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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781400044603 
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Powells.com Staff Pick
In Memories of the My Melancholy Whores, García Márquez demonstrates that, even in his late seventies, he remains one of world literature's most intelligent and passionate writers.
Recommended by Martin, Powells.com
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)
"As in One Hundred Years of Solitude, his masterpiece, the clarity, precision, and unblinking authority of his voice make García Márquez one of the finest storytellers ever born. A table, too, can sometimes be a miracle." Scott Raab, Esquire (read the complete Esquire review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, our unnamed protagonist?an undistinguished journalist and lifelong bachelor?decides to give himself "the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin."
The virgin, whom an old madam procures for him, is splendidly young, with the silent power of a sleeping beauty. The night of love blossoms into a transforming year. It is a year in which he relives, in a rush of memories, his lifetime of (paid-for) sexual adventures and experiences a revelation that brings him to the edge of dying?not of old age, but, at long last, of uncorrupted love.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is a brilliant gem by the master storyteller.
Review:
Review:
Review:
“García Marquez has composed, with his usual sensual gravity and Olympian humor, a love letter to the dying light.” –John Updike, The New Yorker
“Luminous. . . . The cunning of Memories lies in the utter–and utterly unexpected-- reliability of its narrator” –The New York Times Book Review
he cunning of Memories of My Melancholy Whores lies in the utter--and utterly unexpected--reliability of its narrator.
“Masterful. Erotic. As hypnotizing as it is disturbing.” –Los Angeles Times
“As accomplished a piece of storytelling as you are likely to find on the shelves today.”–Chicago Tribune
“Profoundly haunting. . . . Fiction of the very highest order." –The Times Literary Supplement
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Synopsis:
About the Author
Edith Grossman is widely recognized as the preeminent Spanish-to-English translator of our time.
Gabriel García Márquez’s Living to Tell the Tale, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera, News of a Kidnapping, and The General in His Labyrinth are available in Vintage paperback. Vivir para contarla, El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Crónica de una muerta anunciada, El general en su laberinto and Memorias de mis putas tristes are available in Vintage Español.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
-
StephenWright, November 27, 2007 (view all comments by StephenWright)
There is always a possibility when one reads a book that has been translated that some of the subtlety of the writing is lost in translation, however, in the light of Love in a Time of Cholera, News of a Kidnapping, One Hundred Years of Solitude et al, this is undoubtedly second rate Garcia Marquez. As with Love in a Time of Cholera, it focusses on a man whose life appears to have been wasted by virtue of the fact that it has been spent paying for 'love' as opposed to having a fulfilling relationship. Pervsely, when he finds love, he still has to pay for it, and it remains unconsummated. I suppose this is part of the irony, that a man who has been satisfied to whatever degree, by paying for sex, is now paying for emotion - and in the process his relationship with the girl is completely in his mind. Surely what it shows is that in old age, one attempts to correct the mistakes in ones life and make up for lost time, and in this instance appears rather depressingly to be missing the point. Ultimately, like sleeping with prostitutes, the supposed innocence of the situation is fractured by the fact that it is still all about him.
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lukas, November 26, 2007 (view all comments by lukas)
I think I picked this up just because it had "whores" in the title. Just kidding. Readers looking for a sexy read will instead find an autmumnal, bittersweet, graceful tale of a 90 year old man's unlikely relationship with a teenage prostitute. If the plot sounds distasteful, it's redeemed by Marquez's rich, textured writing and the wry, aristocratic protagonist. It doesn't break new ground for him, but it is a sensual, lyrical, slim novel that is a good introduction to the master's work.
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crowyhead, August 18, 2006 (view all comments by crowyhead)
As usual, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing is gorgeous and finely crafted, and I understand why this novella was critically acclaimed. It was one of those books that my feminist sensibilities just couldn't let me fully enjoy, however. Women in Marquez's books tend to exist to drive the plot and give the protagonists grand epiphanies, and I've pretty much resigned myself to this. But I had a really hard time getting past it in this one, since basically it's all about how the protagonist is given a new lease on life at ninety by a fourteen-year-old virginal prostitute. Yes, it turns out to be a largely chaste relationship, and yes, he is able to assist the young woman (who is largely nameless in the novel -- the protagonist gives her a name in his mind and has no wish to know who she really is), but she remains an object for his enlightenment, rather than a character in her own right.
View all 3 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781400044603
- Translator:
- Grossman, Edith
- Publisher:
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Translator:
- Grossman, Edith
- Author:
- Author:
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Literary
- Copyright:
- 2005
- Publication Date:
- October 25, 2005
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 115
- Dimensions:
- 7.62x4.76x.62 in. .41 lbs.
