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Memories of My Melancholy Whores

gabriel garcía márquez edith grossman

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Memories of My Melancholy Whores is Gabriel García Márquez’s first work of fiction in ten years, written at the height of his powers, the Spanish edition of which Ilan Stavans called, “Masterful. Erotic. As hypnotizing as it is disturbing” (Los Angeles Times).

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 girl, 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.

115 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 19,2004
Literary awards
los angeles times book prize, 
Places
colombia, 

This edition

Format
115 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
November 1, 2006 by Vintage International
ISBN
ASIN
B0DLT4X8WB
Language
English

More editions

About the author

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gabriel garcía márquez

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Gabriel José de la Concordia Garcí­a Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garcí­a Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.

Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.

(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) (Ukrainian: Ґабріель Ґарсія Маркес) (Belarussian: Габрыель Гарсія Маркес) (Russian: Габриэль Гарсия Маркес)

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 96 votes)
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96 reviews All reviews
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Ysbryd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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چند سال پیش خوندمش و واقعا قدرت آثار قبلی مارکز را نداره و گویا تاثیر آلزایمر داره خودش را نشون میده. نمیدونم چه چیز خاصی توی اثر وجود داره و باید دنبالش بگردیم؟ تقریبا هیچی. نهایتا همون قدرت قصه گویی که قلم مارکز داره.
ماجرای یک روزنامه نگار کهنه کار که در نود سالگی و در اوج تنهایی تصمیم میگیره باز یه رابطه را شروع کنه و نگاهش به ماجرا اول کاملا جنسی هست و تا اواخر کار کم کم یه کم عاطفی هم میشه.
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MJeffT
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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On a certain level, I truly enjoyed "Memories of My Melancholy Whores". I am always ready to be swept up in the simple whimsy of G.G.M's language, and the sweeping romance and dramatic emotion of his work always appeals to me. But on another very real level I found this book disturbing and sexist.
The book's theme is strikingly reminiscent of "Talk to Her", a recent Almodovar film. Both deal with men who build flowery romantic/erotic relationships in their minds with a completely passive sleeping woman. In the film, the man in question is a nurse in a hospital caring for an accomplished ballerina who is in a coma. In "Melancholy Whores", the "lover" is a man who has just turned ninety and falls in love with a 14 year old prostitute who he visits every night while she sleeps deeply (possibly drugged).
If you choose to put aside the creepy elements and focus on the romantic sentiment and poetic pedestal that Delgadina (the name the old man invents for his nameless "whore") is placed atop, the book is a very beautiful reflection on the need for love and the degradations of aging. If you can't put is aside, this is a story of a strange pedophilic attachment that certainly should not be romanticized.
Both the Almodovar film and this book romanticize and rhapsodize about the perfectly passive woman-- a woman as little more than an object-- and construct fantasy relationships with someone who never speaks, or even opens her eyes. I once saw an issue of Hustler that had this photo of "The Ideal Woman". She had Jack Daniels coming out of one nipple, and milk out of the other. Guacamole issued from her nether regions and stuffed in her mouth was a tampon. The caption explained that since this woman menstruated from her mouth she was completely silent for about a week every month. This is, of course, disgustingly crude, but take away the frills of magical realism and I feel like "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" is not that different.
There are definite high points. The protagonist's reflections on aging were sharp and funny. The epic nature of the love described in the text whips you away on a Sleeping Beauty/Beauty and the Beast fairy-tale romance that evokes true punch-in-the-stomach emotion.
But in the end, this "princess" is a pre-pubescent prostitute who slaves away sewing on buttons all day to take care of her family and spends her nights fondled and admired by an aged delusional "beast", who will never take her away from reality in princely fashion. In the end, for me anyway, the ick factor breaks the spell.
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Nimi-_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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For his 90th birthday, a man wants to sleep with a young virgin. But, unfortunately, the brothel he has already frequented offers him a 14-year-old girl.
The plot is cash; I would even say trash. But, on the other hand, it is a concise book and reads very quickly - nothing to be ecstatic about in front of this book.
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vikkikat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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«خاطرات روسپیان سودازده من» یا «خاطرات دلبرکان غمگین من» به وضوح وام گرفته از داستان «خانه‌ی خوبرویان خفته» هست. پیرمردی نود ساله که زندگیش با هوسرانی‌ و هم‌خوابگی با صدها روسپی گذشته و هرگز عشق رو تجربه نکرده تصمیم میگیره برای تولد خودش همخوابگی با یک دختر باکره رو به خودش پیشکش کنه. همین اتفاق خط اصلی داستان هست و در خلال اون اتفاقاتی از گذشته و داستان‌های حاشیه‌ای دیگه‌ای هم تعریف می‌کنه.ه
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fettywapfan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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پیرمردی که می خواهد جشن نود سالگی اش را با شکوه برگزار کند تا طعم تلخ تنهایی را فراموش کند
او گوشی را بر میدارد و زنگ می زند. زن پشت تلفن، پیرمرد را بیاد می آورد و پیرمرد آنچه را میخواسته، به او میگوید
همه چیز خوب پیش می رود و پیرمرد گوشی را میگذارد.قرار است برای شب تولدش، با دختری 14 ساله و باکره همخوابگی کند
ولی این هوس با هوس های دیگر سال های جوانی و میانسالی اش فرق دارد
و این بار عشق است که هوس را به زانو در می آورد

