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verytwilly's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This is my third time reading Márquez. Love in the Time of Cholera was the first book I ever had to give up on halfway through. I enjoyed Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Strange Pilgrims lies somewhere in between. I like the elevated literary sensibility, and his stories are intriguing and (mostly) well-constructed. I was definitely engaged throughout each story, but some personal dislike in plots and characterization accounts for my rating of 2.5 overall.
I’d say “Maria dos Prazeres” and “Light is Like Water” are the stories that I enjoyed the most overall. Interesting portrayals of characters and plots that end in compelling ways that make you think. Other stories like “The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow” and “Seventeen Poisoned Englishman” are compelling through the end and then fizzle out with less satisfaction.
My biggest complaint is that there’s just something about the way he handles his subjects that is really unappealing to me. I think overall his characters tend to be not-so-enjoyable. One thing I can concretely identity is the way he writes women. He sometimes writes his female characters as these sort of passive objects that have little to no control over their lives. Things happen to them, men look at them as objects of desire. This is an issue for me with “Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane” and “‘I Only Came to Use the Phone’”. To a smaller extent I see this also in “The Saint” and even “The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow”. I wouldn’t say this is a failure of writing, it’s just a matter of perspective; for me, it does inevitably lead to my lower rating.
I’d say “Maria dos Prazeres” and “Light is Like Water” are the stories that I enjoyed the most overall. Interesting portrayals of characters and plots that end in compelling ways that make you think. Other stories like “The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow” and “Seventeen Poisoned Englishman” are compelling through the end and then fizzle out with less satisfaction.
My biggest complaint is that there’s just something about the way he handles his subjects that is really unappealing to me. I think overall his characters tend to be not-so-enjoyable. One thing I can concretely identity is the way he writes women. He sometimes writes his female characters as these sort of passive objects that have little to no control over their lives. Things happen to them, men look at them as objects of desire. This is an issue for me with “Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane” and “‘I Only Came to Use the Phone’”. To a smaller extent I see this also in “The Saint” and even “The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow”. I wouldn’t say this is a failure of writing, it’s just a matter of perspective; for me, it does inevitably lead to my lower rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Child death, Death, and Sexism
Minor: Rape and Alcohol
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