Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The General in His Labyrinth

by Gabriel García Márquez, Edith Grossman (Translator)

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 6,968 ratings · 271 reviews

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Gabriel García Márquez’s most political novel is the tragic story of General Simón Bolívar, the man who tried to unite a continent.

Bolívar, known in six Latin American countries as the Liberator, is one of the most revered heroes of the western hemisphere; in García Márquez’s brilliant reimagining he is magnificently flawed as well. The novel...more

Hardcover, 248 pages

Published October 26th 2004 by Everyman's Library (first published 1989)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Latina/Latino Fiction

33rd out of 237 books — 298 voters

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Favorite Magical Realist Novels

246th out of 689 books — 2,799 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 19, 2013 Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, fiction, historical-fiction, read-in-translation, latin-america

Follows the last few weeks and days of the life of Simon Bolivar as he surrenders political power and travels down the Magdalena River to the coast on his last journey. While he travels there are reflections on his past, his role in the wars of independence against Spain and his political ambitions.

This is an interesting historical novel in (shades of Wolf Hall here) that the author was trying to remodel the popular image of the man. Bolivar has been seen as a founding father for many of the fo...more

6 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2008 Lamski Kikita rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those interetsed in Latin American history, the Bolivarian movement, Gabo addicts

Everyone knows of the big historical events that took place in the 1800 during the liberation of Latin America from the Spanish colonization that are of course associated with Simon Bolivar-aka the Liberator. Apart from his vision for a united Latin America that would form the biggest country that would be "half of the world," his wars for integration, and his glories, no one cares to know about his end.

Gabo had to do extensive reasearch for two years, contacting people from so many different wa...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 26, 2007 Brent rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: hard-core Latin American historians only!

Boy, I trudged my way through this fictionalized account of Simón Bolívar's final voyage along the Magdalena River. The prose is sharp and beautiful when it needs to be (this is, after all, García Marquez), but the story held no interest. In fact, I'm tempted to ask in response: what story?

People and places from the General's life are constantly evoked, but on this point I have two major critiques: first, the flashbacks are far too paltry (a page or two at most) to really generate any parallel -...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jul 29, 2008 Michael VanZandt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A provocative read into the psyche of Bolivar. I feel as though I am hamstrung by my own ignorance of South American history during this period, as well as much of Bolivar's life.

It was fascinating to read into the inner politics between his generals and him. The names really lacked meaning they should have.

All that set aside, Marquez does an admirable job delving into the existential questions that Bolivar faced, or that Bolivar should have been asking himself in the first place. The novel slo...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Ajay R rated it 5 of 5 stars