زندگی هدیه تولد غیر منتظره ای برای پیرمرد دارد
درک زیبایی زندگی ، آنهم زمانی که فرصت زیادی نمانده

این بار از روی عادت، ریشش را هر صبح اصلاح نمی کند
بلکه برای دخترک است
و همه کارهایش برای این زیباروست
نوشته هایش در ستونی از روزنامه بوی عشق می گیرد و طرفدار پیدا میکند

این رمان منو یاد جمله هایی از وصیت نامه مارکز انداخت

به همه ثابت می کردم
که انسان ها به دلیل پیر شدن نیست که دیگر عاشق نمی شوند
بلکه زمانی پیر می شوند که دیگر عاشق نمی شوند

....
مارکز گفته بود که آرزو داشت نویسنده کتاب" خانه زیبارویان خفته" باشد و شاید این کتاب را به تقلید از فضای آن نوشته
پیرمردی در برابر دختران جوان
البته کمی متفاوتتر
.......
امروز که نگاهی به کتاب انداختم
قبل از شروع این را نوشته

زن مهمانخانه دار به اگوچی پیر هشدار داد: هیچ کار زشتی نباید بکنی.مبادا انگشت توی دهن زن خوابیده یا یک کار دیگه ای شبیه بکنی

یاسوناری کاواباتا،خانه مهرویان خفته

پس مارکز این کتاب را بخاطر عشقش به کتاب خانه زیبارویان خفته نوشته
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arrowofthenight
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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A Latin-American "Lolita" Lite or: Don't Let The Title Scare You (This Isn't A Dirty Old Man Book)

It’s been years since I've read anything by Gabriel García Márquez, and so this little book, while not as grand, sweeping or substantial as the works that earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, came as a lovely, gentle surprise.

Reading it felt like catching up with a grizzled old friend who can tell a mean story. García Márquez’s seductive writing has a perfumed air of nostalgia and romance about it. Once sniffed, it's impossible to tear yourself away.

Take the book’s remarkable opening line:

“The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.”

The unnamed narrator isn’t as lecherous as he sounds. He’s “ugly, shy, and anachronistic,” a journalist who used to rewrite wire copy and now supplements his income by teaching Spanish lessons and penning a newspaper column. He never married (although he was once engaged), and doesn’t have any children. And, until now, he’s never been in love.

Yes, this is a story about a man who’s gone nearly a century without finding love. And now, old, wrinkled, his joints (and other things) creaky, he falls. With passion. And frustration. And jealousy. But absolutely no regrets.

The object of his love isn’t all that important in the book. She’s kept intentionally vague, often seen sleeping (she works at a factory sewing on buttons), her tired back usually turned to the narrator. We're not even told her real name, although the narrator calls her “Delgadina,” after the lyrics of a favourite song.

