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thestoryprofessor 's review for:
Memories Of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel García Márquez
I have to set aside the subject matter, plot, and characters for this one, or else I’d give a solid one star. I detested this book, the unnamed narrator, and the plot. Its exploration of age and sexuality was too much for me given that pedophilia is completely ignored. I did not like it.
However, when I write reviews, I choose to focus on the storytelling elements being used in the story. As much as I disliked this story, Marquez’s writing is beautiful, haunting, and so well-executed. The structure is straightforward and chronological, the plot is basic, and the prose character-driven. What stands out is how Marquez characterizes the unnamed narrator.
Marquez does this in two ways very effectively. The first is how he uses the prose and first person perspective to show us the narrator’s decline into obsession. As the story progresses, the prose becomes more energetic and obsessive, reflecting the narrator’s state of mind. The second means of characterizing is by including details about the narrator’s past and current life that the narrator ignores, looks over, or only briefly lingers but have a deep impact on how we see him and his life.
The depressing nature of this book lies not only in the wasted, pointless life that the narrator has led but also in how he doesn’t recognize the opportunities that could have made it better. His obsessive nature over “Delgadina” shows us how his other extreme made him miss out on a relationship with Damiana, pursue a more advanced writing career, or even learn to take care of the cat properly. The tragedy of this story is found in the narrator’s too-late appreciation of life and the graven relics of opportunities that haunt every aspect of his life.
However, when I write reviews, I choose to focus on the storytelling elements being used in the story. As much as I disliked this story, Marquez’s writing is beautiful, haunting, and so well-executed. The structure is straightforward and chronological, the plot is basic, and the prose character-driven. What stands out is how Marquez characterizes the unnamed narrator.
Marquez does this in two ways very effectively. The first is how he uses the prose and first person perspective to show us the narrator’s decline into obsession. As the story progresses, the prose becomes more energetic and obsessive, reflecting the narrator’s state of mind. The second means of characterizing is by including details about the narrator’s past and current life that the narrator ignores, looks over, or only briefly lingers but have a deep impact on how we see him and his life.
The depressing nature of this book lies not only in the wasted, pointless life that the narrator has led but also in how he doesn’t recognize the opportunities that could have made it better. His obsessive nature over “Delgadina” shows us how his other extreme made him miss out on a relationship with Damiana, pursue a more advanced writing career, or even learn to take care of the cat properly. The tragedy of this story is found in the narrator’s too-late appreciation of life and the graven relics of opportunities that haunt every aspect of his life.