I wish everyone was as talented as Gabriel Garcia Marquez! There will be no forced reading on my part with this novel. It has it all and then some. Just the three sentence opening paragraph is a masterpiece, introducing an epic story whose themes include love, war, sickness, death, and exotic settings. Here is an example of his prose:
"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love. Dr. Juvenal Urbino noticed it as soon as he entered the still darkened house where he had hurried on an urgent call to attend a case that for him had lost all urgency many years before. The Antillean refugee Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, disabled war veteran, photographer of children, and his most sympathetic opponent in chess, had escaped the torments of memory with the aromatic fumes of gold cyanide."
I'm sneaking this novel in now since it's our next book club selection. We chose this to commemorate Mr. Marquez's recent death and his considerable literary accomplishments.
BTW, what are "bitter almonds," anyway?
I am so glad you are reading this masterpiece! I loved this book -- I read it years ago -- and remember savoring every single sentence!!!
ReplyDeleteAll I know about the "smell of bitter almonds" is what I learned from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation -- it indicates cyanide poisoning. Didn't make that connection when I read the novel -- I'll be interested to hear if that makes sense upon your reading :)
I was curious about "bitter" almonds vs. regular almonds. Didn't know their were the two varieties. Marquez doesn't make the effort to explain the difference, so I looked it up. Seems it's not an uncommon theme with mystery writers.
ReplyDeleteIs cyanide made from bitter almonds? I guess I always assumed cyanide poisoning just caused that odor to emanate from the victim -- but again -- all I know is what I learned from CSI - haha. But it's interesting to me that it's prevalent among mystery writers (and evidently television writers) -- how common is poisoning by cyanide in real life??!!)
ReplyDeleteHere's more than you probably need to know about cyanide:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/cyanide/basics/facts.asp