The General In His Labyrinth
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman
This is a fictitious account of the last months of the life of
Simon Bolivar. Throughout the book, he is referred to as the General. The book opens on the general as he is beginning his day on a day soon before his congress deposes him. The General is depicted as a sick man, dying young. He journeys out of Venezuela with a large entourage, going only he knows where. The account of his journey is broken frequently with tangential history and anecdotes.
Because this is a translation, there are points where the reader cannot get quite what the author is saying. Some of the words are not translated, and are not in my dictionary (I use the American Heritage Unabridged). My knowledge of South American history also wasn't as complete as it should have been to comfortably read this novel. Somewhat disconcerting to me was when the General refers to America, and is not referring to what I think of as America- the United States. That is, of course, my failing, and not that of the book. I suggest that readers as unaware as myself of Spanish American History read the timeline at the back of the book before reading the book itself.
Happy reading.
