These twelve stories, written over eighteen years, are about Latin Americans who find themselves in Europe, mainly in Barcelona, Rome, Geneva and Paris. García Márquez describes exiles, immigrants and dreamers who feel out of place, and mixes realism with odd, uncanny events. In one, a woman is wrongly confined in an asylum after a bus trip. In another, a dead child's body is taken to Rome to be considered for sainthood. The collection starts with a note on how the stories began as newspaper ideas and film scripts.
Readers who liked One Hundred Years of Solitude will find this a shorter and more melancholic way to approach his work. It suits anyone interested in themes of displacement, loneliness and the strange in everyday life.
Thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1992
- Language
- EN