'The General In His Labyrinth' is Marquez's fictional reconstruction of Simon Bolivar's, the liberator of South America from the Spanish, last days. Being an Indian I am not 100% sure of the historical accuracy in the novel, but people expecting a hardcore historical novel may be disappointed as Marquez weaves his own brand of magic interspersing events and actions that you would not expect in a novel of this genre while maintaining the relevance of the genre also. After all, this is a person wh...more 'The General In His Labyrinth' is Marquez's fictional reconstruction of Simon Bolivar's, the liberator of South America from the Spanish, last days. Being an Indian I am not 100% sure of the historical accuracy in the novel, but people expecting a hardcore historical novel may be disappointed as Marquez weaves his own brand of magic interspersing events and actions that you would not expect in a novel of this genre while maintaining the relevance of the genre also. After all, this is a person who created an entirely fictional village 'Macondo' and in someways made it the center of the physical Latin American world. So, being an outsider I will just give short introduction to this novel, hoping to persuade those who read this post to go out and grab the novel too :)
Simon Bolivar was a one page/paragraph note to me in my ninth standard history class. Just knew him as the liberator of the entire Latin American continent. So generally, in such cases we unconsciously form a mental image of such persons. But all those is shattered here. As the novel begins, Bolivar is person who is seeing his dream of a united Latin America crumbling before his own eyes, his own authority diminished greatly and even hated by many of the countries/people he helped in their liberation. He is also a person who is holding on his last illusion that he may somehow again be accepted by the people and powers that be. But that is not the case and Bolivar finally decides to leave for Europe. The novel then charts his last days through the journey that he undertakes.
The Bolivar we come to know through the journey and flashbacks is not a squeaky white person, but a person with his own failings and faults. He is obstinate, a bad loser even in card games, someone who uses cologne so much that opponents even accuse him wasting money on it, maybe even a person who aspired to be the complete dictator for the entire South America and we even think that maybe the people were justified in turning against him. But he is also a leader who is so careless with money and has lost his entire inherited fortune and whatever he has earned. In fact he cannot even afford a horse to travel and rides a mule and one who cannot afford a first class travel in a barge and has to travel third class, this a person who liberated an entire continent. He is now reduced to talking about a mine which he says is his and is expecting money from it. Other than him, no one even knows if it exists or not. As the travel progresses, we get to see a nearly completely broken man, who rants and raves against his enemies but somehow seems to have lost the drive that led him to be such a great general in the first place. He is almost like a petulant child who refuses to accept things even if it is right in front of him, hoping against hope that goods things would happen. He sees the complete destruction of what he built and is powerless to stop it. Persons he exiled are returning to the continent even as he is preparing to leave it. People in a town throw dirt at him and humiliate him. They write slogans on the wall humiliating him. The death of a close associate who is assassinated seems to come as the final blow to him and he fully gives up all will to live. The novel ends with the general having a moment of epiphany which is one of the most evocative passages I have ever read (will give that below).
I felt some parallels between the General and Colonel Aureliano Buendía (Hundred years of Solitude) . Both of them start off with noble intentions, get sucked into doing things that themselves fought against in the first place, are nearly forgotten by the same people they helped and are forever doomed to a life in solitude and labyrinth in the midst of all the people surrounding them.
The following passage right at the end of then novel itself should be enough for someone to read it. This is my most favorite of all Marquez books, much much more than his more acclaimed works.
//He examined the room with the clairvoyance of his last days and for the first time he saw the truth: the final borrowed bed, the pitiful dressing table whose clouded, patient mirror would not reflect his image again, the chipped porcelain washbasin with the water and towel and soap meant for other hands, the heartless speed of the octogonal clock racing toward the ineluctable appointment at seven minutes past one on his final afternoon of December 17. Then he crossed his arms across his chest and began
to listen to the radiant voices of the slaves singing the six o' clock Salve in the mills, and through the window he saw the diamond of Venus in the sky that was dying forever, the eternal snows,the new vine whose yellow bellflowers he would not see bloom on the following Saturday in the house closed in mouring, the final brilliance of life that would never, through all eternity be repeated again.//(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 24, 2011 Benji rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, important-in-my-life, nonsequential-rereading, read-again-and-again, read-in-morocco, italian, strong-literary-value, carpe-diem

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Why do I dig this book when so many others don't? I'll say again, GGM is similar to Murakami in that each book is another installation in his theme-and-variation riffs that he keeps releasing (I mean to say, nearly all the books are the same story with minor changes--something that can be strong in the right hands). And his biggest bone of all is old age and death and dying. Therefore, with this book more keenly focused on that theme than all of them, then you can expect good things. And I think...more Why do I dig this book when so many others don't? I'll say again, GGM is similar to Murakami in that each book is another installation in his theme-and-variation riffs that he keeps releasing (I mean to say, nearly all the books are the same story with minor changes--something that can be strong in the right hands). And his biggest bone of all is old age and death and dying. Therefore, with this book more keenly focused on that theme than all of them, then you can expect good things. And I think he succeeds marvelously. I'd give this a 4.5 if I were to be more specific. To me, this is a collection of one-liners that is unbeatable. Very richly felt irony and self-awareness. And the last lines of the book, evoking to what extent his life was a once-in-history event is staggering in its implication.

Sure, to a certain point the niche audience for this is bound to be much more intimate with the contents of the book than his other more generalized works. Even more so than with his other works, I'd say the book comes alive only if you've been to Colombia, and you get even more if you've been through the Andes. It brings into sharp relief the fact that this man attempted one impossible thing after another, and very nearly reached the most impossible of them all. When he mentions Bolivia, and you've never seen the Andes up close, sure that import is lost to you. That he went back and forth a half dozen times with his men, just with donkeys and wagons and still was able to fight and conquer, it's irresistible and GGM is able to contrast that vibrancy so strongly with his end, watching him barely able to get out of bed.

