“В годината, в която ставах на деветдесет, ми се прииска да си подаря една нощ на луда любов с девствено момиче.”

Така започва последната публикувана книга на Маркес, докато все още е жив. За някои вероятно звучи скандално и ще излъжа ако каже, че и аз не се потресох, когато прочетох това първо изречение. Само че говорим за Маркес и няма как да не е красиво и да не е в контекст. Книгата е своебразен поглед към любовта - плътската и духовната, връщане към младостта и първите любовни наслади.

Оценям романа и въпреки че не харесах главния герой и грам не му симпатизирах, нито пък се свързах с любовните му терзания и въздишки, говорим за Маркес и той е прекрасен!

“Сексът е утехата на човек, когато не му достига любов.”

En alguna ocasión un amigo me dijo que todos éramos dueños de una porción de locura y habitaba en nosotros por lo menos un deseo terriblemente oscuro. La diferencia era que el de algunos era una conducta ilegal. Memoria de mis putas tristes relata algo de esto: el amor pedófilo de un anciano de 90 años por una joven de 14.

Es cierto que hablamos de algo claramente reprochable éticamente, pero personalmente me gusta la visión de Gabo para dar este interesante panorama de una situación que no deja de ser común: el deseo de los hombres mayores por las jovencitas. Pero también es la historia de un ocaso, del amor en la víspera de la muerte y especialmente, de la soledad de las etapas no vividas.

Nuestro personaje principal jamás tuvo sexo sin amor, y se precia incluso de nunca haber tenido sexo sin pagar. Quizá a los 90 quedaba aun la deuda pendiente del sexo con amor para descansar en paz. Lo cierto es que nunca podemos saltar las etapas de nuestras vidas. El recorrido por este mundo es una escalera que hay que subir escala por escala para llegar. Saltar algunas solo nos recordará años más tarde, que aún en la vejez de nuestro cuerpo, esos vacíos representan la tristeza de nuestra memoria.

Маркес ме убива

Bir "Yüzyıllık Yalnızlık" değildi belki ama Marquez'in öykücülüğü yine etkileyiciydi. Öyle bir anlatımı var ki tasvip etmediği gibi yargılayamıyor da insan..

داستانی با مضمون عشق افلاطونی به قلم گابوی بزرگ. عشقی که برای خواننده همانقدر دست نیافتی است که شاید عشق یک پیرمرد نود ساله. برای درک حال و هوای کتاب می توانید فیلم in the mood for love کار وای وونگ را ببینید و برای درک زوال زندگی انسان در پیری به فیلم amour میشاییل هانکه نگاهی بیاندازید.

Garcia Marquez is getting tired. He dashed off this half-hearted little story and no publisher or faithful reader could resist the draw of his name. But if it had been someone's first work, it never would have been published.

Gabo não me conseguiu convencer com este livrinho... Com muita pena minha!

Talvez tenha sido por razões muito minhas, associadas a comportamentos que me dão asco, mesmo que estejam disfarçados de amor e ternura.

Opinião completa em breve.

¿Criticada y prohibida en algunos países por hacer apología de la prostitución infantil? ¿En serio?
La última novela publicada por Gabo me ha parecido espectacular. No sólo me ha hecho plantearme muchas cosas acerca de la edad, del amor y del paso del tiempo, sino que además ha logrado sacarme alguna que otra lagrimita.
Nunca es tarde para enamorarse; lo sabe muy bien el protagonista, un hombre de 90 años que cae preso del amor.
Una historia fabulosa, muy bien hilada y que no defrauda.
Da gusto leer las obras de este pedazo de ser humano.

به نظرم اگه عشق پیرمرد یه دختر 15ساله نبود، کتاب قشنگ تر بودددد
چرا همیشه مردا حتی تو 90سالگی عاشق میشن اونم عاشق یه دختر بچه باکره 15ساله...
خب چرا باید دختره 15سالش باشه، یا باکره باشه؟
ایا اصلا میشه به این گفت عشق؟
بله قبوله، امید به زندگی همیشه زیباست، اما چرا باید این امید این شکلی بوجود بیاد آخه؟

یا اصلا اگه این کتاب برعکس بود، یعنی یه خانم 90ساله عاشق یه پسر 15 ساله باکره میشد، باز هم اینقدر ازش همه جا می گفتن؟ به اون خانم هم عاشق میگفتن؟ اصلی کسی راجع بهش فکر میکرد که کتاب بنویسه؟

نمیدونم چرا حس میکنم این کتاب سعی داشت بعضی حقایق دردناک رو یه جور دیگه نشون بده...

