I <3 The General in His Labyrinth

The perfect way to describe this book: anticlimactic.

First off, I’d like to say that as much as I enjoy reading Gabriel García Márquez’s books, this was one that I didn’t quite fall in love with at first; but now has definitely grown on me since researching so much for Wiki. And I applaud García Márquez because I realize after researching, how much time and effort he had actually put into writing this novel. There are so many small details that needed to be considered and indeed have been, such as Bolívar’s constipation (thanks Carla for always reminding me of that!), and his guava fetish. Yes I know the word fetish might be a slight exaggeration.

So I decided to write about something that may not seem appropriate in a class entitled “Murder, Madness, and Mayhem”; and that is, the topic of love.

I have noticed that in at least all the novels by Gabriel García Márquez that I have read, love seems to be a common theme. And not only that, it appears it is often some sort of “forbidden love” or love that is wronged. For instance, in One Hundred Years of Solitude, there were many love affairs between relatives that most I think would consider taboo; in Love in the Time of Cholera, it is a love story but also involving many other love affairs. In The General in His Labyrinth, the General engages also in numerous love affairs and one night stands, a number of them with young virgins, and Manuela cheats on her husband with the General. I think the General is not only lost in a labyrinth of wars, victories, history, sickness; but also in a labyrinth of love. Though his relationship with his wife is only discussed once in the novel, I have a feeling he really did love her, and is almost trying to drown his sorrow in the numerous love affairs. And his feelings for Manuela were likely genuine as well, as he writes to her, “My love for you is steadfast.” (153) And he also says at one point in the book, “There is great power in the irresistible force of love.”(58)

Something else really neat that I found out during research is that García Márquez had actually said in an interview, “At bottom, I have written only one book, the same one that circles round and round, and continues on.”

And even if I haven’t learned anything from this book and from doing the Wiki page, at least I’ve learned and mastered the shortcut keys for all those vowels with the little accents on top. (áéíóú!!!)