Customer Reviews

Garcia Marquez for Beginners

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I was introduced to Gabriel Garcia Marquez when my uncle loaned me a copy of "Chronicle of a Death Foretold." It was a terrific novella, and I wanted to delve into his other works. Unfortunately, I found his short stories somewhat confusing and hard to understand. The magical elements seemed more like whimsy than serious literature. I bought this book because I thought it would help me learn about GGM and how to decipher his writings.

This is a very slim, light-hearted biography of GGM's life and work. It is illustrated with "cutesy" cartoons and caricatures that manage to be both clever and annoying at the same time. The book is useful if you (like me) are unfamiliar with the references to Latin American customs, legends, and politics. Its biggest flaw is that it does not devote much space to discussing magical realism, the literary style that GMM invented and perfected, but it did at least give me some perspective on Latin America culture and GMM's early life experiences. I think I know enough now to go back and appreciate those stories.