My confusion in ENG see below

Es kaut ko nesapratu vai arī šī grāmata tiešām ir stāsts viena gada garumā par to, kā deviņdesmitgadīgs večuks vēlas izvarot 14gadīgu meiteni? Jā, viņš to neizdara, jā, viņā uzplaukst jūtas, ko pats dēvē par mīlestību. Un arī - jā, meitene tiek sazāļota pirms katras tikšanās. Jā, jubilārs viņu apčamda (tādu - guļošu) un apglāsta visās vietiņās. Tas pats jubilārs, kurš savulaik paņēmis priekšā (no muguras) savu kalponi, jo viņai gadījās pieliekties un izskatīties nu tik jaukai! (maiteklis - kā izrādās, kalpone pēc tam viņa iemīlējusies un gadiem ilgi raudājusi gaužas asaras, nopietni!?) Un pats mulsinošākais - jā, stāsts ir uzrakstīts lieliski. Markess spēj ievest pār šaha dēlīša rakstā rotāto grīdu uz balkonu ar stikla durvīm visas mājas sienas garumā, gar grāmatu plauktiem un pianolu, parādot arī šūpuļtīklu istabas stūrī, kur var paslēpties no nežēlīgās dienvidus saules. Man patiešām viegli bija arī notraust mazu puteklīti no krēsla atzveltnes bordeļa istabā. Markess izcili uzbur sava stāsta pasauli. Arī galveno tēlu mēs iepazīstam līdz mielēm. Tomēr, tomēr - viņš neraksta par seksuālo vardarbību, viņš raksta par to, cik mīlestība spēcīgāka par nāves bailēm. Mani tracina, ka man patika. Vai šo apjukumu manī pasaulē dēvē par feminista dzimšanu?


ENG
Is there something I'm really not noticing or is this a one year long story about a 90 year old man wanting to rape a 14 year old girl? OK, he doesn't manage to do it, ok- he even feels something that he calls love himself. But also - the girl gets drugged before every meeting, and she gets touched everywhere by him while she's sleeping. By the same man who has raped his maid just because she looked so cute when she bent down in those short skirts. Oh, and the maid as it turns out had fallen in love with him ever since. Seriously? Of course, the story is very well written. Marquez brings me to his world in the first few words. He helps me to get to know the main character to bits. Nevertheless - he doesn't write about rape, he writes about how love is stronger than the fear of death. I hate that I liked it so much. The confusion in me, is that the thing that's called the birth of the feminist?

Sorry, Gabe!

I might have misinterpreted or misunderstood it. I understand that there was some new-found joy, however questionable, if not objectionable, in having an amorous relationship with an adolescent Chiquita. It does not try to justify it, however it treats as some senile ailment which has to be attended to, like our unsuspecting hands reaching involuntarily to a sudden itch. The memories are wantonly remembered and the perversion is poeticized, while the melancholy is forgotten and the infatuated lovers are glorified as whores.

Mind you, I love other stories of you, this is just a let-down for me.

How do I rate this, when I don't even know what to make of it?

It's Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose writing I'm terribly fond of, his 'One Hundred Years Of Solitude' being one of my favourite books of all time. Now, I'll be honest and admit that knowing it was written by Garcia Marquez influenced me. It's hard to say how much.

The writing is phenomenal, it has a great flow, beautiful descriptions and great characterisations.

The subject, well, that one was a bit disconcerting. I suspect Garcia Marquez intended it to be so.
So our unreliable narrator is a ninety (90!) year old man, who's never been married, never been in love and only had sexual encounters with prostitutes. He lived a petty, ordinary, boring life. He's been nowhere, has no relatives or friends.

On his ninetieth birthday, he gives himself the gift of a virgin girl. Because, why the hell not? Right? I told myself to get over it, it's Marquez, be open minded, Bianca etc. So, honestly, I really tried. I tried to believe that he could do all the things he was doing in the book, chasing a girl, being on a bike and many other things very unlikely for a ninety-year-old. I also managed not to visualise him getting naked next to a drugged up teenager. Grrrr... I sound so square and unsophisticated, but that's how I felt.

I've read some reviews, some people saying that it's a quest for finding love, no matter how late in life. I so wish I saw that. All I saw was just an old, creepy man's carnal infatuation with somebody so young.

Other than that, I liked the exploration of old age, although I've read better.

So I think it's fair to conclude that my personal prejudices, views might have caused me not to gush over this little book. On the other hand, knowing that it was written by Garcia Marquez, may have caused me to be more lenient. This time, it's more difficult to gauge. So I'll give it 3 stars. But it could have been less or more. Huge conondrum.