Florin Mihalache

What do you think about the literary technique used in this novel?

To answer questions about The Autumn of the Patriarch, please sign up.
Bambino I normally make a fire when my house is cold. In this novel Marquez decided to make a fire at every single moment. So, even in summertime, when the house is already boiling, Marquez keeps on throwing wood into the fireplace. The result is, of course, great comfort in the winter and some painful moments in the summer.

So it's summer, you're sweating and dehydrating, an Marquez is there keeping the fire high while sharing some of the most beautiful poems you have ever heard. Yes, the poems are amazing, but, definitely, something is out of place in that scorching tenement and you just feel like running outside.

In any form of art we can see that concepts, when taken to extremes, asphyxiate beauty. This book is a fine example of that.
Manuel Castillo Creo que el manejo del lenguaje de García Márquez en "El otoño del patriarca" es el que exige el contenido de la novela. Se dice que el autor entregó su obra sin ningún punto y aparte y que los correctores de la editorial que publicó el libro le convencieron para que añadiese los cinco puntos y aparte que contiene la novela. No me extrañaría que fuera cierto.
En "El otoño del patriarca" el estilo de García Márquez es plomizo como la historia que está contando: la de un dictador cuyo poder omnímodo llega a ordenar, por complacer a su amada ocasional, que se modifique en una noche el trazado de la calle en que está viviendo para que cuando se asome a la ventana al día siguiente contemple una perspectiva diferente. En este sentido, el empleo abrumador de oraciones subordinadas encadenándose unas a otras formando párrafos farragosos se corresponde con el contenido de la novela, que trata de evocar la plomiza personalidad del dictador. Y, a pesar de todo, este libro se lee de un tirón, gracias a la pericia y propiedad en el empleo de la palabra, tanto en el aspecto semántico como sintáctico.
A-dziko Simba gegele Well, it was certainly a demanding read so much so that one reading, for me, is not sufficient - I hope to be able to get back to this novel sometime in the future and re-read it. The technique with its lack of punctuation where punctuation would be expected, it's epic sentences and swtiching in time and point of view, after a while, sinks into the subconscious and no longer stands out but it does take perseverence to get to that place.

Once in that place, there were no hitches in my enjoyment of the work which is truly magnificent.
Image for The Autumn of the Patriarch
Rate this book
Clear rating

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more