I don't particularly feel he had to sacrifice the veracity of it with the story-telling element. Both came out nicely. I think the other characters are pretty well realized and you can feel their own internal tension, these younger soldiers and the endless card games, torn between wanting to flee, to go fight, versus continuing to stay with him, especially since they knew to do either action would be to witness history--though for men of action, you can tell it grew tedious. For a short 250 pages, how many more insights could this writer fit into this book? I feel it has a nice balance of all these different elements--Bolivar is the focus but the book is about more than just him.

Something that was lost to me the first time was the role of Manuela, and the other women. I feel that through them, one can see Bolivar's wish to deny the great weight and pressure, to not be the man of the hour leading the courageous battle... but also his effect on them, carrying the fight after he's gone. In some scenes, he hides away with a woman for days at a time. To me, this is a desire to turn off the Liberator part of himself for some time. But then you see him at last pulled again towards his inescapable destiny.

Likewise, the book is a portrait of a mulatto (creole?) man that stumbled upon a great opportunity, then was the match that created a fire much bigger than himself, something which can be interpreted two ways: that of having made a machine that grows out of your control (the Frankenstein result), and also one of seen yourself having become immediately obsolete and pushed to the side as the children of the revolution take over (analogous to the parenting phenomenon, which Bolivar never knew other than being ''the creator of all the widows and orphans of Latin america''). Add to that, how this is no little thing but an entire continent where this is happening, and you can see he struggles to understand what he himself has started.

I guess with most polarizing books, there's no amount of explaining that we can do to win one side over the other. You either pick it up and the first pages carry you through, or you're left wanting more. For me, the need for a very orderly and onward-pushing story, one moving very regularly towards the end is not as necessary as the compassion shown by the author, as well as the dark humor and attention to detail. He could have easily made a trilogy, one book from each of his epochs, and I wish he had.

My favorite parts: his effusive praise of Barranca (''the most hospitable of cities''), the stilted official balls, the general's very clearly wanting to be left alone but also unable to relinquish his influence for good--again and again, you think he's close to death and then he rallies, lets out a war cry and goes off to fight somewhere else. Or else sends others to do so. The sections with Camille and his dejection, ''at least they love me in Jamaica'' is a nice one, as is his confusion at the letter ''we got him'', before realizing it referred to his two-time savior's husband.

Too, this is another book reflecting his fascination with steam engines on the river (see Love in the time of cholera). In my Italian edition, I was interested in his Ringraziamenti how he elucidated that passion, stemming from how when he was small he made the same voyage 11 times. And how ''every writer can't help but incorporate them''. (less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 27, 2010 Rowland Bismark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Simon Bolivar almost succeeded in his lofty goal of liberating all of South America from the colonial powers that controlled it in the early days of the nineteenth century. But he lived to see many of his dreams and ambitions crumble amid the decay of his own health. This book chronicles his last days, trying to keep his dreams alive while his followers dwindle and his resources evaporate. Bolivar was never in doubt about his own place in history. He was born a true megalomaniac, a genius, a rem...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 03, 2010 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Garcia-Marquez, one of the world’s literary masters, not just of this era but of all time, tells the story of Simon Bolivar’s last months in this thoughtful, moving, elegiac novel. Bolivar is the Great Liberator, freeing the South American holdings of Spain from imperial rule, intending to create a single federalist republic of the former colonial states, a United States of South America, but having won independence, there are squabbles and rebellions among the armies of liberation. Military and...more Garcia-Marquez, one of the world’s literary masters, not just of this era but of all time, tells the story of Simon Bolivar’s last months in this thoughtful, moving, elegiac novel. Bolivar is the Great Liberator, freeing the South American holdings of Spain from imperial rule, intending to create a single federalist republic of the former colonial states, a United States of South America, but having won independence, there are squabbles and rebellions among the armies of liberation. Military and political rivals kill one another. The warfare is non-stop. Bolivar, in his late 40s, is dying and weighing his options—participate in another military campaign, leave for a European retirement and a chance to recover his health, or lend his support to a political solution. Sorrow, not pride of accomplishment, and sometimes anger cloud his memories and his thoughts of his limited future. The prerequisite goal has been accomplished; the end goal seems to be shared by no one but a small coterie of devotees, who in truth seem more loyal to the man than the dream.

