Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Vintage International (Vintage Books)
Pages
115
Description
On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, a bachelor decides to give himself a wild night of love with a virgin. As is his habit, he has purchased hundreds of women, and asks a madam for her assistance. The fourteen-year-old girl who is procured for him is enchanting, but exhausted as she is from caring for siblings and her job sewing buttons, she can do little but sleep. Yet with this sleeping beauty at his side, it is he who awakens to a romance he has never known.
Collection
Language
Original language
Spanish
Original publication date
2004
2005 (English translation)
Physical description
115 p.; 7.9 inches
ISBN
9781400095940
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Media reviews
The relationship between the narrator and his virgin is really a relationship that exists inside the narrator's head, and since Mr. García Márquez makes little effort to make this man remotely interesting - as either an individual or a representative figure - it's hard for the reader to care
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really about what happens. Moreover, the trajectory of this narrative turns out to be highly predictable, leading to a banal ending to a banal story that's quite unworthy of the great Gabriel García Márquez's prodigious talents. Show Less
"Memories of My Melancholy Whores" is García Márquez's first book of fiction in a decade - since "Of Love and Other Demons," which was also a short novel about an unlikely romance. He has filled that time with memoir-writing: the first, large volume of his autobiography, "Living to Tell the
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Tale," was published here in 2003. So perhaps it's natural, after 10 years of looking back, that he has now treated himself, and his readers, to this sprightly, perverse little fable about looking forward Show Less
Het is niet de kleine omvang van Herinnering aan mijn droeve hoeren die verhinderd heeft dat het boek de hoogte van de beste romans van García Márquez bereikte. (...) Het is alsof de moralist de romanschrijver hier in de weg gezeten heeft. Het thema van de liefde, dat tot in de titels toe in
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zoveel van zijn romans terugkeert, moest één keer van alle picareske lust en sensuele ondeugd worden ontdaan, om zuiver te verschijnen.
Het resultaat werd, tragisch genoeg, het omgekeerde. Liefde blijft in deze roman grotendeels een woord, terwijl de woorden die tot nu toe bij García Márquez garant stonden voor een bedwelmend vitalisme te vaak ontbreken. (...) Het boek eindigt krachteloos, alsof het de neergang van de ouderdom waartegen het zich verzet onwillekeurig moet erkennen. Show Less
Gabriel García Márquez werd beroemd met Honderd jaar eenzaamheid, de exuberante roman die hem voorgoed het stempel magisch-realisme opdrukte. Herinnering aan mijn droeve hoeren hoort bij het deel van zijn oeuvre dat bestaat uit korte, zeer ingehouden geschreven romans.
Gabriel García Márquez
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laat zich in zijn eerste fictiewerk in ruim tien jaar van zijn vertrouwde goede kant zien. De liefde, en vooral de liefde waarvan de vervulling een mensenleven op zich laat wachten, is een vast thema in het oeuvre van de Colombiaanse grootmeester. Het lijkt geen toeval dat hij het thema van 'de oude man en de maagd' opnieuw heeft willen vertellen nu hij zelf op de leeftijd van 77 is aanbeland. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member cameling
Despite the title, this isn't a book about a man's reflections over the women he's paid for through the course of his life. What it is, a story of hope. A 90 year old not too talented writer, having lived a solitary and loveless life, contacts an old madam to procure a young virgin for his 90th
He develops a fantasy life for himself and this girl, feeling her presence in everything that he does, even though she's not physically there. What is central the book is not the girl herself for we are not given any indication of her personality, her thoughts and indeed her feelings, but how the man reacts and changes with his continued fascination for her. There's something about her that manages to touch his core and awakens emotions he's not experienced before. Just when he was planning on checking out of life, he now finds himself with a new lease in life, instead of resigning from his job as a columnist, he continues writing but with a different honesty, he adopts an elderly cat and
It's a story of hope, love, self-acceptance and passion. What I wish was different though, was the author's choice of the girl. It smacked a little too much of pedophilia for my liking. But there's no denying Marquez's genius in soulful writing.
