A review by babybearreads
The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Álvaro Mutis
5.0
It was just through coincidence that I read this book right after reading [b:The Savage Detectives|63033|The Savage Detectives|Roberto Bolaño|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1342651149s/63033.jpg|2503920] - Mutis, as a Latin American poet famous through the 60s and 70s, would have been one of the exact people that the main characters in Bolaño's work would have known and idolized. What a strange merging of fiction and reality!
This book floored me. It had the perfect blend of plot/characterization and deep meaning/philosophic contemplation that I like. You can easily tell that Mutis was a poet first; the descriptive language is simply wonderful. Each piece is a beautifully-woven story, often with many other stories intertwined. The whole vibe of the book to me fit perfectly with the Brazilian concept of 'saudade' - it's very nostalgic (as most storytelling is), but it's a melancholy nostalgia.
And finally, it struck me as so strange that by the end of the book, you know so much about Maqroll as if he was an intimate friend, yet you never really know much of the basics about him: where is he from? what time period does he live in? what does he look like?
Not many books manage to make me cry, but the end of the final story absolutely did. What a masterpiece by Mutis, way exceeded expectations!
This book floored me. It had the perfect blend of plot/characterization and deep meaning/philosophic contemplation that I like. You can easily tell that Mutis was a poet first; the descriptive language is simply wonderful. Each piece is a beautifully-woven story, often with many other stories intertwined. The whole vibe of the book to me fit perfectly with the Brazilian concept of 'saudade' - it's very nostalgic (as most storytelling is), but it's a melancholy nostalgia.
And finally, it struck me as so strange that by the end of the book, you know so much about Maqroll as if he was an intimate friend, yet you never really know much of the basics about him: where is he from? what time period does he live in? what does he look like?
Not many books manage to make me cry, but the end of the final story absolutely did. What a masterpiece by Mutis, way exceeded expectations!