Gabriel García Márques: A Life, by Gerald Martin

If you are a reader who loves to unearth the story behind the story, and if you have read García Márques, as well as other Latin American literary giants, you will truly appreciate Gerald Martin’s masterful biography of the one and only Gabriel García Márques (GGM) - Gabo to his friends and aficionados. You will find this volume in the “New Non-fiction” shelves at EWML.

Martin’s amazingly readable narrative is as well written as any of the works of his subject. He breathes vivid life into decades of the intellectual and political conflicts of an entire continent.

It has never been a secret; GGM managed to keep centered into the thick of things, both literary and political. His official biographer, as he is referred to by Gabo, treats his subject’s trials and triumphs, fame and foibles with fairness and dexterity.

Martin’s masterpiece gathers many literary giants between its covers, (Mario Vargas LLosa, Alvaro Mutis, Carlos Fuentes, to name only a few) much as they gathered together in life. He delves for insight into Gabo’s controversial relationship with politicians such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, his conflict with the government of his native Columbia, including the conflicts with his closest family members and friends.

Without succumbing to the temptation to insert literary criticism into the pages, Martin, nevertheless, succeeds in unlocking the vault of García Marques’s inspiration. The story of the man who wrote the stories is as mind boggling as the works of fiction he produced.

In spite of his comprehensive volume, Gerald Martin leaves me wanting to read more, not only about Gabo or his literary output, but more of Martin’s own works. One reading of “Gabriel García Márques, A Life” is not enough; what greater compliment exists than “asking for seconds?”

Patricia Salerno