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birthday, believing it's his last fling before death. But upon arrival at the brothel, the girl who's been procured for him is asleep and he finds himself oddly touched by her innocence. He develops a fantasy life for himself and this girl, feeling her presence in everything that he does, even though she's not physically there. What is central the book is not the girl herself for we are not given any indication of her personality, her thoughts and indeed her feelings, but how the man reacts and changes with his continued fascination for her. There's something about her that manages to touch his core and awakens emotions he's not experienced before. Just when he was planning on checking out of life, he now finds himself with a new lease in life, instead of resigning from his job as a columnist, he continues writing but with a different honesty, he adopts an elderly cat and
It's a story of hope, love, self-acceptance and passion. What I wish was different though, was the author's choice of the girl. It smacked a little too much of pedophilia for my liking. But there's no denying Marquez's genius in soulful writing.
Show Less
LibraryThing member varwenea
The subject is not an easy read for the gentle readers – a 90 year old journalist decides to purchase the privilege of sex with an adolescent virgin, 14 years old to be exact. Instead of sex, he learns about love for the first time. I have to admit I removed visualizations from my head as I read.
So what makes it a worthwhile read? Because the writing is great. The theme of aging alone makes this book worth reading. “Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” “…I am the end of a line, without merit or brilliance, who would have nothing to leave his descendants…” “…my bones had been aching since the small hours, my *ssh*l* burned…” I have to admit I smiled at that one (maybe the smile was a serves-you-right reaction). From his pension finances, to his 50+ year and still going column, I have an inevitable appreciation in having glimpses into his aged world. And okay, spoiler alert time, he didn’t actually have intercourse with her. With a variety of circumstances, she never even looked at his face. He came to tenderly loving this girl, helping her in his own small ways. He fell in love, wanting to protect her instead of violate her. “Ah, me, if this is love, then how it torments.”
This is only a modest novella, and this Colombian writer still shines even when using a controversial theme. I’m pretty sure I will look for more of his books. To close, here’s an advice from the book: “Don’t let yourself die without knowing the wonder of f*ck*ng with love.”
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The idea is simply repulsive. Further, he tracked his sexual encounters from the age of 20 to 50 having slept with 514 women – most of whom he paid for and “the few who weren’t in the profession I persuaded, by argument or by force, to take money even if they threw it in the trash.” I’m pretty sure that’s rape! As is this with his maid – “…when I happened to see her bending over in the laundry room wearing a skirt so short it bared her succulent curves. Overcome by irresistible excitement, I pulled her skirt up in back, pulled her underwear down to her knees, and charged her from behind.” Argh, I know it’s a novel but it still made me cringe. So what makes it a worthwhile read? Because the writing is great. The theme of aging alone makes this book worth reading. “Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” “…I am the end of a line, without merit or brilliance, who would have nothing to leave his descendants…” “…my bones had been aching since the small hours, my *ssh*l* burned…” I have to admit I smiled at that one (maybe the smile was a serves-you-right reaction). From his pension finances, to his 50+ year and still going column, I have an inevitable appreciation in having glimpses into his aged world. And okay, spoiler alert time, he didn’t actually have intercourse with her. With a variety of circumstances, she never even looked at his face. He came to tenderly loving this girl, helping her in his own small ways. He fell in love, wanting to protect her instead of violate her. “Ah, me, if this is love, then how it torments.”
This is only a modest novella, and this Colombian writer still shines even when using a controversial theme. I’m pretty sure I will look for more of his books. To close, here’s an advice from the book: “Don’t let yourself die without knowing the wonder of f*ck*ng with love.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member thelittlereader
this was my second Gabriel Garcia Marquez book, the first being the well known One Hundred Years of Solitude, which i loved so much that it made my Top Picks list. Memories of My Melancholy Whores, although written with similar language, is more of a novella (only 128 pages) and doesn’t have
the story focuses on a bachelor on the eve of his 90th birthday. having only ever had sex with prostitutes and in proper celebration, he calls upon the Madam Rosa Cabarcas to find a virgin for him. she does this, securing him a 14 year old girl whom he names Delgadina. once with her, the impending sexual encounter doesn’t occur, but rather he longingly admires her and falls asleep. the ensuing year long “relationship” with the young prostitute, in addition to costing a fortune, brings our narrator a happiness he has never known. having never found love and never known joy in life, Delgadina awakens in him something new and causes much reflection on our narrators part, on aging, life, love, death, and naturally, sex.
"Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love."
the relationship is a curious one, with little to no dialogue and a rather perverse sense of intimacy, much like their first encounter that is absent of sex. but, his love for her makes brings an honor and genuineness to him that is admirable. as a seasoned journalist, our narrator has a witty sense of humor and i found his reflections on aging particularly hilarious, with his reflections on love heartfelt. though it is odd to imagine the relationship between our narrator and Delgadina (and he does spend quite a bit of time lamenting on her naked form), i never really was all that bothered by the book. it was written with the intention of examining beauty and love and it does that ever so well.
i think the best part of this book, as with One Hundred Years was the language. Marquez just has that lovely, lyrical way of making the most mundane scenes sounds magical and this was no exception.
"When the cathedral bells struck seven, there was a single, limpid star in the rose-colored sky, a ship called out a disconsolate farewell, and in my throat I felt the Gordian knot of all the loves that might have been and weren’t."
though i was not blown away, i did enjoy this and would recommend it as a nice, short read for anyone interested in the beautiful shape that words can take. however, if the idea of a 90 year old man with a 14 year old virgin upsets you, this might not be the right book for you, because it is central and crucial to the flow of the book.
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nearly the same breadth of scope as One Hundred Years and has a rather curious plot and set of characters. i did enjoy it and it certainly has its merits, but it is understandably not a book for everyone.the story focuses on a bachelor on the eve of his 90th birthday. having only ever had sex with prostitutes and in proper celebration, he calls upon the Madam Rosa Cabarcas to find a virgin for him. she does this, securing him a 14 year old girl whom he names Delgadina. once with her, the impending sexual encounter doesn’t occur, but rather he longingly admires her and falls asleep. the ensuing year long “relationship” with the young prostitute, in addition to costing a fortune, brings our narrator a happiness he has never known. having never found love and never known joy in life, Delgadina awakens in him something new and causes much reflection on our narrators part, on aging, life, love, death, and naturally, sex.
"Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love."
the relationship is a curious one, with little to no dialogue and a rather perverse sense of intimacy, much like their first encounter that is absent of sex. but, his love for her makes brings an honor and genuineness to him that is admirable. as a seasoned journalist, our narrator has a witty sense of humor and i found his reflections on aging particularly hilarious, with his reflections on love heartfelt. though it is odd to imagine the relationship between our narrator and Delgadina (and he does spend quite a bit of time lamenting on her naked form), i never really was all that bothered by the book. it was written with the intention of examining beauty and love and it does that ever so well.
i think the best part of this book, as with One Hundred Years was the language. Marquez just has that lovely, lyrical way of making the most mundane scenes sounds magical and this was no exception.
"When the cathedral bells struck seven, there was a single, limpid star in the rose-colored sky, a ship called out a disconsolate farewell, and in my throat I felt the Gordian knot of all the loves that might have been and weren’t."
though i was not blown away, i did enjoy this and would recommend it as a nice, short read for anyone interested in the beautiful shape that words can take. however, if the idea of a 90 year old man with a 14 year old virgin upsets you, this might not be the right book for you, because it is central and crucial to the flow of the book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jasonlf
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has a real knack for first sentences. One Hundred Years of Solitude arguably has the best opening sentence of any book written in the 20th Century. But in the case of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" the first sentence did less to draw me in than to deter me from reading it
Upon finally reading it, I made it through long enough to get past the fact that the girl in question was fourteen to learn that she slept through the entire night and was a still a virgin the morning. A pattern that repeated itself most every night for the next year.
The novella itself is beautiful, capturing the autumn of a writer/columnist looking back on his life as an lonely aesthete whose only experiences with anything in the neighborhood of love were all of the paid variety. It has none of the depth and breadth of Hundred Years of Solitude or Autumn of the Patriarch, and the love story does not come close to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is a gem of compactness and mood.
Show More
for the last several years since its release. It may be prudish, but I wasn't particularly enticed by: "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a wild night of love with an adolescent virgin."Upon finally reading it, I made it through long enough to get past the fact that the girl in question was fourteen to learn that she slept through the entire night and was a still a virgin the morning. A pattern that repeated itself most every night for the next year.
