No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel García Márquez - 4 stars

[Marina]

Today I've read a very short book, No One Writes to the Colonel. This is the sixth book I read by Gabriel García Márquez. I can't say I loved them all, but some of them were really good, such as his most famous novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. This novella is among the books I really liked.

The story is very simple: the colonel has been awaiting a letter for 15 years - a letter that should bring him news about his pension. Every Friday he goes and sees whether the letter and the pension have finally arrived. But the letter never arrives. No one writes to the colonel.

This neverending waiting reminded me of The Tartar Steppe, first published in 1940, 21 years before this book. Has García Márquez derived a bit of his inspiration from Buzzati's novel? I don't know if the novel by the Italian author might have been popular in Colombia. In any case, the two books are very different, they only have this endless waiting in common. Which in fact is not a small part of it, since the waiting itself is the very protagonist of the two novels.

García Márquez's book is very beautifully written, and the characters seem to come to life, literally. I would heartily recommend reading this novella - so far it's one of my favorites by the author.

*

PS. I know "other" books are not to be added to the bookshelf, but I'm adding this since I've read it for Climbing the PBT Stairs. I hope that's all right.

[Jgrace]

Marquez is on my list of 'novel novelists' ( a holdover list from an earlier PBT challenge) I'd never heard of this novella, but it sounds interesting. Thanks for this review!

I had a peek at the bookshelf and I think you added your book perfectly to the challenge shelf.

[Marina]

Thanks for checking, Jgrace, sometimes I'm worried I might do something I shouldn't.

I really liked this novella, and I hope you do, too, if you decide to read it.