The novel takes us convincingly into the mind of the General. “’All of us here are exiles,’ said the General. ‘I’ve lived in Venezuela only six years since this began, and the rest of the time has been spent heading off calamities in half the world.’” The General is conversing with a young aide from Mexico, eager to earn his battle spurs. “The General still had not looked him in the face. ‘Well, you chose the wrong destiny,’ he said. ‘The only wars here will be civil wars, and those are like killing your own mother.’”

But Garcia Marquez is not content with a brilliantly written work of historical fiction, The General in His Labyrinth is about how age and ambition treat us all, rudely and with full challenge to our dignity and determination. It is the universality of Bolivar’s plight that makes this novel a work of art, the all too human frailty of our bodies and our lives that haunts us after reading.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 24, 2013 Ben Batchelder rated it 1 of 5 stars

Could Marques’s treatment of Bolivar’s last days shed light on today’s Bolivarian redux led by Venezuela’s Chavez? I’d hoped so. Bolivar’s last days lend a certain grandeur to his madness; while Chavez aspires to the former he only attains the latter. Marques pinpricks his narrative with felicitous imagery, such as “On the broad beaches the alligators lay motionless for hours on end, their jaws open to catching butterflies.” But we, alas, have to digest more than butterflies during this nightmar...more

like · see review

Jun 23, 2012 Errol Orhan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Marquez has written quite a few acclaimed masterpieces, and I like to think that The General in His Labyrinth is one of them.

I bought the book when I was on the airport of Budapest. Although I wasn't really intent on buying a book, I stumbled across the penguin version of this book at the airport's bookstore. I had already read Hunderd Years of Solitude and Love in Times of Cholera (and found them truly magical), but I had heard that Marquez had also written some books that had a political setti...more Marquez has written quite a few acclaimed masterpieces, and I like to think that The General in His Labyrinth is one of them.

I bought the book when I was on the airport of Budapest. Although I wasn't really intent on buying a book, I stumbled across the penguin version of this book at the airport's bookstore. I had already read Hunderd Years of Solitude and Love in Times of Cholera (and found them truly magical), but I had heard that Marquez had also written some books that had a political setting. I also knew that he had written a book with the title: The General..., but I have to admit that I did not know that the 'General' referred to Simon Bolivar. So, when I read the summary on the back of this book, and saw how unreasonably cheaply it was, I had no option but to buy it instantly. Of course, I have not regretted it.

I started reading it immediately, as I waited for my boarding call and savored a Gorilla Magila smoothie (peanut butter, banana, orange, some other ingredient I forgot, and yoghurt), and have not been able to put it down until the sad moment came when the book was finished. Now when I say sad, I really mean sad, I wanted the book to last for at least two hundred pages more. But this is of course not the case.

Like Love... and Hundred Years... The General... is about decay and death. And like those two other books, the story as such is grim, but the book as a whole isn't. It gets funny, it gets sad, and it is moving through and through, but there is a sense of magical dignity that seems to surround Marquez' characters right until the moment they die. And after that, there is nothingness. Now, what makes this story so interesting to me, are the three dying Bolivars.

First of all, it is the person Simon Bolivar: like all of us a deeply contradictory personality with flaws, quirks, and charms. The way Marquez writes about him is quite admirable. Although it would be easy to portray him as a caricature or a hero, he paints the picture of a frail man clinging to life.

The second Bolivar is the general as a relational figure: a man that keeps popping up in anecdotes, a man the influenced people on a personal level, and is mourned over. This makes for a great archive of anecdotes that have been masterfully retold (edited, made-up, whatever you like), by Marquez, and provide for the prosaic backbone of this story.