The novella itself is beautiful, capturing the autumn of a writer/columnist looking back on his life as an lonely aesthete whose only experiences with anything in the neighborhood of love were all of the paid variety. It has none of the depth and breadth of Hundred Years of Solitude or Autumn of the Patriarch, and the love story does not come close to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is a gem of compactness and mood.
Show Less
LibraryThing member London_StJ
"The Professor" is an old man, and to celebrate the luck of reaching longevity he decides to celebrate his old age in the ordinary sort of way: he will deflower a very young virgin (the younger the better).
Having never had sex that he didn't pay for (he claims), the Professor calls a madam whom he
As he waits - both for the call, and then for his selected companion to wake from her sleep of utter exhaustion - the reader is treated to an account of some of his escapades, and his reflection on what it means to be old. The protagonist demonstrates the conceit of the elderly, comfortable that his audience must be interested in his story simply because it is a story he wishes to tell. The Professor is not an extraordinary man, nor is he even an interesting man, and yet there is charm in his narrative style, and it is this charm that captivates the reader and tricks the audience into believing he may actually be interesting.
The rising action of the novel is minimal, as most is spent in past reflection of perhaps unusual convictions related to the evolving sexuality of a man, and the few relationships he has had with women (from his mother to a failed fiance to the few prostitutes whom he speaks of as people). His frustration provides satisfaction for the audience, and the hard-won resolution is perfectly balanced.
Memories of my Melancholy Whores is fascinating and lyrical, and recommended.
Having never had sex that he didn't pay for (he claims), the Professor calls a madam whom he
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has known for much of his extended life, and she proclaims that it is impossible, that he is asking far too much, and that she will call him back within an hour. As he waits - both for the call, and then for his selected companion to wake from her sleep of utter exhaustion - the reader is treated to an account of some of his escapades, and his reflection on what it means to be old. The protagonist demonstrates the conceit of the elderly, comfortable that his audience must be interested in his story simply because it is a story he wishes to tell. The Professor is not an extraordinary man, nor is he even an interesting man, and yet there is charm in his narrative style, and it is this charm that captivates the reader and tricks the audience into believing he may actually be interesting.
The rising action of the novel is minimal, as most is spent in past reflection of perhaps unusual convictions related to the evolving sexuality of a man, and the few relationships he has had with women (from his mother to a failed fiance to the few prostitutes whom he speaks of as people). His frustration provides satisfaction for the audience, and the hard-won resolution is perfectly balanced.
Memories of my Melancholy Whores is fascinating and lyrical, and recommended.
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LibraryThing member Zara.Garcia.Alvarez
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
By Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Don't be misled by the number of pages---though it's a short book, its rich with tormented love, drama, and passion. The character, himself, is multi-layered, driven by nostalgia, grand dignity, indulgence and denial, lust, illusion, love,
By Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Don't be misled by the number of pages---though it's a short book, its rich with tormented love, drama, and passion. The character, himself, is multi-layered, driven by nostalgia, grand dignity, indulgence and denial, lust, illusion, love,
Show More
repression and longing, desire, and regret. The writing has poetic cadency without superficiality and the need to impress. The language and internal dialogue is read with such ease, such passion is believable, even encouraged, even though the character is obviously flawed, and loss, inevitable. Show Less
LibraryThing member akosikulot-project52
"Don't let yourself die without knowing the wonder of f*ck*ng with love." - Thoughts on Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman)
I cannot claim to have wholly appreciated Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores, simply
I will always have a thing, so to speak, for male romantic writers, or men who write romantically, or boys who write down their feelings, and here was an almost-century-old columnist who decides to f*ck a virgin on the eve of his 90th birthday - an understandable conquest for a man so widely known and respected in his community, but was secretly the resident Casanova for decades. The thing is, regardless of all things accomplished, he was lacking in something vital: he had never fallen in love, ever. And at ninety, would you even care?
But lo and behold, that is exactly what happens to him on his 90th birthday: he falls in love with the virgin prostitute (what an oxymoron) offered by the brothel of which he is a regular. But this girl is too tired with work and with taking care of her siblings that she is fast asleep - and he lets her be. He lets her be, again and again.
