Goodreads | Memoria de MIS Putas Tristes (Hardcover) by Gabriel García Márquez

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The Next Best Boo...: If you could buy 5 books...	26	170	10/28/2008 02:55AM
خواندم	1	7	06/21/2008 05:49AM

Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

03/20/08

bookshelves: as-i-lay-dying, fiction

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

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 co...more 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....less

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Kelly added it (review of isbn 140004460X)

06/05/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in May, 2006

This is it everyone- The most depressing book I have read. Ever. Yes. This book. Not the ones about the holocaust, brutal wars, awful diseases... this book. About an old man who has only ever slept with whores. I don't know why it got to me like it did, but I would read a few pages and feel physically sick to my stomach. It's not the subject matter (it's interesting), it's not the writing (he's Marquez)... it's just this sense of awfulness. This awful awful life he's lead, and what he has never ...more

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Jonyleo rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/17/08

Read in July, 2008

"The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." So begins Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and it becomes even more unlikely as the novel unfolds. This slim volume contains the story of the sad life of an unnamed, only slightly talented Colombian journalist and teacher, never married, never in love, living in the crumbling family manse. He calls Rosa Cabarcas, madame of the city's most successful brothel, to seek her assi...more "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." So begins Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and it becomes even more unlikely as the novel unfolds. This slim volume contains the story of the sad life of an unnamed, only slightly talented Colombian journalist and teacher, never married, never in love, living in the crumbling family manse. He calls Rosa Cabarcas, madame of the city's most successful brothel, to seek her assistance. Rosa tells him his wish is impossible--and then calls right back to say that she has found the perfect girl.

The protagonist says of himself: "I have never gone to bed with a woman I didn't pay ... by the time I was fifty there were 514 women with whom I had been at least once ... My public life, on the other hand, was lacking in interest: both parents dead, a bachelor without a future, a mediocre journalist ... and a favorite of caricaturists because of my exemplary ugliness."

The girl is 14 and works all day in a factory attaching buttons in order to provide for her family. Rosa gives her a combination of bromide and valerian to drink to calm her nerves, and when the prospective lover arrives, she is sound asleep. Now the story really begins. The nonagenarian is not a sex-starved adventurer; he is a tender voyeur. Throughout his 90th year, he continues to meet the girl and watch her sleep. He says, "This was something new for me. I was ignorant of the arts of seduction and had always chosen my brides for a night at random, more for their price than their charms, and we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark, so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were ... That night I discovered the improbably pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty."

Márquez's style never falters throughout this recounting of his life and his exploration of love, found at an unexpected time and place. The erstwhile lover is still capable of being surprised--and fulfilled. After an absence of ten years, it is a treat to have another parable from the master. --Valerie Ryan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Hilda rated it:

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01/27/08

I really didn't like this story. The writing as always was wonderful - the descriptions, the language, the character development - all excellent. The story however was extremely disturbing and sad.

Chapter 1 in particular, when the narrator describes how upon turning 90 he decided he wanted to have sex with a young virgin was appalling. Then the local madam finds a 14 year old, poor, illiterate girl for him. He goes to see her and finds her asleep because she had been so afraid she had ...more

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Theocritus rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

12/27/07

Read in October, 2006

recommends it for: Men who love women

The review I wrote for amazon.

A curious and lovely book

In the US, we understand sexy but we struggle with the erotic. We read the body like we read the newspaper, by habit; with a glance. Our real failure in love is our failure to take our time. It's not in our nature to wait, to sample, to savor. We rush into love as if we were late to an appointment. Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY WHORES doesn't rush. The book is a seduction and moves at that quiet lazy confide...more

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Elena rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

11/18/07

An old man at the end of his life wakes one morning with the desire to sleep with a young virgin. This desire seems natural for a man who has been with many women, all of which he had to pay for. On the surface our protagonist seems like a dirty old man with no regard for anyone but himself, but as we take a look into his quaint life we realize that he, like any other person faced with the finality of time, is reflecting on his own life with nostalgia and perhaps a bit of regret.

The reader...more

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Scott rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

09/12/07

bookshelves: contemporaryfiction

Read in June, 2005

Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes beautifully. Many paragraphs throughout his works can be easily mistaken for poetry, as they contain language so vivid and colorful that it inspires even the most disinterested reader. MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY WHORES is Marquez's first piece of fiction in ten years, yet it maintains the writing acumen that he's famous for and that permeates his other works. It is also markedly shorter than many of his other novels; the 113 poignant pages of this novella take the fo...more Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes beautifully. Many paragraphs throughout his works can be easily mistaken for poetry, as they contain language so vivid and colorful that it inspires even the most disinterested reader. MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY WHORES is Marquez's first piece of fiction in ten years, yet it maintains the writing acumen that he's famous for and that permeates his other works. It is also markedly shorter than many of his other novels; the 113 poignant pages of this novella take the form of a memoir. The writing is both profound and superb, and the story is eerily familiar.