The third Bolivar is the one lost in his labyrinth: once a powerful general, now a feeble man, who is practically stripped of his worldly powers, but keeps clinging on to the possibility of reclaiming the power and realizing his dream. This last Bolivar, the one from the title, is summarized in two sentences:'The General paid no attention to the masterful reply, because he was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness.' And that Bolivar, that Bolivar embodies the human condition. That Bolivar is us.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Nov 06, 2009 Barberry rated it 3 of 5 stars

The subject of the story is the journey of the General, the ex-President of the Republic of Gran Colombia Simon Bolivar along the Magdalena River to the Caribbean coastline. The greatest hero of Latin America, who had sacrificed his youth and health for the independence of the continent, advocated the abolition of slavery and popular education, and, though "...had wrested from Spanish domination an empire five times more vast than all of Europe" and "...led 20 years of wars to keep it free and u...more

like · see review

Sep 28, 2008 dirt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Triumphantly Rock Star Great, especially when it comes to use of swear words.

Favorite quotes:

1. "Well, you have chosen the wrong destiny," he said. "The only wars here will be civil wars and those are like killing your own mother."

2. "We have always been poor and we haven't needed anything," he told him.
"The truth is just the opposite," said the General. "We have always been rich and we haven't anything left."

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Lavinia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how accurate the figure of Simon Bolivar is in this book. Especially since there is also the gap between the intentions of the writer and how I perceived it... But to be honest, I think it might very well have been like that. I really perceived him like a genius. A real genius, as they very rarely appear from books. Usually even the great figures in the books lose some of their majesty, some of whatever is that special spark which makes them actually be geniuses. But the central fig...more

like · see review

Sep 22, 2011 Tim Fiester rated it 2 of 5 stars

Garcia Marquez is one of my all-time favorite authors (heck, our daughter is named after him). "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is at #2 on my All-Time Top 5 Books and I like magical realism. Unfortunately, that is where "The General ..." parts ways with me. This book is told in basically a journalistic style. That's not surprising, given that Garcia Marquez worked as a reporter in his early days, but this book could have been so much more if it followed in the wake of his other works, in short,...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 22, 2009 Chloe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Chloe by: Lorena K.

Shelves: fiction, not-owned, library_book

Everybody loves a hero. Everybody loves it even more when a hero falls from grace. There are few things that humans enjoy more than taking a powerful person down a peg or two. In fact, we get a sick thrill from it. Whether it’s the rising up of a virginal starlet (take your pick, they’re a dime a dozen) so that we may delight in tearing her to pieces when she is unable to live up to the exceptionally demanding standards of behavior we set for others to abide by, or the fall from grace of an espe...more Everybody loves a hero. Everybody loves it even more when a hero falls from grace. There are few things that humans enjoy more than taking a powerful person down a peg or two. In fact, we get a sick thrill from it. Whether it’s the rising up of a virginal starlet (take your pick, they’re a dime a dozen) so that we may delight in tearing her to pieces when she is unable to live up to the exceptionally demanding standards of behavior we set for others to abide by, or the fall from grace of an especially sanctimonious politician (again, take your pick), these ritualistic sacrifices of character seem to sate an intrinsic need for blood-letting. I guess this should not be too surprising when we stop to consider that one of the major world faiths is predicated on humans killing their own Redeemer. Verily, the schadenfreude runs deep in our culture.

I had no idea what to expect when I opened The General In His Labyrinth. All I knew was that it was written by Colombia’s third most famous export, the eminent Gabriel Garcia Marquez, (Shakira can suck it, she’s #4) and was a paean to the man who wrested South America from the hands of its Spanish Colonial masters, Simon Bolivar. I figured it would be a delightful romp through military campaigns and political skullduggery as reflected through the always enjoyable lens of Garcia Marquez’s magical realist style. Not so much.

The General In His Labyrinth finds the El Libertador at the end of his life. Tired and weary after over two decades of continuous war, Bolivar is a husk of a man, not the proud and full-chested figure represented in countless statues throughout Latin America. A piñata battered again and again by foes and former friends alike, Bolivar is in the unenviable position of seeing himself become a living anachronism as his nation, the country that he has shed so much blood for, outgrow its need for him. Meticulously researched from the memoirs of his confidants and his last surviving records, Garcia Marquez fairly drowns the reader in mundane details of the General’s day to day life as he prepares to either go into exile, return to power by a coup, or die. These may seem like contradictory goals to the outsider but, as the General’s aide repeats, “only my master knows what my master is thinking.”