And this first love of his, it invigorates him to no end - "age isn't how old you are but how old you feel" - and both torments and teaches him things that, at the age of a decade removed from a century, one ought just reminisce about. But here he was, learning about love and all its trappings: "...love taught me too late that you groom yourself for someone, you dress and perfume yourself for someone, and I'd never had anyone to do that for."
As for the melancholia, there is much, because isn't it that where love is, there's bound to be a bit of heartbreak? Here, let me hint at it with this quote:
"I buried myself in the romantic writings I had repudiated when my mother tried to impose them on me with a heavy hand, and in them I became aware that the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy, love."
Ah, young love - and yes, first, though aren't first loves the youngest of them all?
PS. There was this little gem of a quote that enlightened me about the difference between sex and love-making, and quite blunt, too: "Sex is the consolation you have when you can't have love."
Originally posted here.
I cannot claim to have wholly appreciated Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores, simply
Show More
because, at twenty, I am too young to appreciate his character's life's longevity as well as his having never fallen in love. Heck, I can't even pretend to know the difference between mere sex and passionate love-making. But Marquez writes with such a passion that it reaches out to you and makes you feel it too, and for that alone my romantic self swoons.I will always have a thing, so to speak, for male romantic writers, or men who write romantically, or boys who write down their feelings, and here was an almost-century-old columnist who decides to f*ck a virgin on the eve of his 90th birthday - an understandable conquest for a man so widely known and respected in his community, but was secretly the resident Casanova for decades. The thing is, regardless of all things accomplished, he was lacking in something vital: he had never fallen in love, ever. And at ninety, would you even care?
But lo and behold, that is exactly what happens to him on his 90th birthday: he falls in love with the virgin prostitute (what an oxymoron) offered by the brothel of which he is a regular. But this girl is too tired with work and with taking care of her siblings that she is fast asleep - and he lets her be. He lets her be, again and again.
And this first love of his, it invigorates him to no end - "age isn't how old you are but how old you feel" - and both torments and teaches him things that, at the age of a decade removed from a century, one ought just reminisce about. But here he was, learning about love and all its trappings: "...love taught me too late that you groom yourself for someone, you dress and perfume yourself for someone, and I'd never had anyone to do that for."
As for the melancholia, there is much, because isn't it that where love is, there's bound to be a bit of heartbreak? Here, let me hint at it with this quote:
"I buried myself in the romantic writings I had repudiated when my mother tried to impose them on me with a heavy hand, and in them I became aware that the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy, love."
Ah, young love - and yes, first, though aren't first loves the youngest of them all?
PS. There was this little gem of a quote that enlightened me about the difference between sex and love-making, and quite blunt, too: "Sex is the consolation you have when you can't have love."
Originally posted here.
Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
An unexpected and disarming story, this is one of those tales that exhibits Marquez's talent for sucking a reader into the unknown, and holding them without fail. And somehow, foreign as the many moments and characters are in age and behavior and attitude, the emotions and the engagements are so
Simply, Marquez is unmatched in his ability to tell a strange and wonder-full love story, and this work is worth falling into.
Recommended.
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familiar as to be magical. Simply, Marquez is unmatched in his ability to tell a strange and wonder-full love story, and this work is worth falling into.
Recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ZaraD.Garcia-Alvarez
Don't be misled by the number of pages---though it's a short book, its rich with tormented love, drama, and passion. The character, himself, is multi-layered, driven by nostalgia, grand dignity, indulgence and denial, lust, illusion, love, repression and longing, desire, and regret. The writing has
Show More
poetic cadency without superficiality and the need to impress. The language and internal dialogue is read with such ease, such passion is believable, even encouraged, even though the character is obviously flawed, and loss, inevitable. Show Less
LibraryThing member nosajeel
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has a real knack for first sentences. One Hundred Years of Solitude arguably has the best opening sentence of any book written in the 20th Century. But in the case of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" the first sentence did less to draw me in than to deter me from reading it
Upon finally reading it, I made it through long enough to get past the fact that the girl in question was fourteen to learn that she slept through the entire night and was a still a virgin the morning. A pattern that repeated itself most every night for the next year.
The novella itself is beautiful, capturing the autumn of a writer/columnist looking back on his life as an lonely aesthete whose only experiences with anything in the neighborhood of love were all of the paid variety. It has none of the depth and breadth of Hundred Years of Solitude or Autumn of the Patriarch, and the love story does not come close to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is a gem of compactness and mood.
