Living to Tell the Tale

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating life isn't always a fascinating read
Review: There were parts of Garcia Marquez's memoir that kept me turning the pages voraciously. Unfortunately, this only describes about 25% of the book. The rest of the book is little more than a list of names. It's almost as if "Gabo" felt he had to mention every person he ever met during the first 30 years of his life.

As an American reader, I found the lack of elaboration on his relationship with Fidel Castro frustrating, though I can understand why he may have felt it was inappropriate for this book.

Overall, I came away with a better understanding of how one of my favorite authors was shaped during his youth. It's just surprising how such a skilled writer could put out a book including so many pages of tedious irrelevance.

I recommend the book for avid fans of Garcia Marquez, but I doubt anyone else will be interested.

Rating:
Summary: gabriel garcia marquez, at its best
Review: These book is what it wraps it all. His life is so important, because it has a direct effect on his other novels and short tales. I have read some of his other books and is amazing how his life experiences relate so much to the way he writes. What I like the best of these and all his other books, is the way he can describe situations and things, and makes you be part of it because of these vivid descriptions. For example in his autobiography (Living to tell the Tale) says a lot about stories that make such an impact in his live, and memory, that later he writes them and that is how extrodinary books come to life: "Del amor y otros Demonios", "One hundred years of SOlitude", "El otono del patriarca", and of course his fist novel "la hojarasca".
Worth reading it, but more worth it if you know his previous novels and short stories. Highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Fun for true fans, but also a hard read
Review: This book is fun if you are in the mood to trace events from his fiction back to his actual life. But I agree with other reviewers who say that it is rambling and hard to follow-- it actually is almost impossible to "follow" because (like life) there is no actual plot, just a string of events. Oddly, it was really difficult to picture the places and people-- usually his writing paints a perfect picture for me. I guess this book confirms that art sometimes mirrors life better than "truth," and it is a lot more fun to read, too. Unless you are a true fan who must read all of his work I would stick to his fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Living To Tell The Tale
Review: This book is the first part of Garcia Marquez's autobiographical trilogy, and it records the first thirty years of the writer's life.

For readers who are already familiar with Garcia Marquez, I would rank this as a third after 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and 'Love in the Time of Cholera'. For readers who are new to him, I suggest reading these two novels first before reading his autobiography.

I agree with one of the reviewers that the tale has more or less been told, because this book contains very much the world of magical realism as found in his novels, except stripped of the magic this time. We now know that Rebecca in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' has her roots in Garcia Marquez's own sister. We also know that 'Love in the Time of Cholera' was inspired by his parents, while 'In Evil Hour' was written from the real, chaotic environment which he lived in amid the hot afternoons and lazy siestas.

The treats in this book, however, lie not so much in these magical realism stuff but the interesting autobiographical details. (I mean, this is an autobiography!!!) Some of the memorable ones include how he had affairs with his teacher at fifteen (!!!), how he almost got into a fight with someone over an interpretation of Faulkner, how he couldn't enjoy Don Quixote until he followed his friend's advice to read it in small installments while using the toilet etc. I find that the most enjoyable bits are when he gathered with his friends and they recommended him all sorts of readings from Oedipus Rex to Ulyssses. Or little details like how they tried to publish a newspaper but of the three illustrators they had only one could do portraits.

I also agree with another reviewer that he might be a little overdoing it with his long list of characters mentioned, some of whom are really trivial and had very little to do with him at all. I found his most of his relatives uninteresting (including his parents and grandparents), but I did get little treats in knowing trivia like one can actually smoke a cigarette with the lit end in one's mouth for tactical purposes.

As a summary, this book reads more or less like one of his better novels and retains the rich flavour, interspersed with autobiographical details from the trivial to the revealing. I thought the book begins very well, but it gets boring after a while with his relatives and the magical realism becomes all too familar (if you have encountered them in his other novels, that is). It picks up again only when he mentions schooling and the books that influenced him, as well as when he became a journalist (that is more or less where the fun begins).

