El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba by Gabriel García Márquez

While on a trip to Argentina, I gained an intense fascination towards Latin American culture and literature. As a denizen of the United States, I admit that I sometimes fall victim to forgetting that 100s of millions of people live south of our border, people who don't need the inspiration of the United States to create a unique, beautiful culture. Inspired to expand my breadth of knowledge on this culture that I was experiencing first hand and eager to improve my Spanish vocabulary, I decided to purchase some Latin American classics that weren't readily available in an English version.

To fulfill these objectives, I purchased an early work from the famous Colombian author Gabriel Márquez. El Coronel is a short novel of Márquez which tells the story of an old, retired Colonel, broke and living in poverty while supporting a desperate wife, waiting to receive his pension. The pension never comes, and the Colonel realizes he lived a miserable life.

I admit that at times I had difficulty following this book, my language abilities just aren't strong enough to easily read a Spanish language novel without a dictionary. Márquez definitely writes with a larger vocabulary than just about any Spanish language magazine (this should be a given). I ultimately read this book twice to fully comprehend it.

As for a recommendation, I enjoyed it (when I fully comprehended what I was reading). Unless you are a good Spanish speaker, I'd recommend finding a translated copy.

Completed: End of August