This novella is the story of a fastidiously dressed man. He is scholarly yet insecure, debonair though not rich. The Scholar, as everyone calls him --- both because of his age and because of his wisdom (which is distributed through his Sunday column in a newspaper) --- awakens on the morning of his 90th birthday in the beautiful house that his parents bequeathed to him and begins to recount the story of his life, which has been filled with women for hire but has remained largely devoid of love.

In a manner similar to Leo Tolstoy's THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, the Scholar realizes much about life as he approaches the end of his own; unlike Ivan Ilyich, however, the Scholar is not bedridden and feels a yearning for rekindling something of his past. His only true friend in the novella --- a weathered woman, only a few years younger than the Scholar and the owner and overseer of an aged brothel --- reminds him of his wonderful past and aids him in what he thinks will be one of his final hoorahs.

Fortunately for readers, the Scholar's life takes an unexpected turn, and to his disbelief, he falls in love with an unlikely girl. His Sunday column becomes a personal diary of love that touches the heart and captures the imagination of his readers.

Abruptly, calamity strikes and shatters what the reader hopes will be a happy ending to a checkered life. However, the Scholar must rebound and take up the search for his found, and lost, love.

MEMORIES OF MY MELANCHOLY WHORES is not a story about death; rather, it is a vibrant story of life renewing itself and the odd places where people find their passion. The setting of a lovely Spanish town and characters deserving of our empathy make this novella a memorable, beautiful and inspiring one.
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1da rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

07/21/07

Read in June, 2007

Memoria de mis putas tristes...I LOVE Gabriel García Marquez. He weaves his magical realism right into your brain and it's like I was peeking in through a window rather than reading.

I've read a few not so good reviews of this novella and they cannot be more wrong. Yes, Gabo's intricate magical realism is not as pronounced as it is say in Cien años de soledad (100 Years of Solitude), but it's definitely there. If you missed it, I suggest you go back and reread because it is there.

T...more

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stephanie rated it:

(review of isbn 140004460X)

05/07/07

Read in September, 2006

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as One Hundred Years of Solitude, the first Marquez book I ever read and by far and away my favorite. I really enjoyed the magical realism of that book, but this was just a really good story with really compelling characters.
I think the reason I couldn't get that into it was because--maybe it's naive or short-sighted-- I just get weirded out by stories that portray romantic relationships between girls and old men to be innocuous and even endearing. It gave...more

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Kara rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/19/08

a poetic quick read and a sweet love story of an aging man who refuses to succumb to the expectations of his old age and instead retells his life as a fun-loving yet devoted john who finally experiences love with the purest of all, a virgin whore.

i'd like to think i can enjoy fiction writing from time to time like normal folks. i'm real particular about fiction and this was a great story that was definitely true for one or more men over time but it didn't really speak to me alls that much. ...more

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Megan rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

05/09/07

bookshelves: novels

I really like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. There is something about the way in which he writes which, in the three books I've read by him (One hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores), take me away. I feel, after having read them, that I've been on some sort of emotional transformation and feel a sense of being cleansed. Anyway, he's a powerful writer.

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Wes rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

04/05/08

Read in August, 2007

A short one from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. An old man and a prostitute, doesn't seem like the most appetizing or romantic of situations, and yet Marquez makes it exactly that. Marquez seems to be a master of subtle tales of tender romance and deep love. He just slowly works things into place, you almost don't even realize it and then it hits you. Great book.

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Igor rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

04/09/08

bookshelves: vomitivos

Hay pocos autores tan sobrevalorados como García Márquez. Sobre todo este texto, que no es sino una copia de una copia de una copia de sí mismo. Siempre que pienso en la noción de "flojera infinta", me vienen a la mente los textos de este señor. Puaj.

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Sarit rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/28/07

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.

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Edy rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

05/21/08

"I'm serious, she concluded, speaking from the heart: Don't let yourself die without knowing the wonder of fucking with love."

p 100

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Montambo added it (review of isbn 140004460X)

04/06/08

bookshelves: death, i-give-up, sexy-as-hell

The protagonist and i don't see eye to eye (i think he's pathetic and he doesn't), so it's time to say goodbye.