Much as it is a good autobiography, I would recommend it mainly to Garcia Marquez fans. Readers new to him should really start with his good novels.

Rating:
Summary: One of the few honest autobios out there right now
Review: This book took me about 3 months to read. For me, that is a LONG time. Like "One Hundred Years of Solitude," this book is difficult, but extremely enjoyable and rewarding. To put it simply, Garcia-Marquez is one of the finest authors on the planet, and this book begins to explain the how and why of his talents, while displaying them fully in the superb writing.

"Living to Tell the Tale" takes the reader from Garcia-Marquez's birth up to his move to Switzerland in his late 20s. The book is written in long, unbroken chapters, which makes the reader feel like they are reading a journal entry, making the book highly personal and honest. The timeframe is often ambiguous, which means that even though this is nonfiction, Garcia-Marquez's trademark "magical realism" is evident. In fact, after reading this book, I am not sure that Garcia-Marquez made up the magical events in his novels...magic happens all around him.

One of the most interesting parts of this book is the insight Garcia-Marquez gives into his writing style. For example, he states that he avoids using adverbs. I had never noticed that before, but when I was finished reading, I was astounded by all the different ways he describes things, without ever using an -ly ending. Equally fascinating are his recounting of events that were later described in his novels: the shut down banana factory, the first sighting of Maconda, the two doomed lovers from "Love in the Time of Cholera."

I don't speak Spanish well, but it is apparent even to me that Edith Grossman is the reason Garcia-Marquez is so readable in English. Anyone can tell this is an excellent translation.

I am giving this book five stars, but even as I do that, I know the next two volumes will be superior. Here you see the beginnings of the master; in the next two volumes we will see him at work.

Rating:
Summary: One of the few honest autobios out there right now
Review: This book took me about 3 months to read. For me, that is a LONG time. Like "One Hundred Years of Solitude," this book is difficult, but extremely enjoyable and rewarding. To put it simply, Garcia-Marquez is one of the finest authors on the planet, and this book begins to explain the how and why of his talents, while displaying them fully in the superb writing.

"Living to Tell the Tale" takes the reader from Garcia-Marquez's birth up to his move to Switzerland in his late 20s. The book is written in long, unbroken chapters, which makes the reader feel like they are reading a journal entry, making the book highly personal and honest. The timeframe is often ambiguous, which means that even though this is nonfiction, Garcia-Marquez's trademark "magical realism" is evident. In fact, after reading this book, I am not sure that Garcia-Marquez made up the magical events in his novels...magic happens all around him.

One of the most interesting parts of this book is the insight Garcia-Marquez gives into his writing style. For example, he states that he avoids using adverbs. I had never noticed that before, but when I was finished reading, I was astounded by all the different ways he describes things, without ever using an -ly ending. Equally fascinating are his recounting of events that were later described in his novels: the shut down banana factory, the first sighting of Maconda, the two doomed lovers from "Love in the Time of Cholera."

I don't speak Spanish well, but it is apparent even to me that Edith Grossman is the reason Garcia-Marquez is so readable in English. Anyone can tell this is an excellent translation.

I am giving this book five stars, but even as I do that, I know the next two volumes will be superior. Here you see the beginnings of the master; in the next two volumes we will see him at work.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful first-person images of family life
Review: This first volume of a planned trilogy should not be missed: here the Nobel-winning writer begins to tell the story of his life, from birth to the start of his career as a writer. While this is a biography, the colorful first-person images of family life and stormy relationships reads with all the action of a novel, and is reviewed here so that prior fans of Marquez will not miss his invaluable introduction to his life and early influences.

Rating:
Summary: A most disappointing ramble through time.
Review: This is a hard core, cult book. I never could get into this book. I gave up after days of reading flat and dull stories about people who were hard to follow and weren't really worth the effort . This book is very slow paced and rambles on and on. I kept asking myself, is there a point to this story? Did I miss something?
Gabriel García Máquez, in this book, reminds me of listening to an elderly person drone on in a monotone for hours of people, places and events from their obcure , distant pass. You tell them that you have no idea what they are talking about but they just keep on until you have courage to excuse your self. This is not up to his usual 5 star story telling.

