Helpful Score: 4
A very interesting book. The subject can be uncomfortable, but I think it was done very well. The main character does fall in love with a 14 year old whore, but he only deals with her when she is asleep. He is not even sure he would recognize her awake. But...that was not his original intentions so that is the "ick" factor. I read it in one night and still am pondering it.
Helpful Score: 3
An old man on the eve of his 90th birthday decides to give himself "the gift of a night with an adolescent virgin", and finds himself in true uncorrupted love for the first time.
Helpful Score: 3
An old man sleeps then falls in love with a young whore.
Much will be made that the object of his love is an underage girl and it's really only a matter of time before this book is banned in red states. But if read as a discovery for the capacity to fall in love by an ageing journalist who resembles Marquez, then it takes its place as Marquez's latest masterpiece.
Much will be made that the object of his love is an underage girl and it's really only a matter of time before this book is banned in red states. But if read as a discovery for the capacity to fall in love by an ageing journalist who resembles Marquez, then it takes its place as Marquez's latest masterpiece.
Helpful Score: 2
Written by a nobel peace prize winner in literature, this is a very interesting book about a 90 year old bachelor who falls for a 14 year old. His adoration and love border on obsessive..A classic and amazing read.
The book is written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and traslated by Grossman. This is a fine example of his blunt and honest style of writng. It was a short book that I finished in an hour and a half. I prefered his "One Hundred Years of Solitude", but this was a nice cozy evening.
This was a very short book about an old man going through sort of a mid-life crisis. It is whimsical at some points in the story, and very emotional at other times. It was a pretty good read.
Hilda
Hilda
I've heard many bad reviews of this book, but I absolutely adored it. For his ninetieth birthday, an unnamed journalist decides to buy himself a virgin prostitute. I think this single act in the first chapter may be offputting to a lot of people who don't move beyond the moral implications. Further into the story it becomes a very interesting look at aging, lust, how we percieve ourselves, "We already are old, she said with a sigh. What happens is that you don't feel it on the inside, but from the outside everybody can see it."
Rosa Cabarcas is a fascinating character. A woman who is found a niche for herself of power and wit in a world where there are few opportunities for her. At the same time that she is doing something that should be frowned upon, her empathy and will is admirable.
Finally at ninety years old the main character lets go of lust and sees the power of loving appreciation.
Rosa Cabarcas is a fascinating character. A woman who is found a niche for herself of power and wit in a world where there are few opportunities for her. At the same time that she is doing something that should be frowned upon, her empathy and will is admirable.
Finally at ninety years old the main character lets go of lust and sees the power of loving appreciation.
Very interesting!
light easy read, finished it in about 3 hours. interesting story about a man and his love life, or lack there of...overall a good read but i found the ending to be a little anticlimatic
The author uses dazzling and graceful prose to draw you into the world of a 90 year old man who falls in love for the very first time in his life. The only reason why I dont give this one 4 stars is because I would have liked a glimpse of the love interests POV.
Hated it. If I could find where I put it, I'd put it on the list again.
Another whimsical little gem by the inimitable Marquez. Didn't leave me breathless like his best work, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I like Garcia-Marquez for his magic surrealism, and there wasn't any here, unless the cat wasn't real. Fine. Take an artist on his terms, not mine. I didn't care for it.
There is a creepiness factor, in that our 90-year old protagonist tells us in the first line of his intention to sleep with a virgin. Instead (and I'm really not clear on if she lost her virginity in the course of the book), he 'falls in love,' albeit with a girl who's always asleep when he's there. In fact, he discovers he doesn't like her voice. Not my definition of love.
Romance over substance, in a very sexist world. Kind of yuck.
There is a creepiness factor, in that our 90-year old protagonist tells us in the first line of his intention to sleep with a virgin. Instead (and I'm really not clear on if she lost her virginity in the course of the book), he 'falls in love,' albeit with a girl who's always asleep when he's there. In fact, he discovers he doesn't like her voice. Not my definition of love.
Romance over substance, in a very sexist world. Kind of yuck.
