Current:Home > reviewsCritics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes -MoneyBase
Critics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes
View
Date:2025-04-13 19:22:08
Gabriel García Márquez has a posthumous book coming out 10 years after his death. But he wouldn't have ́aMáwanted it that way.
García Márquez's final book "Until August" is set for release on March 12, but the author explicitly told his sons he didn't want the work published.
"He told me directly that the novel had to be destroyed," the author's younger son Gonzalo García Barcha told The New York Times. His eldest son, Rodrigo García, said his dad "lost the ability to judge the book."
In the New York Times piece, the brothers say they helped publish "Until August" because it lifts the veil on a new side to their father, who centered the book around a female protagonist for the first time. However, García told the outlet that he and his brother "were worried of course to be seen as simply greedy."
"Until August" follows a happily married woman Ana Magdalena Bach, who travels every August by a ferry to an island where her mom is buried to find another love for just one night.
Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist
García Márquez, one of the most popular Spanish-language writers ever, died in 2014 in Mexico City at the age of 87. His book "100 Years of Solitude" sold over 50 million copies, which is a mammoth feat in the literary world.
Author Gabriel García Márquez diesat 87
Oprah Winfrey chose his books twice for her original book club, "100 Years of Solitude" in 2004 and "Love in the Time of Cholera" in 2007, a rare occurrence for the media mogul.
It seems that his new work won't receive the same fate. Critics are slamming "Until August," which spans just 144 pages, in early reviews.
Harsh reviews for Gabriel García Márquez's new book: 'a faded souvenir'
"Until August" has yielded harsh reactions from several publications.
In a review of the book for British outlet i News, author Max Lui wrote, "The story ends so abruptly that it is obvious that it is unfinished" and called out the author's family and publishers for disrespecting his wishes.
"Usually, in a review of an underwhelming posthumous publication or minor work by a major author, it is worth saying that, despite its flaws, it will delight devoted fans. I do not believe that is true of 'Until August.' Márquez knew this and was right not to want it to see the light of day," Liu wrote.
Lucy Hughes-Hallett called the Latin American author's last novel was "not good writing" and "like a faded souvenir" for The Guardian.
"So should it have been published? There are small errors of continuity. The structure is ungainly. More importantly, the prose is often dismayingly banal, its syntax imprecise," she wrote.
While writer David Mills in a review for The Times agreed with similar critiques, he seemed to enjoy the book.
"Yet, for all these faults, 'Until August' is recognizably a Garcia Marquez novel: inventively enjoyable and working to its surprising, pleasing ending. I read it straight through in one sitting, then got up the next day and did it again," Mills wrote.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Millionaire says OceanGate CEO offered him discount tickets on sub to Titanic, claimed it was safer than scuba diving
- First in the nation gender-affirming care ban struck down in Arkansas
- A smarter way to use sunscreen
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Massachusetts’ Ambitious Clean Energy Bill Jolts Offshore Wind Prospects
- Q&A: A Harvard Expert on Environment and Health Discusses Possible Ties Between COVID and Climate
- Don’t Gut Coal Ash Rules, Communities Beg EPA at Hearing
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Video: A Climate Change ‘Hackathon’ Takes Aim at New York’s Buildings
Ranking
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Where Mama June Shannon Stands With Her Daughters After Family Tension
- Honolulu Sues Petroleum Companies For Climate Change Damages to City
- Q&A: A Harvard Expert on Environment and Health Discusses Possible Ties Between COVID and Climate
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Climate Change is Pushing Giant Ocean Currents Poleward
- Where Mama June Shannon Stands With Her Daughters After Family Tension
- American Climate Video: On a Normal-Seeming Morning, the Fire Suddenly at Their Doorstep
Recommendation
Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
Georgia police department apologizes for using photo of Black man for target practice
Politicians want cop crackdowns on drug dealers. Experts say tough tactics cost lives
Court: Federal Coal Lease Program Not Required to Redo Climate Impact Review
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
Canada's record wildfire season continues to hammer U.S. air quality
Get $91 Worth of MAC Cosmetics Eye Makeup for Just $40
On Baffin Island in the Fragile Canadian Arctic, an Iron Ore Mine Spews Black Carbon