As the weary band of warriors makes its way toward the coast, we are treated to a backwards look at Bolivar’s life as each village he passes through or compatriot who joins him on the road kindles the memory of his previous glory. The insult hurled at Bolivar by a little boy conjures memories of his first abdication of power, a slave girl reminds him of a tumultuous night between the sheets of another lover long left behind, the tolling of church bells reminds of the time when Bolivar first freed a town from its Colonial masters.

The descriptions, as they always are in Garcia Marquez’s books, are lush and beautiful, though there are none of the flights of fancy that one could expect from his regular fiction. Here he seems, at times, a bit too chained to the historical veracity of his subject to let much whimsy into the story. However, forcing him to work within a framework like this makes those moments when he gets to cut loose all the more enjoyable, whether he’s describing the ruins of Cartagena or the banks of a river. This wouldn’t be the book I recommend to those new to Gabriel Garcia Marquez as an author, though anyone who is interested in either Latin American history will find this an interesting look at the last days of the Colombian George Washington, the man who freed half of a continent from its Spanish masters.
(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 28, 2012 Gabriel Jaime Zapata rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excelente obra del maestro GGM, se ve porque es una de las mejores.

Nos hace un recuento de los últimos días del Libertador en su estado de profunda enfermedad, soportando un largo viaje a través del río Magdalena, partiendo desde Santa Fe de Bogotá, de donde fue "expulsado", hasta su lugar de muerte, la ciudad de Santa Marta; viaje en el que enfrentó adversidades como la muerte de su reemplazo el Mariscal Sucre, la traición de sus "amigos" de revolución, la ovación y la desaprobación del pueblos...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 05, 2010 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fictionalised account of the last days of Simon Bolivar as he attempts to leave South America to seek exile in Europe. Wracked by illness and mental exhaustion, the protagonist is a shadow of the charismtaic leader he once was. His deteriorating health reflects the downturn in his political fortunes as the country of Gran Colombia he envisioned and forged by his military campaigns of 1811-24 is now beset by petty political squabbling and secession. The novel contrasts the General's cur...more

like · see review

Sep 14, 2011 أحمد أبازيد Ahmad Abazed rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

و من مثلُ ماركيز ؟!!
التاريخ يتكلّم هنا و بلادٌ عانت قرونا من الأشلاء و الحروب و الهويّة ,
و " البطل " الذي يتجسّد في الحروف كإنسان منعتق من أسطورته , يترك حروبه على خصر أنثاه , ويرشّ ماء الكولونيا بينما يتذكّر آخر من حاول اغتياله , و يتمرجح على وقع الأحلام التي تتصارع كآلهة اليونان ...
جميلة هذه الرحلة بتفاصيلها و قفزاتها عبر الزمن و النهر الذي تمشي فيه البلاد و ذاكرة البشر حوله بما تحويه من شعارات بطولة و أمجاد و عار و حروب و دم و أحقاد و أحلام و بنادق و وطن و نساء ...

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 27, 2012 Simona rated it 4 of 5 stars

Leggere questo libro sapendo che Marquéz molto probabilmente non scriverà più, mi ha fatto molto male.
"Il generale nel suo labirinto" è un canto, un memoriale dedicato a Simon Bolìvar, alle sue imprese, le sue gesta e i suoi amori. Marquéz ci racconta la storia di questo generale malato che partendo da Bogotà discende il fiume Magdalena, per l'ultimo viaggio.
Noi conosciamo la figura di Bolìvar, non solo come generale amato dal popolo e bersagliato dalle critiche ingiuste, ma anche come eroe ro...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 Mariana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reading-list

"The General in his Labyrinth" is Marquez's fictional depiction of General Simon Bolivar, liberator of South America from the Spanish. Bolivar is seeing his dream of a united Latin American falling apart before his eyes. Because of this, Bolivar decides to leave for Europe. This novel captures his last days during this journey. We come to know a man who rants against his enemies. He can't even afford a horse and rides a mule. He is also one who can't afford first class and has to travel third cl...more

like · see review

May 22, 2013 فرحان rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: الرواية-المسرح, السير-المذكرات

سيمون بوليفار طارد الأسبان وصاحب حلم الدولة الكبرى الجامعة لأبناء أمريكا اللاتينية حاول تحقق حلمه بعد خروج بعض المناطق عن السيطرة وتوحيد بعض المناطق من قبل الجنرالات الأخرين , حاول تحقيق حلمه بكولمبيا الكبرى الجمهورية الممتدة على طول شمال أمريكا اللاتينية ولكن ما لبث ألا وحلم الأنفصال من قبل فنزولا ومن ثم يتبعهم الآخرون ويتم كرهـ بوليفار من قبل الشعب ويستقط حلمه أمام عينيه ويتنازل عن حكمة ,ليغادر بعدها على بغلة للذهاب إلى أوربا.
أحزنتني نهاية بوليفار ونهاية حلمة وخصوصاً حين يكون رجل على وشك الموت...more سيمون بوليفار طارد الأسبان وصاحب حلم الدولة الكبرى الجامعة لأبناء أمريكا اللاتينية حاول تحقق حلمه بعد خروج بعض المناطق عن السيطرة وتوحيد بعض المناطق من قبل الجنرالات الأخرين , حاول تحقيق حلمه بكولمبيا الكبرى الجمهورية الممتدة على طول شمال أمريكا اللاتينية ولكن ما لبث ألا وحلم الأنفصال من قبل فنزولا ومن ثم يتبعهم الآخرون ويتم كرهـ بوليفار من قبل الشعب ويستقط حلمه أمام عينيه ويتنازل عن حكمة ,ليغادر بعدها على بغلة للذهاب إلى أوربا.
أحزنتني نهاية بوليفار ونهاية حلمة وخصوصاً حين يكون رجل على وشك الموت وهو يعلم ومن حوله يعلم بوفاته ويماطل ومن حوله يماطل فالبعض يريده بكولمبيا وهو يماطل بأمره وكأنه لا يريد الموت خارج كولمبيا.
الكتاب عبارة عن رحلة بوليفار على طول نهر ماجدولنيا يغادر متنازل عن المنصب الذي ماطل في التنازل عنه ,يغادر على ظهر بغلة هو وخادمه المطيع حسن الهندام الذي يظن حين الدخول للمدن بأنه هو سيمون بوليفار ليتدارك الوضع ويظهر الجنرال المحرر على الرغم من مظهره الرث البائس.
ما يعجبك في القصة هو الجنرالات والعقداء المخلصين لبولفار ولفكر بولفار ,كلمة من فيلسوف جعلت بوليفار يفكر بطرد الأسبان ويطردهم شر طرده ,ف أحد مواقفه وحين كان في حالاً رثه وكان بائس يرتعد من البرد أثناء مطاردت الأسبان له راح يروي لمن معه كيف سيطرد الأسبان وسط عدم تصديق ما يقول وهو بتلك الحالة ولكنه على كل حال يطرد الأسبان ,ولكن بعد طرده للأسبان ها هو يموت وسط أحتقان الشعب منه أثناء أنقلاب أوردانتيا.(less)

like · see review

Mar 21, 2013 Tariq Mahmood rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found the books concept very fascinating. The last few weeks of a mighty leader who liberated South America from the Spanish colonists but than list it all to his own trusted aids in just over a decade! I saw huge similarities between the general and Pakistan's founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Jinnah rapidly lost favour among his peers and subordinates soon after creating Pakistan from the clutches of Hindu domination.
But I found the book difficult to follow as I knew very little about th...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 28, 2012 Scottw rated it 4 of 5 stars

Imagine if George Washington had seen his liberated America torn apart by treasonand betrayal by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, etc - if the newly liberated colonies had refused to collaborate in a 'United' States of America, and fractured into separate countries and disputing territorial boundaries and rights.

That is the story and the fate of Simon Bolivar - the Liberator of South America that most of us aren't taught of in our history classes.

Garcia Marquez brings th...more

like · see review

Feb 28, 2012 Wally rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: doorway-language, doorway-character, doorway-setting, historical, latino, war, adult

Garcia Marquez is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I'm biased, although I must admit that the subject matter of this novel didn't grab me at first: the final months of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar. I didn't know much about Latin American history before reading this, but I imagined it would be a litany of battles won and lost, a fictionalized military history. Instead, it is the wandering, both mental and physical, of a unique man as he sees the dream of his life happen as he has planned,...more

like · see review

Jul 16, 2011 Mohammed Alsoufi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

ككل كتابات ماركيز،، رائع في الوصف، سردي جدا، حوارات قليلة ولكن مفعولها قوي، هذه المرة هناك حقيقة لانه عبارة عن سيرة لشخص وليست رواية واقعية سحرية كما عودنا ماركيز ..