Rating:
Summary: The Writer in his Labyrinth
Review: This is the first book in this famous authors autobiographical trillogy. I wasn't sure how much I would be able to get into or like this book, due to the fact I have previously read but two of his books (100 Years of Solitude and The Autumn of the Patriarch). But I found it very interesting and very enjoyable. I really know where his stories of lonliness and solitude come from. Himself and him having a hideous fear of the dark and lonliness, he put it into his writing a lot. His dysfuctional family and friends of the family provided more interesting reading.

The reason this book isn't perfect is that at times it can be slow going, and hard to read. Sometimes he jumps around in time and that can be a little confusing. And the characters can be hard to keep track of. I sort of agree with the guy below who suggests a character chart. Perhaps in his following books maybe? That would really help out.

All in all, I wasn't overly disappointed. I enjoyed it and found it interesting. I aslo liked learning that the one girl in 100 years of solitude who ate dirt was based off his sister who also had an addiction to eating dirt. Wow!

Rating:
Summary: Portrait of an Artist and his beloved Colombia
Review: This superbly written portrait of an artist unlocks many mysteries. First and foremost it modestly explains the incredible genius of Gabriel Garcia Marquez the writer. Moreover, it also provides a probing insight to the bloody political violence inside the Republic of Colombia. "Living to Tell the Tale," is a great read for lovers of literature but also objectively gives students of Colombian political history an eye-witness account of a government that was savage with its people.

In the words of Gabito..."I was brought up in the lawless space of the Caribbean,"...the Nobel laureate explains with pride the difference between "Costenos" (Colombians raised on the coast) and "Cachacos" (Colombians raised in Bogota). In some ways...it is comparable to the difference between very laid-back, open minded Californians and super-serious, ambitious New Yorkers. However, the essential point the author makes is the cultural mind-set he was raised with. A mind-set filled with surreal coastal dreams and the reality of the 1928 banana workers massacre in Cienaga which his loving Mother explained to him, "that's where the world ended."

Gabito was born on March 6, 1927. He was heavily influenced by the sensitivities of his Mother and grandfather, Colonel Nicolas Ricardo Marques Mejia (called Papalelo by his grandchildren). The Colonel was a veteran of the Liberal/Conservative War of One Thousand Days (1899-1903). Consequently, the author learned from an early age that Colombia was a nation of many civil wars and that political differences inside the borders of his nation often ended in violence.

Papaledo taught his devoted grandson that General Simon Bolivar (the George Washington of South America) "was the greatest man born in the history of the world." But Gabito is quick to inform the reader that he grew up with a formal education at the splendid Liceo Nacional de Zipaquira and grew up "bloodthirsty for Faulkner." He adds that he started smoking heavily at 15 (he eventually quits) and strongly appreciated the genius of "Ulysses" by James Joyce and "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Interestingly enough the author credits journalism for his sharp "reporter's eye" and states, "the novel and journalism are children of the same mother."

Still and all, the author is responsible and does not ignore the widespread "scorched earth policy of the government." In one of the most fascinating segments of this book he provides an eye-witness account of the April 9, 1948 murder of the beloved Colombian populist Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and vividly decribes the subsequent "Bogotazo" the greatest riot in the history of the Western Hemisphere. He also offers his own credible conspiracy theory that there was a well dressed man who incited the crowd after the murder of Gaitan and "the man managed to have a false assassin killed in order to protect the identity of the real one." Gabito also goes to extremes to document the heavy handed government censorship of the press afterwards.

Ultimately, the author tells us, "life itself taught me that one of the most useful secrets for writing is to learn to read the hieroglyphs of reality without knocking or asking anything." This is a true masterpiece and deserves to be read by all lovers of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and of the Republic of Colombia. Highly, highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz