Living to Tell the Tale

I just started reading this memoir by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and yet again I am fascinated by his writing. First, I was excited to learn that the couple in his wonderful novel Love in the Time of Cholera is based on his parents. It’s interesting to see the difference between the fictitious tale and his parents’ actual love story. I am reminded of how fascinated I was reading The House of Spirits – a novel based onIsabel Allende's family and Paula, a memoir written to her daughter while she was in a coma.

The writing in Living to Tell the Tale is so fluid and vividly descriptive – I forget that it’s a memoir and not fiction. Just by the details he includes, whether it’s about a parrot their family had, the banana companies in their village of Aracataca, or his telegraph operating father, I remember pieces of his novels and see how they all come together to mirror his own life and family history.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an amazing writer. I’m thoroughly enjoying this book, and can’t wait to learn more about his life. I am also looking forward to the next two books, since Living to Tell the Tale is meant to be the first of a series of three memoirs.