Show More
for the last several years since its release. It may be prudish, but I wasn't particularly enticed by: "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a wild night of love with an adolescent virgin."Upon finally reading it, I made it through long enough to get past the fact that the girl in question was fourteen to learn that she slept through the entire night and was a still a virgin the morning. A pattern that repeated itself most every night for the next year.
The novella itself is beautiful, capturing the autumn of a writer/columnist looking back on his life as an lonely aesthete whose only experiences with anything in the neighborhood of love were all of the paid variety. It has none of the depth and breadth of Hundred Years of Solitude or Autumn of the Patriarch, and the love story does not come close to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is a gem of compactness and mood.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Amanda.Richards
The unnamed narrator in this story turns 90 and decides that he is in need of a whore. The catch is that she has to be a virgin. He calls his usual Madam and after some searching she finds him a 14 year old girl who is willing to sell her virginity to help support her younger siblings.
So that
This scene repeats over and over (for about a year is what I gathered from the text). It does have some variations however.
In short this story is about a 90 year old man who has no wife, no children, and no real friends who falls in love for the first time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok. Now cut to my reactions:
The first note I made about this book in my reading journal is "I feel dirty just reading this". Then I found this quote:
She had been subjected to a regimen of hygiene and beautification that did not overlook even the incipient down on her pubis. pg. 25"
Dafuq did I just read?!
I should point out that if you leave out the age of the girl (or make her older than 14...) the story is lovely.
The narrator finds love for the first time and goes through the 'twitterpation' (Yup, that's a Bambi reference) that most adolescents face. However he never got there. His world is turned upside down as these feelings of 'first love' wreak havoc on him. These feelings lead to these quotes from the book:
"Thanks to her I confronted my inner self for the first time as my ninetieth year went by. I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature. i discovered that I am not disciplined out of virtue but as a reaction to my negligence, that I appear generous in order to conceal my meanness, that I pass myself off as prudent because I am evil-minded, that I am conciliatory in order not to succumb to my repressed rage, that I am punctual only to hide how little I care about other people's time. I learned, in short, that love is not a condition of the spirit but a sign of the zodiac. I became another man. Pg. 65
This paragraph continues and is probably the best portion of the book.
When thinking about the torments of love he thinks: "I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world."
So there was good and bad in the story. I am just confused as to how he fell in love with a girl he has never spoken to.
The story is interesting, I just could never get past the age thing/pedophilia.
Basically, read at your own risk.
So that
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night, she is dolled up and given something to help her sleep and is laid out naked on the bed to lay in wait for her John. When he arrives she is asleep and instead of him waking her, he inspects her and falls asleep next to her only to awake in the morning and leave.This scene repeats over and over (for about a year is what I gathered from the text). It does have some variations however.
In short this story is about a 90 year old man who has no wife, no children, and no real friends who falls in love for the first time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok. Now cut to my reactions:
The first note I made about this book in my reading journal is "I feel dirty just reading this". Then I found this quote:
She had been subjected to a regimen of hygiene and beautification that did not overlook even the incipient down on her pubis. pg. 25"
Dafuq did I just read?!
I should point out that if you leave out the age of the girl (or make her older than 14...) the story is lovely.
The narrator finds love for the first time and goes through the 'twitterpation' (Yup, that's a Bambi reference) that most adolescents face. However he never got there. His world is turned upside down as these feelings of 'first love' wreak havoc on him. These feelings lead to these quotes from the book:
"Thanks to her I confronted my inner self for the first time as my ninetieth year went by. I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature. i discovered that I am not disciplined out of virtue but as a reaction to my negligence, that I appear generous in order to conceal my meanness, that I pass myself off as prudent because I am evil-minded, that I am conciliatory in order not to succumb to my repressed rage, that I am punctual only to hide how little I care about other people's time. I learned, in short, that love is not a condition of the spirit but a sign of the zodiac. I became another man. Pg. 65
This paragraph continues and is probably the best portion of the book.
When thinking about the torments of love he thinks: "I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world."
So there was good and bad in the story. I am just confused as to how he fell in love with a girl he has never spoken to.
