Culturally cool people

One of my all time favorite writers is Gabriel Garcia Marquez or “Gabo” as he is called. He was born in 1928 in Columbia, traveled the world and lives now in Mexico City. He was raised by his grandparents. I’ve read that he got his amazing storytelling in part from his grandmother who would tell the most wildly fantastic stories in an absolutely matter of fact way. So much so that when he was young he couldn’t always tell if what she was telling was true or not.

He’s a critically acclaimed writer and won the Noble Prize for Literature but he’s also widely popular. He has written fiction, non-fiction and short stories. I think part of his appeal is that he writes about themes that everyone can relate to. His masterpiece is One Hundred Years of Solitude but I think my favorite book is Love in the Time of Cholera. It’s based in part on the real life relationship of his mother and father.

Love in the Time of Cholera is the story of a love triangle that spans fifty years. The three main characters are entwined in an amazing story that describes every aspect of love. Gabo never defines love as just one thing but shows through the book hundreds of aspects of love – attraction, passion, lust, concern, friendship, companionship, respect, loyalty, devotion and even the desire to be together to avoid loneliness or to meet expectations. It’s an amazing story. When you read the book you recognize all of these different aspects of love in your own relationships and sometimes nearly all of them at different times in just one relationship.

Gabo is an amazing storyteller, richly imaginative who writes so clearly about universal themes that everyone can relate to.

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