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Will rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

10/24/08

Read in December, 2006

The narrator of this tale, a South American journalist of advanced age, is never named. We learn of his life story through the lens of his physical relationships, from his introduction to sex as a pre-adolescent, through his lifelong attachment to a particular whore, to his ravishing of a servant, to the primary focal point of the tale, his experience with the fourteen year old virgin. It is a sketchy story and while the title might suggest it is a highly sexual story, it is far from that. This ...more The narrator of this tale, a South American journalist of advanced age, is never named. We learn of his life story through the lens of his physical relationships, from his introduction to sex as a pre-adolescent, through his lifelong attachment to a particular whore, to his ravishing of a servant, to the primary focal point of the tale, his experience with the fourteen year old virgin. It is a sketchy story and while the title might suggest it is a highly sexual story, it is far from that. This is a tale of rebirth. His life was spent in modest, if enjoyable pursuits, an existence with a distinct paucity of passion. On his 90th birthday he decides to treat himself to a delicacy, the virginity of a young girl. Things do not go as one might suppose, and he finds himself inspired by her. It is not that she is so amazing. He is really more inspired by the notion of her than her reality. She does in fact sleep through their encounters, a situation he quite prefers. Whether it is real of self-delusional, the old writer finds that for the first time in his life, he feels truly in love, emboldened, brightened, reborn. In a sense, this can be seen as a coming of age story, albeit not of the usual adolescent variety. The old man finds a piece of himself that he had missed lo these many years.

Marquez is a delicious writer, effervescent with a capacity to make things that might be bizarre in the hands of a lesser person charming, interesting, bright. While this may be a snack when compared with the massive meals of his greater works, it is a delicious one.

P 89
The truth is that the first changes are so slow they pass almost unnoticed, and you go on seeing yourself as you always were, from the inside, but others observe you from the outside.

P 15
I never had close friends, and the few who came close are in New York. By which I mean they’re dead, because that’s where I suppose condemned souls go in order not to endure the truth of their past lives.

P 69
Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love.
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Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/26/08

To get the obvious out of the way, Garcia Marquez's writing is stunningly gorgeous. That goes without saying. For example, savor this:
"She hadn't changed position when I turned off the light, at one in the morning, and her respiration was so faint I took her pulse so I could feel she was alive. Blood circulated through her veins with the fluidity of a song that branched off into the most hidden areas of her body and returned to her heart, purified by love." (p. 63)
Ahhh.....
As ...more To get the obvious out of the way, Garcia Marquez's writing is stunningly gorgeous. That goes without saying. For example, savor this:
"She hadn't changed position when I turned off the light, at one in the morning, and her respiration was so faint I took her pulse so I could feel she was alive. Blood circulated through her veins with the fluidity of a song that branched off into the most hidden areas of her body and returned to her heart, purified by love." (p. 63)
Ahhh.....
As a romantic, the speaker of this narrative is exceptional. As a character, though, he's complicated. When I first read this book 5 years ago, I read it in Spanish and did not appreciate the style. Missing the subtleties of the prose, I was left with only the plot... which leaves me tilting my head to the side and grimacing a bit. The premise of the book? Here's 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." Yeah. Okay.... so we're clear about that. This 90 year old man then goes on to fall in love with this 14 year old virgin without ever actually having sex with her.
My reaction to this book splits between the judgmental realistic and the impractical romantic. From the former point of view, what kind of man is this that has never fallen in love in all of his 90 years before now? What kind of man is this that decorates his room in the brothel with oil paintings and other adornments but doesn't ensure that his beautiful virgin has enough to eat? What kind of man is this that can justify playing the romantic lead to a 14 year old girl and demanding her presence in the brothel every night so that he can indulge in his sentiments of love? I couldn't help but think of Woody Allen...
From the impractical romantic side, this book raises the very real question of what IS love exactly? What does it mean to be in love? For that matter, what happens during sex? Under what circumstances do love and sex cross paths? How do they meet? What does it mean for a man to call a woman a "whore", especially if he's already in a brothel paying and he intends it as an insult? What is it with the virgin/whore dichotomy?
This is definitely not my favorite Garcia Marquez book. I would, however, enjoy discussing it with other adults who have their own experiences of love and sex to bring to the table. My high school considered ordering this book to teach to seniors, and I don't support that choice. Yes, it would certainly be interesting, but it feels like the themes of this novel are larger and more ambiguous than the maturity of 17 and 18 year olds can handle. For one thing, you would have to both really examine and also move beyond the fact that there is a 90 year old who has slept with 500 + women in his life and is now paying to spend the night with a 14 year old virgin. I think that sentence right there is pretty loaded....less

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Aaron rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/16/08

Read in August, 2008

My friend Carolyn's book club is gonna be reading this one, and I want to sit in! So Ima gonna read it too! Yay! So I read this in a day, and I'm trying to see past immediate sexist overtones into some more nuanced statement about love and falling in love. I just glanced at another review that compared it to Talk To Her, and I cant help but say I was thinking the same thing at the beginning of reading this book. I think there are certain things at the end of this story that might negate what...more

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Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278492)

08/10/08

Read in January, 2007

I feel unqualified to dislike anything by Gabriel García Márquez, but with this slim novella I come very close. His other novels I’ve read (100 Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera) left me absolutely floored. His talent is prodigious and undeniable, and I fully expected this to be yet another amazing story masterfully told. But to be honest Memories falls a little flat. It was García Márquez’ first work of fiction in ten years, and at a mere 115 pages long, I won...more

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