The story is interesting, I just could never get past the age thing/pedophilia.
Basically, read at your own risk.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ojos11
Loved it! I thought it was going to be about a dirty old man but it wasn't. It was a beautiful love story with an amazing ending.
LibraryThing member Pretear
I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez but I have to admit I had my doubts about this book after reading the first line. "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." Immediately, I was repulsed and faced with the question, is my all time
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favorite author a dirty old pervert? And thankfully after finishing the book I can say with some degree of certainty, no, he is not. There is no magical realism in this book. Instead the reader finds a philosophical and charming tale about aging and love that only GMM could spin. The main character, a dirty old pervert (no doubt), is perplexed by finding himself madly in love at the age of 90 after a life time of empty affairs. The two main characters are nameless. The girl, the object of the old man's affection, is speechless throughout the story. The main character is in love, but not with the girl herself, rather the idea of the girl. She is perfect, but only in his mind. For that reason, the main character is constantly reminding the reader that he prefers the girl while she sleeps and he is afraid of ever knowing her real name or seeing her out in public when she isn't naked and sleeping. To him she is not a real person. This theme of strange irrational love flows throughout the book and makes the underlying truth of the story bearable to a modern reader - an impoverished 14 year-old girl is forced to pseudo-prostitute herself to this old man in order to help feed her family. This book is a literary gem for anyone who can put that point aside, doing so is well worth it. Show Less
LibraryThing member jpporter
This is one of the more interesting novels I've read by Marquez, mainly because it differs from many of his stories in that this one is written from the perspective of the main character - a 90-year-old bachelor who has only ever had sex with prostitutes (and non-prostitutes he insisted on paying
The main premise to the story is the main character contacts a Madam he'd dealt with in the past, and requests a particular celebration for his birthday: sex with an adolescent virgin. To say more than this would be to spoil the book.
Suffice to say (and by way of flattering myself by believing that I have this much insight into why this book is written in a fashion so different from his other books), the narrator learns how empty his life has been, despite having had relations with hundreds of women; it is only when he turns 90, and realizes how little time he has left, that he discovers the essence of love, and the difference between love and sex, culminating in a realization that it is through love that he can finally capture some sense of meaning to his life.
So much for my "deep insight."
Marquez is at his most intriguing here, particularly if you are familiar with his other works; if not, this is still an example of Marquez at his best.
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for their "services"). Usually, Marquez tells his stories from multiple perspectives, frequently least of all by the main character.The main premise to the story is the main character contacts a Madam he'd dealt with in the past, and requests a particular celebration for his birthday: sex with an adolescent virgin. To say more than this would be to spoil the book.
Suffice to say (and by way of flattering myself by believing that I have this much insight into why this book is written in a fashion so different from his other books), the narrator learns how empty his life has been, despite having had relations with hundreds of women; it is only when he turns 90, and realizes how little time he has left, that he discovers the essence of love, and the difference between love and sex, culminating in a realization that it is through love that he can finally capture some sense of meaning to his life.
So much for my "deep insight."
Marquez is at his most intriguing here, particularly if you are familiar with his other works; if not, this is still an example of Marquez at his best.
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LibraryThing member dele2451
An casual glance at the subject matter of this novella could lead readers unacquainted with Marquez' work to deduce this was a cheap, tawdry piece but nothing could be farther from reality. Heartbreaking but hopeful,
unflinchingly harsh but beautifully sentimental, and oddly sexual without all the
unflinchingly harsh but beautifully sentimental, and oddly sexual without all the
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gritty details of actual consummation. Guaranteed to bring hope to anyone who is afraid they have missed the boat on finding love in their life, but worth the read for everybody else too. Bottom Line: It's lovely and unexpected from cover to cover - I definitely recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member novelcommentary
I always love the Master's writing. this short novella isn't nearly as sordid as it may seem. Several quotes here help to give the texture of the story about first love in the most unusual context. --
Sept 1
Great loves often force people to confront unpleasant truths about themselves, but since the
This is a story of love. A man mustn't die without knowing the wonder. When that red evening comes, García Márquez seems to be saying, we are all one and the same: third-rate hacks, sniffing out love, chasing salvation. And if we don't quite reach love, there will be consolations.
