier sharks (not to mention a mood changing huge mass of water), Velasco clings on to life for ten days before fortuitously arriving at a Columbian shoreline.
Marquez describes the ten harrowing, blister inducing days spent by Velasco in the tiny raft with only the ominously circling sharks for unsolicited company. The grandeur of the writing lies in its brutal simplicity. Shorn of overt exhibitions of glorious exaggerations and also bereft of tear inducing allegories, Marquez splendidly sticks to just placing the facts on record. The narrative is crisp and sharp, the context crystal clear and the contours, matter-of-fact. Garcia Marquez never veers away from the experience of Velasco and yet, by being incredibly minimalist, he manages to convey to the reader much more than what a veritable tome alluding to emotions and theatrics, could have conveyed.
Setting out events as they actually occurred in a manner bordering on the lethargic even takes a great amount of talent. For an overpowering tendency is to resort to embellishments, enhancements and gloss overs. Overwhelmed by the sense of the occasion, it is easier or even forgivable, to lapse into a cascade of bombastic literature and imaginary escapades. However this affliction never succeeds in clawing within the veins of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The adornment of his work is an adherence to the basics and a persevering attachment to the fundamentals. It is for the reader to don the mantle of judge, jury and executioner. The author just feeds in the rudimentary materials.
"The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" - Sinks you without even rocking the boat!
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ésta es la historia de Luis Alejandro Velasco, un náufrago que sobrevivió diez días en el mar, apenas con unos ocasionales tragos de agua salada y un par de míseros bocados. Escrito por García Márquez cuando, con menos de treinta años, era reportero de planta de El Espectador. La historia se publicó durante catorce días consecutivos, y aunque en un principio el gobierno apoyó el relato, cuando se publicaron verdades incómodas para él tomó represalias, y meses después el periódico fue clausurado.
Está narrado en primera persona y firmado no por el autor literario, sino por aquel que vivió esos diez días en el mar:
"En veinte sesiones de seis horas diarias", dice García Márquez en la introducción del libro, "[...] logramos reconstruir el relato compacto y verídico de sus diez días en el mar. Era tan minucioso y apasionado, que mi único problema literario sería conseguir que el lector lo creyera. No fue sólo por eso, sino también porque nos pareció justo, que acordamos escribirlo en primera persona y firmarlo por él".
En momentos era como si lo que leía no fuera un hecho real, sino un cuento, algo que no le sucedería nadie que pudiera sobrevivir para contarlo. Creo que el libro atrapa tanto que una vez comenzado a leer es casi imposible detenerse; uno quiere saber qué es lo que sucede después de aquellos días en el mar, leer el momento en el que encuentra tierra, cuando llega a ésta o cuando le rescatan.
Está narrado en primera persona y firmado no por el autor literario, sino por aquel que vivió esos diez días en el mar:
"En veinte sesiones de seis horas diarias", dice García Márquez en la introducción del libro, "[...] logramos reconstruir el relato compacto y verídico de sus diez días en el mar. Era tan minucioso y apasionado, que mi único problema literario sería conseguir que el lector lo creyera. No fue sólo por eso, sino también porque nos pareció justo, que acordamos escribirlo en primera persona y firmarlo por él".
En momentos era como si lo que leía no fuera un hecho real, sino un cuento, algo que no le sucedería nadie que pudiera sobrevivir para contarlo. Creo que el libro atrapa tanto que una vez comenzado a leer es casi imposible detenerse; uno quiere saber qué es lo que sucede después de aquellos días en el mar, leer el momento en el que encuentra tierra, cuando llega a ésta o cuando le rescatan.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
WHAT I DIDNT LIKE ABOUT IT
- Márquez's writing style isnt as good as in his other books, I found. Like it's not "magical."
- In Márquez's foreword he himself wrote that he didn't get why this book was published. (which i actually disagree with! because of the reasons below :))
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT
- I liked that it was about fame! This dude eventually becomes famous for having survived so long at sea. The way he becomes famous is different from how one would get famous today, in the age of the internet!
- it's a true story! It's actually based on some interviews Márquez had with the actual shipwrecked sailor!
- it's a very interesting story! It's interesting to follow this sailor dude on his little oddyssey and i found the main character had many interesting reflections on how he waas changing/changed because of what happened!
- it's a classic hero story! The main guy, the sailor I mean, is definitely presented as a hero, which makes for a great story!
all in all a good book, would recommend!
- Márquez's writing style isnt as good as in his other books, I found. Like it's not "magical."
- In Márquez's foreword he himself wrote that he didn't get why this book was published. (which i actually disagree with! because of the reasons below :))
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT
- I liked that it was about fame! This dude eventually becomes famous for having survived so long at sea. The way he becomes famous is different from how one would get famous today, in the age of the internet!
- it's a true story! It's actually based on some interviews Márquez had with the actual shipwrecked sailor!
- it's a very interesting story! It's interesting to follow this sailor dude on his little oddyssey and i found the main character had many interesting reflections on how he waas changing/changed because of what happened!
- it's a classic hero story! The main guy, the sailor I mean, is definitely presented as a hero, which makes for a great story!
all in all a good book, would recommend!