I have read some of this book as a Penguin 60, in which four of these were re-published.Like that review, I have stuck it is a spoiler, as with stories so short it is hard not to give plot information... but no more than other reviews have... and I don't think I have spoiled them...As it explains on the back of my edition - 12 stories of Latin Americans in Europe, Linked by themes of displacement and exile, vivid stories of love loneliness, death and memories of past life.(view spoiler)[Bon Voyage Mr President - tells of an ousted South American President, in Geneva for medical treatment, and living a paupers life. His interactions with a former countryman and his wife end very different from how they were anticipated at their meeting. 4.5/5.The Saint - the story of a child who dies but does not decay, and her father does everything to try to get her canonized. Fantasy fiction. 3/5.Sleeping Beauty on the Airplane - a tale of love at first sight, unrequited love, and a tale of inaction. 3.5/5.I sell My Dreams - A woman is remembered for her dream interpretations. 2.5/5.'I Only Came to Use the Phone' - a horror story of circumstance. A woman whose car breaks down attempts to solicit help - to use their telephone, only to be locked away with the other lunatics. 4/5.The Ghosts of August - a short ghost story about a haunted house. 3/5.Maria dos Prazeres - A retired prostitute prepares for her death. 2.5/5Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen - A religious woman, an unsuccessful pilgrimage to meet the pope stays in a hotel, a floor above seventeen Englishmen. 2/5.Tramontana - Events in the tramontana , a harsh land wind. 1.5/5.Miss Forbes Summer of Happiness - Children on holidays at the family holiday house at the beach rebel against a nanny, but the result is not the one they expected. 3/5.Light is Like Water - Magical realism in the wild imagination of two children. I have never really been a huge fan of magical realism presented as a story in a 'normal setting'. One of the boys asks why the lights went on with just a flick of the switch, and the narrator flippantly responds, “Light is like water. You turn the tap and out it comes.” After that the boys ask their parents for a boat, and each time their parents go out they break a light-bulb and let light pour out to a depth of three feet, and go sailing around the house. 2/5The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow - On a honeymoon trip, a young bride pricks her finger on a rose, and during a drive across France cannot locate a pharmacy for assistance. Arriving in Paris, they rush to the hospital, and at the emergency ward, she is admitted quickly, while her husband is left to find a place to stay. On returning he is told visiting is only on Tuesdays, the next Tuesday being 6 days away. The story outlines the run around he gets as a non-French speaker in a city he is unfamiliar with. 4/5.(hide spoiler)]I think an overall 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars. (hide spoiler)]
إنه ماركيز الذي أوتي من السحر خيرًا كثيرا..يبدع ماركيز في الحكي كما لو أنه خُلق فقط ليحكي.. يحكي عن كل شيء بأريحية تامة تُصيب المتلقي بدهشة فائقة. فبرغم أن هذا الكتاب ما هو إلا مجموعة قصصية أضاعها ماركيز ذات مرة و قرر إذفجأتن أن يستعيدها - و فعل - إلا أنها ليست كالقصص القصيرة التي يكتبها كتّاب الروايات.فماركيز يحكي القصة القصيرة كما لو أنها مهنته الوحيدة. يكتبها بالتفاصيل الصغيرة و بخط السرد الملتف و ينهيها بدهشة عظيمة تتسبب لك في شهقة. تلك الدهشة التي تفتقر إليها القصص القصيرة للروائيين.يحكي المنسي قنديل لنا ذات مرة أن الكاتب إذا ما انخرط في كتابة الروايات فإنه يصعب عليه و ربما يستحيل العودة للقصة القصيرة. و هاهو ماركيز. و بعد 25 عاما من كتابة رائعته مئة عام من العزلة/العبقرية.. يعود بسلاسة و يسر ليكتب مجموعة عجيبة بدأت نطفتها الأولى في عام 74 بسبب حلم صاخب رأى فيه احتفالية موته. ثم أضاع المسودة التي احتفظ فيها بعناصر 64 موضوعا لا ينقصه إلا كتابتهم.مقدمة ماركيز للمجموعة تُعد في حد ذاتها حكاية يجب أن تُضاف لرصيده الأدبيّ. ترجمة محمد عطا عن النص الأسباني الأصلي فاجأتني ببراعتها و جودتها الواضحة التي قلّما نجدها في أية ترجمة لم يقم بها صالح علماني..و أخيرًا.. أشكر بشدة الصديق العزيز أحمدعبدالحفيظ الذي أهداني هذه النسخة التي يندر تداولها هذه الأيامماركيز.. أحمدُ الله أني عشتُ في الزمن الذي عشتَ فيه لتحكي
What do You think about Strange Pilgrims (2006)?
اثنا عشر قصة مترعة بالموت .. ربما أخطأتُ حين اخترتُ موعد قراءتها في هذا الوقت .. لكن موتاً واحداً منها لم يكن يشبه عُشرَ موتٍ في الحقيقة هذه الأيام "سورية" .. عموماً .. مع ماركيز تستطيع أن تكون قارئاً محتالاً إذ يكفيك أن تقرأ بداية القصة ونهايتها لتعرف الفكرة العامة .. لكن ذلك سيحرمك من متعة الخوض في التفاصيل التي لايجيد عرضها أحدٌ مثل ماركيز .. الإبداع الأكبر كان في تشابه الفكرة المركزية لكل القصص واختلاف كل قصة من القصص اختلافاً كبيراً .. القصص رائعة لكنها لا تستحق أكثر من أربع نجمات .. أنصحكم بها .. كل قراءة لماركيز هو خوض تجربة جديدة من منظور جديد ومختلف ..
—Arakah Mushaweh
Read this during my rabid Garcia Marquez consumption of last year and it's one of the only short story collections that I actually enjoyed. Usually, I can't get into short stories, I always find the character development lacking and then just can't relate, plus I always feel cheated at the end on the occasions that I did enjoy the story because I want more. But, I think that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is simply so good at storytelling he can wrap the whole story up in a tiny package and have it stand up to his more epic works.
—Maya
I have only read "100 Years...", which is beyond a doubt a true masterpiece. Here, some stories seem irregular. Thats about all I can find as detriment to this clever collection of short (some EXTREMELY so) stories. They all have several things in common: the protagonists are Latinoamericanos in olde Europa. The settings pan around the continent from Madrid to the Spanish coast, London, France, Italia... etc. The prose is good enough to inspire one to fly over there post haste... everything just seems so poetic and life-altering there. (sigh)Also, most of the vignettes deal with an all-time favorite theme: death. Most of the citizens of the book are not youngsters and probably reflect the author's own feelings of antiquity and age.I did like seven or so tales intensely, but some others feel like quack intros to potentially amazing plots. Instead of keeping with the ideas to elongate them into other full-length masterwork novels, Garcia Marquez seems, well, censored (?) Reading this in Spanish makes a HUGE difference, I believe, to the overall experience. The rhetoric is often times untranslateable, and I believe that the English transfer would probably be less rich in prose, as the author loves to sprinkle Spanish sayings and laugh-inducing wit into the melting pot. The lack of overall fantastic elements (such as in, say "100 Years") is sometimes a downer.I say: Good, but probably not a milestone for the author nor, as is usually the case with Garcia Marquez's contribution to globe-wide lit, a truly remarkable work.
—Fabian