The wonderful joke of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," though, is that its hero's life is changed by the late onset of a profoundly immature and not especially healthy emotion: the painful, idealizing, narcissistic romanticism of adolescence. And the narrator knows all too well how ludicrously out of season this desperate yearning is, how silly it is for a man his age - the whores' client of the year, no less - to be born again into puppy love.
Sept 1
Great loves often force people to confront unpleasant truths about themselves, but since the
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great love in this case is not available for comment, the rebirth is entirely the old man's work. A re-examination is always possible, the author seems to say: all one needs is the trigger.This is a story of love. A man mustn't die without knowing the wonder. When that red evening comes, García Márquez seems to be saying, we are all one and the same: third-rate hacks, sniffing out love, chasing salvation. And if we don't quite reach love, there will be consolations.
The wonderful joke of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," though, is that its hero's life is changed by the late onset of a profoundly immature and not especially healthy emotion: the painful, idealizing, narcissistic romanticism of adolescence. And the narrator knows all too well how ludicrously out of season this desperate yearning is, how silly it is for a man his age - the whores' client of the year, no less - to be born again into puppy love.
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LibraryThing member hippietrail
This is the easiest I've read a whole Spanish novel yet. I enjoyed it and have been inspired to improve my tiny vocabulary, which is a challenge with so many words Gabo uses not being even in my full RAE, let alone my small translating dictionaries.
LibraryThing member defrog
His latest novel, and at 103 pages a short one. Typically for him, it’s a romance with a weird twist (90-year old man falls for 14-year-old prostitute who just sleeps beside him) as well as a rumination on old age. Not normally what I’m into, but Garcia Marquez has a magical way with language
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that ropes me in. Not his best, but still worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member lizatoad
I was very dissapointed by this book because Marquez is one of my favorite authors and this just wasn't up to par with his other works. These theme and tone semed recycled and I didn't really find myself caring about the narrator. If you've never reas Marquez before, PLESAE don't start with this
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one. If he's already an author you enjoy, don't bother. Show Less
LibraryThing member posthumose
You can't fault the man's writing and story telling, which is beautiful. And it's considerably more than a love story, as it comes at the end of a man's long life with the surprise of a new experience.
It's a five star novel for anyone who doesn't mind a story about a man, his memories of the women
It's a five star novel for anyone who doesn't mind a story about a man, his memories of the women
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he's been with, and the special treat he buys for his 90th birthday. He's never fallen in love, or had sex without paying for it, you see. Poor man's been too busy working. If you can get past a 14 year old virgin as a gift to yourself at 90, you'll love the writing. Show Less
LibraryThing member julierh
this is the story of a ninety year-old colombian journalist dealing with the consequences of a life lived without love and the reality of death. though the novel explores such themes, it avoids sentimentality; an astute piece
LibraryThing member FPdC
Does a love story with a ninety years old character makes sense? This book proves that it does. But there is something in it that makes for a somewhat disturbing reading. Maybe that is the hallmark of great literature...
LibraryThing member Bbexlibris
This book is well written, Garcia Marquez could do nothing else than good writing...but it did not capture me. When I finished it I realized that I did learn some things and it made me think, but really it was not worth the crudeness in order to get there. I may however Hold Marquez to a higher
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standard than other authors since much of his other writings are so phenomenal. Show Less
LibraryThing member JCO123
Very short but interesting. Not one of his best. I didn't particularly like the ending that much
LibraryThing member angella.beshara
It certainly is satisfying when you can finish a book in a sitting. Well yeah, it is only 115 pages but an accomplishment none-the-less:). I am still kind of processing the meat of the novel but overall I like the tone of the novel and I like that despite it being a short, quick read the other
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gives a lot to think of. I like that the nameless narrator likes himself better because he has learned to love someone, even if that someone isn't a real person but just the projection of his own idea of feminine. However, I think that you can also read it that he falls in love with her while she is sleeping because he cannot turn her into a sexual object, that he cannot corrupt her with the sexism and "machismo" of the culture. Overall, a thought provoking book that's small size belies it's large themes. Show Less
Awards
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2005)
Bad Sex in Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2005)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2005)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2005)
Call number
FIC A4 Gar