allanderek reviewed Collected Novellas by Gabriel García Márquez
Too abstract for me, but perhaps not for thee
3 stars
Content warning Contains some minor and vague plot points, but I don't think any real spoilers.
For me this collection of novellas got more readable as went through them, so much so that I almost gave up on the book after the first one.
In general, there narration style is rather abstract with plot points being implied rather than told explicitly. Such that I found myself somewhat lost at times as to what was happening or even what time period was currently being discussed. This could of course be a result of the translation rather than the original text, I have no way of knowing, but suspect the translation is mostly fine.
The first story, 'Leaf storm' is difficult for me to follow. The 'leaf storm' apparently refers to the newcomers to the (fictional) town, who have come to work for the banana company that has recently come to town. But I don't know that from the story, but from looking it up externally. I'm not sure why the doctor is shunned by the town, some vague alluding to two incidents where the doctor refused people treatment, but the circumstances are too vague and it's never explicitly said that those incidents are why the town shuns the doctor. Nor is it clear to me why the grandfather of the tale feels obliged to first house and then bury the doctor. Overall I found myself a bit lost, and to be honest a bit bored. I'm not at all clear on the point of the story.
The second story "No one writes to the Colonel" is shorter, I may have found myself becoming a bit bored had it been longer. The point of the story is much clearer, and I think I would have had a firmer grasp on things if i had more (any) knowledge of Colombian history. Still, I found it a little difficult to know when and why things were happening.
The final story "Chronicles of a death foretold" was, for me, the best. I still found places where the narrative was unclear, I wasn't quite sure when certain things were happening, or the exact timeline of events, but it's much clearer here than in the other two stories. The narrator should have introduced themselves a bit better as I think I got lost by not quite understanding their place in the story.