Scan barcode
ale_readsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
“In the back of my mind is the preoccupation that perhaps I didn’t know them well enough.”
I’m naturally curious. When I was younger this was seen as a bad thing. I would get in trouble for asking “adult questions” or being chismosa. It was seen as disrespectful and inappropriate. As I grew older I chose to lean on my curiosity and it became my forte. It’s led me to my career in journalism.
I’ve only lately began analyzing what I was really searching for when I would asked my parents intimate questions. I couldn’t help but feel that this book by Gabriel García Márquez’s son gave me part of my answer. This books is a beautiful memoir and tribute to Rodrigo Garcia’s parents. He wrote to make sense of Gabo’s last days and in it he contemplates on the life lessons he learned from his father and mother. Nearing the end, Rodrigo struggles with how little he feels he really knew about his father. I empathized with his fear and sadness. A way I hope to carry my multicultural heritage forward is by retelling the stories of my parents and not knowing enough of their truth terrifies me. For years I’ve said I want to document their lives before the day comes when they will no longer be with me.
Rodrigo’s memoir was raw, insightful and powerful. If you’re a fan of Márquez or not I think we can all learn something reading it.
I’m naturally curious. When I was younger this was seen as a bad thing. I would get in trouble for asking “adult questions” or being chismosa. It was seen as disrespectful and inappropriate. As I grew older I chose to lean on my curiosity and it became my forte. It’s led me to my career in journalism.
I’ve only lately began analyzing what I was really searching for when I would asked my parents intimate questions. I couldn’t help but feel that this book by Gabriel García Márquez’s son gave me part of my answer. This books is a beautiful memoir and tribute to Rodrigo Garcia’s parents. He wrote to make sense of Gabo’s last days and in it he contemplates on the life lessons he learned from his father and mother. Nearing the end, Rodrigo struggles with how little he feels he really knew about his father. I empathized with his fear and sadness. A way I hope to carry my multicultural heritage forward is by retelling the stories of my parents and not knowing enough of their truth terrifies me. For years I’ve said I want to document their lives before the day comes when they will no longer be with me.
Rodrigo’s memoir was raw, insightful and powerful. If you’re a fan of Márquez or not I think we can all learn something reading it.
brittkieff's review
5.0
Listened to this whole audiobook running errands and walking through a park earlier today. I cried multiple times, but most embarrassingly I cried putting yerba mates into my cart at HEB.
“Shortly after the news of my father’s death is made public, his secretary receives an email from a friend she hasn’t talked to in a long time. The friend wanted to know if we were aware that Úrsula Iguarán, one of his most famous characters, also died on a Good Thursday. She has included the passage from his novel in her email, and in rereading it, my dad’s secretary discovers that after Úrsula’s death, disoriented birds flew into walls and fell dead on the ground. She reads it out loud, clearly thinking about the dead bird earlier in the day. She looks at me, perhaps hoping I am foolish enough to venture an opinion the coincidence. All I know is that I can’t wait to retell it.”
“Shortly after the news of my father’s death is made public, his secretary receives an email from a friend she hasn’t talked to in a long time. The friend wanted to know if we were aware that Úrsula Iguarán, one of his most famous characters, also died on a Good Thursday. She has included the passage from his novel in her email, and in rereading it, my dad’s secretary discovers that after Úrsula’s death, disoriented birds flew into walls and fell dead on the ground. She reads it out loud, clearly thinking about the dead bird earlier in the day. She looks at me, perhaps hoping I am foolish enough to venture an opinion the coincidence. All I know is that I can’t wait to retell it.”
sageliketheherb's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
4.5
sujuv's review against another edition
4.0
I heard Garcia years ago on Fresh Air and it's an interview that stuck with me. His childhood sounded idyllic and his parents wonderful and when I heard about this book I knew I would read it. It did not disappoint. It's a lovely remembrance of his famous and not famous parents and the oddness of a loss so personal being so public. I read it in a couple of hours and am sorry it's done. Definitely recommend it.