Status
Disponible
Call number
Publication
Sudamericana (1994), Edition: 18th Colombian, 109 pages
Description
In 1955, Garcia Marquez was working for El Espectador, a newspaper in Bogota, when in February of that year eight crew members of the Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were washed overboard and disappeared. Ten days later one of them turned up, barely alive, on a deserted beach in northern Colombia. This book, which originally appeared as a series of newspaper articles, is Garcia Marquez's account of that sailor's ordeal. Translated by Randolf Hogan.
User reviews
LibraryThing member duck2ducks
Continuing my accidental trend of novellas featuring sailors & seamen. (Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, John Steinbeck's The Pearl...)
Been meaning to read GGM for ages, but a mammoth novel can be intimidating. So when I saw this slim volume on the shelf, I picked it up. Discovering in the
How wrong I was.
This may be only a short novella, but it's gripping, harrowing, and at times gut-wrenching in its terror. The account of this one man's 10 days at sea, unprotected from the elements, devoid of food and water, at the mercy of the shark-infested ocean ... It's ruthless, and so vivid that I was forced to go online and verify that yes, this IS actually a true story and not something made up.
The final chapter is entitled "My Heroism Consisted of Not Letting Myself Die." Wow.
So worth reading.
Been meaning to read GGM for ages, but a mammoth novel can be intimidating. So when I saw this slim volume on the shelf, I picked it up. Discovering in the
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introduction that this was actually a true story that the author covered during his time at a Colombian newspaper, serialized in 14 parts, I was initially disappointed that this wasn't a whole-cloth creation as I'd assumed; certainly this would prove less compelling than the fiction novels he's gained such acclaim for.How wrong I was.
This may be only a short novella, but it's gripping, harrowing, and at times gut-wrenching in its terror. The account of this one man's 10 days at sea, unprotected from the elements, devoid of food and water, at the mercy of the shark-infested ocean ... It's ruthless, and so vivid that I was forced to go online and verify that yes, this IS actually a true story and not something made up.
The final chapter is entitled "My Heroism Consisted of Not Letting Myself Die." Wow.
So worth reading.
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LibraryThing member plappen
In February 1955, a destroyer of the Colombian Navy, the Caldas, was traveling through the Caribbean on its way back to Colombia. It had spent the previous six months in Mobile, Alabama for repairs. A couple of hours away from port, eight members of the crew were swept overboard (the official
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reason was because of a storm). As soon as the ship reached port, a diligent search was undertaken for the missing crewmen, which was called off four days later, without success. A week later, a man washed up on a beach in northern Colombia. His name was Luis Alejandro Velasco, a member of the Caldas crew. This is his story.In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Velasco was the only one to reach a lifeboat. The current prevented him from reaching his shipmates, one of whom was just a few feet away, and he watched as they slipped under the water, never to return. He had no food or water, and with no land in sight, he had no idea in which direction he was traveling. In the first couple of days, he saw a search plane overhead, but it was too high to see him. As the days went on, his skin broke out in blisters, because of the constant exposure to the sun. Every day, at around 5 PM, he was visited by a group of sharks looking for dinner. He watched as they engaged in a feeding frenzy just a few feet away from him, whenever a school of fish got too close. He had started to hallucinate, so he wasn’t sure if that was actually land he was seeing in front of him. The current was carrying him toward some cliffs, so he jumped out of the lifeboat, and managed to swim the last couple of kilometers to land.
Upon his rescue and recovery, he immediately became a national hero. He was kept away from the public, and allowed to speak only to pro-government journalists (at that time, Colombia was under a military government). He made a small fortune as a product endorser, and was enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Weeks later, he walked into the offices of a national newspaper, where Marquez was a journalist, looking to tell the whole story (until then, only bits and pieces of the story were known). It ran as a 14-part series, and was a national sensation. Things got difficult for the government when it was revealed that a) the Caldas was carrying cargo, which b) so overloaded the ship that it was unable to turn around and go back to look for the missing crewmen, and c) the cargo was contraband (like stoves and refrigerators); all of which were absolutely illegal under Colombian law.
I really liked reading this true story. It’s short and an interesting read, and it’s a very good tale of human survival under horrendous conditions. Well worth it.
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LibraryThing member Stbalbach
Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez's re-telling of a ship-wrecked sailor's trials alone on a raft at sea for ten days without food or water. It was originally published in as a series of newspaper articles in 1955, turned into a book in 1970, and translated into English by Randolf Hogan in
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1986. It is written in the first person from the perspective of the sailor and was actually signed by him, Márquez's name was not associated with the story until 1970 when it was first published as a book. It's an interesting survival tale with an interesting back-story in Márquez's career - the story's publication inadvertently revealed corruption in the Columbia Navy which embarrassed the dictator government which forced Márquez to take a job in Europe which opened new opportunities for him. The story is a natural "Robinsonade" and so appeals to that genre, all the more so because it is real, and involves a Nobel laureate. Show Less
LibraryThing member maggiereads
Nothing is better than sitting in a cool theatre, watching a summer blockbuster; one gets a break from the heat and entertainment at the same time. Well, after viewing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the second best thing is to read a nautical tale.
This week I chose The Story of a
Once on dry land, Velasco became an instant national hero, “kissed by beauty queens, made rich through publicity,” but unable to tell his real story. After a year of publicity rounds, sporting his unstoppable watch and inedible sneakers, he showed up on the steps of Bogota’s El Espectador.
