Gabriel Garcia Marquez [Merged]

[Sweetkay]

I just got a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera ...

[lone_gunmen]

I loved the book. A bit too long and there were too many Aurelianos and Aurelios in the Buendias. Pero astig at very original. I admit medyo muntik ko nang di tapusin and a lot of people quit on reading the book in the middle part. I like the concept ng Magic realism, and like how it did not interfere with the story. Also How it spanned fro how many generations. Tapos how the prophecy was fulfilled.

Read the Isabel Allende's "House Of the Spirits" and it really reminded me of 100 years of Solitude. Although House... was nice, more reader friendly and more politically didactic, I like the 100 yrs... better.

I think Spanish books parallels a lot of our own culture.

And the ending was astig!

^ eto rin yung problema ko nung binasa ko yung book. i had to turn back a few pages. but i adore 100 years, emtionally draining, yes, but i didnt want the book to end.

[darkZEN]

^ eto rin yung problema ko nung binasa ko yung book. i had to turn back a few pages. but i adore 100 years, emtionally draining, yes, but i didnt want the book to end.

right nakakapagod talaga basahin mentally with all those similar family names
aurelianos running from one generation to the next and the stretch of imagination it requires for readers to interpret the metaphors of those magically realistic, nature driven phenomena. solitude is one of my personal hall of famers. i read that marquez was in a way influenced by kafka's imaginative story-telling.

[C.I.C.C.I]

I enjoyed LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

Currently reading ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

Read CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD ... my introduction to GGM.

Didn't much enjoy MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY ******

[r1chard0]

Has anyone read his collected stories? I bought a copy of the one which starts with "The Third Resignation". The lines are quite heavy and it also goes that they're not to easy to read too(atleast for me), i find them harder to read compared to novel, 100 years. The stories are quite intense though

I have this book now borrowed from a local library. I have read the first story and like it a lot. That was last winter and I never had the chance to read the rest of the stories. So now I hope I get the courage to read haha..

My first GGM book was "100 Years". Then "Chronicles". Then "Melacholy". I like the last one the most, parang bitin pa nga. Medyo nakaka overwhelm kasi yung kapal ng "100 Years", saga.

Eto pala yung first book ko. Maglaway na lang kayo.



Bought it because of the cover design. ok naman.

[pinoy2781]

100 years of solitude - confusing because of the names...pero sulit at the end. unexpected yung ending!

love in the time of cholera - bittersweet...

i have the book 'of love and other demons' but i haven't read it yet...

[pinoy2781]

off topic: re: isabel allende

is she good? i've been planning to start reading her works/books but i wasn't sure...that's why i went for neil gaiman...

[whodunnit]

Unang beses kong tinangkang basahin yung One Hundred Years of Solitude, tinamad talaga ako. Sabi nga ng batchmate ko: "Parang one hundred years ka na ring nagbabasa." Pero nung natapos ko, grabe, inulit-ulit ko yung ending. Sobrang ganda. Bawat sentence, nanamnamin mo talaga. Ang galing din kasi, kumbaga sa nagkkwento, ang dami-daming segway tapos saka babalik sa original na topic. Saka nakadagdag yung pagkakaroon nila ng pare-parehas na pangalan sa pagiging interesting.

Yung Love in the Time of Cholera, isa rin sa mga paborito ko. First line pa lang, na-inlove na ko. Haha! Tanda ko, nung binabasa ko to, may mga times na uulit-ulitin ko yung sentence (as in read aloud pa) kasi sobrang ganda ng pagkakasulat. Ang ganda rin ng kwento. Nakakarelate ako kay Florentino Ariza (hindi dahil nympho sya!).

[rational]

The name of the well that is spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico is Macondo!

[Fallschirmjager]

Finally, I got to read Memories of my Melancholy ******. Good read, but I thoroughly enjoyed Love in in the Time of Cholera more.

I remember I used to write love letters with phrases/ideas from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's books. Call it fair use or intellectual infringement, either way, they were some of the best letters I've ever written.