قد يكون تقييمي باربعة نجوم من خمسة هو انتقاصا من قرائتي للكتاب وليس للكتاب نفسه،، حيث مرت فترات في الكتاب لم اعد اميز ان ما مكتوب هو الزمن الحالي للنص او ذكريات وتشابكت الامور، ساحاول قرائته مرة اخرى لاحقا لان كل ما كتبه ماركيز يجب ان يُقرأ مرتين على الاقل.

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 16, 2012 Joyce rated it 2 of 5 stars

Having read most of Garcia Marquez I didn't expect this to be an easy read. His navel gazing characters are familiar to me and I struggle to see beyond the narcissistic behaviour of characters who seem to be bogged down by their own place in the world. All of his books are political and heavily moralistic (catholic). I didn't enjoy this one. The heavy plodding of the general from page one to the end was excruciating repetitive and the political connections too packed and complicated to follow. O...more

like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Isaura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leidos-2013

Tenía años con la ganas de leer este libro.. No lo encontraba hasta que en la feria del libro conseguí una edición bastante vieja pero resistente y me animé a comprarlo...

Como siempre no me defraudó, es una historia que te muestra un poco más íntimamente al ídolo Bolivar y su lado más humano.. sus pesares, dolores y malestares en ese su último viaje antes de morir... Como murió pobre, casi olvidado y odiado por la mayoría del pueblo al que ayudó a liberar.. Sin duda la historia es ingrata y la p...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 15, 2010 Alexander Veee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-american-literature, books-i-own, read-2010

"As they sailed down to the coast the river had grown more vast and solemn, like a swamp with no beginning or end, and the heat was so dense you could touch it with your hands. Without bitterness the General gave up the sudden dawns and piercing twilights that had kept him in the stern of the barge for the first few days, and he yielded to dejection. He did not dictate letters, or read, or ask his companions any question that might reveal a certain interest in life. Even during the hottest siest...more

like · see review

Jul 26, 2010 Drew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Marquez's writing walks a thin line between magical lyricism and aimless wandering. Part of the enjoyment is reading his writing which takes the reader down many different paths simultaneously; it is both maddening and pure pleasure, depending on the context. In his two most known books, it works perfectly. In a book like this one, though, which lacks (for me) a truly compelling story, it became somewhat laborious. I was a bit disappointed because I loved One Hunderd Years of Solitude and Love i...more

like · see review

Apr 20, 2013 Jessa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

I give this a three but recognize that's largely due to my own failure with South Ameican history. I loved reading this and vaguely recalling all the history I learned, what, eight years ago?? But it was also frustrating to know that each name mentioned has a whole history attached that I couldn't recall. I went into this book hoping it would help me understand more about the life and times of Bolivar and the revolutions he led. It didn't really do that, and I'm left more baffled about events as...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Historical vs Fictional Episodes	2	7	May 28, 2013 04:15pm

combine
Other Editions (62)

More editions...

Genres

Literature

49 users

Historical Fiction

35 users

Magical Realism

31 users

Novels

28 users

Classics

26 users

Cultural > Latin American

23 users

European Literature > Spanish Literature

19 users

Literature > Latin American Literature

13 users

Literary Fiction

12 users

Contemporary

8 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Gabriel García Márquez

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

He started as a journalist, and has written many acclaimed non-fiction works and short st...more

More about Gabriel García Márquez...

Books by Gabriel García Márquez

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Le Général Dans S...

3 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The General in His Lab...

“Freedom is often the first casualty of war.” — 123 people liked it

“I'll never fall in love again... it's like having two souls at the same time.” — 28 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The General in His Labyrinth
avg rating	preview: The General in His Labyrinth Goodreads rating: 3.62 (6968 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23884.The_General_in_His_Labyrinth?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361537151l/23884.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23884.The_General_in_His_Labyrinth?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez[/url]

The General in His Labyrinth

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website