At the time, the newspaper was in its infancy with a director, editor-in-chief and staff reporter all under the age of thirty. Colombia, ruled by military and social dictator General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, played down the true events and Velasco’s vastly publicized story had a certain sugary taste.
Author Garcia Marquez was the lone reporter assigned Velasco’s story—a story, which eventually saw the demise of El Espectador, not because of Marquez’s writing ability (he became a Nobel winner in 1982) but rather Velasco’s proof, as in photographs, to damage Pinilla’s government.
Apparently, there was some contraband loaded on the destroyer’s deck, which added instability to the craft. Were they transporting atomic weapons? Not really, they loaded on the regime’s refrigerators, washers and dryers, televisions and air conditioners. So much so, the weight and balance was out of kilter, and the ship began to list.
After midnight, an order came from the loudspeaker, “All personnel to the port side.” At 11:30 the following day, the order again reissued. This time Velasco and shipmates were on watch, not safe in their bunks. At 11:50, one of the many forceful waves knocked some crates loose, and as they began to slide into the sea, eight sailors seeking shelter from the waves went with them.
On February 28, 1955, seven crewmembers lost their lives because, “ill-secured moral and political cargo,” repressed the large destroyer from maneuvering to save them.
This is the story of one man surviving ten grueling days at sea. These few paragraphs are just the beginning; it is up to you to read a budding master at his craft.
“Aye, ‘tis good reading to be sure.”
This week I chose The Story of a
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Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This true story first appeared as a series of articles in a Colombian newspaper, El Espectador. Sailor Luis Velasco was tossed overboard the Colombian naval destroyer Caladas, during a routine trip from Mobile, Alabama, to Cartagena, Colombia. He was at sea, devoid of food and water, for ten days.Once on dry land, Velasco became an instant national hero, “kissed by beauty queens, made rich through publicity,” but unable to tell his real story. After a year of publicity rounds, sporting his unstoppable watch and inedible sneakers, he showed up on the steps of Bogota’s El Espectador.
At the time, the newspaper was in its infancy with a director, editor-in-chief and staff reporter all under the age of thirty. Colombia, ruled by military and social dictator General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, played down the true events and Velasco’s vastly publicized story had a certain sugary taste.
Author Garcia Marquez was the lone reporter assigned Velasco’s story—a story, which eventually saw the demise of El Espectador, not because of Marquez’s writing ability (he became a Nobel winner in 1982) but rather Velasco’s proof, as in photographs, to damage Pinilla’s government.
Apparently, there was some contraband loaded on the destroyer’s deck, which added instability to the craft. Were they transporting atomic weapons? Not really, they loaded on the regime’s refrigerators, washers and dryers, televisions and air conditioners. So much so, the weight and balance was out of kilter, and the ship began to list.
After midnight, an order came from the loudspeaker, “All personnel to the port side.” At 11:30 the following day, the order again reissued. This time Velasco and shipmates were on watch, not safe in their bunks. At 11:50, one of the many forceful waves knocked some crates loose, and as they began to slide into the sea, eight sailors seeking shelter from the waves went with them.
On February 28, 1955, seven crewmembers lost their lives because, “ill-secured moral and political cargo,” repressed the large destroyer from maneuvering to save them.
This is the story of one man surviving ten grueling days at sea. These few paragraphs are just the beginning; it is up to you to read a budding master at his craft.
“Aye, ‘tis good reading to be sure.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member theboylatham
7/10.
Enjoyable true story of a sailor lost at sea. Unlike most GGM stuff it keeps a fairly straight narrative. Enjoyed it.
Enjoyable true story of a sailor lost at sea. Unlike most GGM stuff it keeps a fairly straight narrative. Enjoyed it.
LibraryThing member banjo123
Luis Alejandro Velasco was a Colombian sailor who, in 1955, survived 10 days at sea on a raft after an accident, caused by naval negligence, which killed 8 others. Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a young newspaper reporter, and published Velasco’s story in installments to great public interest. I can
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see why—it’s a gripping story and written in Garcia-Marquez’ beautiful prose. Show Less
LibraryThing member revliz
Marvelous . . . tedious . . . too agonizing to finish.
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
This wondrously journalistic story about a man who conquers the sea [and lives to tell the tale] is amazing. Brutal, but somehow tremendously uplifting.
LibraryThing member et.carole
This “journalistic reconstruction” of the story of Luis Alejandro Velasco’s trip from Mobile, Alabama, overboard, and back to Columbia suffered a little at the hands of an unimaginative translator. “The Story of This Story,” an introduction entirely by Marquez, was by far the most
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colorful section in terms of prose and description. The adventure of the story, however, was still engaging. As Velasco describes his time at sea, the detail is vivid enough to wrench the reader’s stomach with hunger, thirst, or pain. The last chapter, describing the aftermath for Velasco, crystallized his narrative voice and articulated elegant conclusions, bringing satisfaction to the contemporary nonfiction reader as the earlier chapters satisfy the adventure reader. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonbrammer
This is a strange Marquez book - the words of a sailor telling a harrowing story of endurance - and one wonders how purely journalistic the writer is, and what he can't resist embellishing.
Subjects
Language
Original language
Spanish
Original publication date
1970 (Tusquets Editores)
1986 (Alfred A. Knopf)
1986 (Jonathan Cape)
Physical description
92 p.
ISBN
958060021X / 9789580600213