Too bad, I'm still an exile from the "harsh and ungenerous kingdom of love".

[nozmail]

i love garcia marquez' love in the time of cholera.

didn't finish the movie version though.

[sephiroth_023]

we read this as our novel in our college Lit class and it was very good. as the title suggests, it does talk about solitude and where humans stand with regards to it. also, the storytelling factor is amazing. i only had an inkling that Melquiades was the one telling the story.

[A.Klein]

Got acquainted with The House of the Spirits thru the movie. Very interesting story . . .

[rational]

House of the Spirits is by Isabel Allende, isn't it?

[brrrrr!!!]

Up!

Any more GGM fans in here?

I love everything about the man, and I don't want him to stop writing...

[brrrrr!!!]

just did some back reading and I'll comment on some...

OHYOS no doubt was his most important work which made him famous, but the maturity of Marquez's art culminates in LITOC. I'd easily pick LITOC as his best. The prose is more lyrical and evocative it left me teary eyed for a week. I thought the translations were fine, Marquez was really particular with translations and regarded LITOC as a stand out. The time shift in the narrative was just effortlessly flowing, and there are times when Marquez hits an emotional note that just makes me wonder how the hell he does that! Truly the master's masterwork.

[MoonStruck]

what about "Love in the Time of Cholera"?

[sharp]

I just want to say that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a brilliant man, indeed.

[brrrrr!!!]

^ Brilliant indeed, and great news is, he denies rumors of his retirement. In fact he's working on a new novel called Agosto Nos Vemos (We'll Meet in August) and now putting his finishing touches. "My job is to write, not to publish. I'll know when the pastries that I have in the oven are ready for the eating."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/bo..._BRF.html?_r=1

what about "Love in the Time of Cholera"?

His maturest (and best, arguably), but I'd start somewhere else like "100 years" or "Of Love and Other Demons".

[tlpnds]

what is so astounding about what gabriel garcia marquez did in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is how he managed to take the story structure and tempo of Latin American tele-novelas and tweaked it with such expertise and sorcery as to elevate his novel to the ranks of the world's all-time-greats.

ilang beses ko nang binasa nang paulit-ulit ang Cien Años de Soledad, and because i've read it repeatedly, unti-unti kong namalayan na yung story of a family and the love affairs of its members kind of reminds me of the usual storylines ng mga telenovela from Mexico, Brazil, etc. (Marimar!!! hehehe).

ang magaling nga lang sa ginawa ni Marquez, he expanded the usual "love story montage" into bigger themes. kind of like watching a tele-novela na hindi lang iisang pair of lovers ang focus. think of Marimar pero halos lahat ng characters may mga love interest. tapos maraming mga magical na pangyayari pero hindi portrayed as weird -- like, yung isang character na pinatay eh makikita sa bakuran ni Marimar kinabukasan na nagpapakain ng manok na panabong. pero hindi horror yung eksena -- parang normal lang. tapos siguro yung aso ni Marimar talagang nagsasalita at nakikipag-usap sa mga tao, pero hindi weird sa mga characters yun.

kind of makes me wonder kung pwede bang gumawa ng Pinoy telenovela na magic realism (or whatever term you may want to describe Marquez's literary technique). kumbaga, ang title is "Ang Tanging Pag-Ibig", tapos tungkol sa mga love stories ng mga members ng isang pamilya. tapos puro magic yung nangyayari, pero dahil lahat ng nangyayari ay nasa loob lang ng isang community sa Leyte (or wherever else na medyo malayo sa Manila kung saan ang kabuhayan eh hindi pa masyadong urbanized ) eh parang "normal" occurences lang lahat -- kumbaga, hindi scandalized ang mga tao kahit pa biglang umulan ng mga isda o may nahanap silang kweba na may mga dwende sa loob.

well, siguro nga ang ganyang technique ay para sa mga Latin Americans lang muna, at iba dapat ang gawin ng mga Pinoys. hehe.