The fact is, the burst of energy the man gets from his (rather chaste) relationship with Delgadina suddenly gives his life meaning and purpose. His columns, many of them now about love, become famous in town; radio hosts read them to thousands of listeners. He gets the nickname “the maestro of love.” People recognize him on the streets.

García Márquez's powers of description are as strong as ever. The pacing is impeccable. Several characters – from the brothel madame, Rosa Cabarcas, to the narrator's hard-working, tireless maid – snap to life in a few sharp sentences and lines of dialogue. As a 90th birthday present, the old man is given an old cat, who pads his way through a few scenes without becoming too obvious a symbol. In one heartbreaking episode the narrator hooks up with an old sexual partner and instead of getting physical, they talk honestly about their lives and their age, which feels even more intimate than sex.

There's not one wasted word. García Márquez has distilled his art to its very essence. One caveat: If you're too young, you may not get as much out of this. You need to have chalked up some regrets. It's one of those "the unexamined life is not worth living" books.

Prepare to think about your own history of love. To be nostalgic for a time and place you never even knew. To laugh and weep over the surprises, joys and melancholic moments of a long, fully inhabited life.
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Laevantein
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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To enjoy this book you have to enter the mind and world of this old, old man, living the last years of his life in poverty in the once-grand, decaying house of his youth. His career never rose above second-rate reporter, he never married and never even fell in love. His personal relationships with women were limited to the whores he paid for. A most unfulfilled life.

But then, for a present for his 90th birthday, he gives himself a 14 year-old virgin, a would-be whore. Exhausted from menial labour and drugged-up with valerian by the brothel madame, she sleeps every night they spend together, her sleeping and he sitting on a chair next to her bed. and for the first time in his life he falls in love. In love with the idea of his sleeping beauty.

This is a poetic, sensual book that many reviewers, unable to see beyond their own ideas of fitness, have condemned as tawdry, a paean to pedophilia and just plain sick. But it isn't. It's the last flowering of a rose; touched by frost it should have died but instead is more glorious, more beautiful because it is so unseasonal, a real surprise. What it says about the nature of men's love for young beauty is age-old: look good, be quiet and demure, and let him be the dominant one, is taken to an extreme here. It worked for Snow White, it worked for the Sleeping Beauty and it works for Delgadina too.

Love changes everything. Despite his 90 years, the old, old man walks with a spring in his step, his head held high and smiling to the world. He has an epiphany, 'sex is the consolation one has for not finding enough love' and writes about love in his weekly columns in the local newspaper. This brings him the fame, respect and friendship he had craved all his life. In his 91st year, at last, he has found fulfillment.

Ultimately, Gabriel Garcia Marquez says through this book: Never Give Up.

Read May 1, 2009

Update I've been reading other reviews and it seems that people think this book is about paedophilia, some Lolita book. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whores and loveless sex without dreams or commitment didn't bring the old man happiness. Now, not having sex but just sitting beside a sleeping girl and dreaming and falling in love with the dream, has brought about a sea change. Pure love and romantic daydreams have made him happy and this happiness has seeped into every aspect of his lire, until, despite his years he walks with a spring in his step and a smile on his face and this happiness makes him a hero to all who see him.

This is a brilliant book. It is the last book, the final jewel inset into the crown that is the literature of GGM. Do not hold back because of what you've heard. Do not misinterpret and see what isn't there. This book is the musings of a life without much happiness, not sex, and the girl is no more molested than was Snow White resting in her glass case with only her beauty on show.

I wrote this update purely because both on GR and in my shop people "have heard" about this book and so don't think they want to read it. December 4th, 2016
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Cartier117
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Livro pequenino que se lê muito bem, mas com um enredo que me agoniou um pouco. A velhice não é desejada, mas é imparável; aparece no que parece ser um piscar de olhos. Com ela sabemos que o fim daqueles que amamos está próximo.
O narrador desta pequena história fez-me sentir emoções contraditórias com as suas memórias desde a sua infância até aos seus dias com Delgadina.
Não são muitos os autores que conseguem fazer-me sentir assim.
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