Current:Home > MarketsCritics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes -Wealth Empowerment Academy
Critics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes
View
Date:2025-04-16 17:50:16
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! (6)
Related
- Everything Simone Biles did at the Paris Olympics was amplified. She thrived in the spotlight
- Turkey’s President Erdogan and Elon Musk discuss establishing a Tesla car factory in Turkey
- Hearings in $1 billion lawsuit filed by auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn against Nissan starts in Beirut
- ‘El Chapo’ son Ovidio Guzmán López pleads not guilty to US drug and money laundering charges
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Bill Maher postpones return to the air, the latest TV host to balk at working during writers strike
- 2 pilots killed in crash at Reno air race
- Bill Maher postpones return to the air, the latest TV host to balk at working during writers strike
- 'Stranger Things' prequel 'The First Shadow' is headed to Broadway
- In Miami, It’s No Coincidence Marginalized Neighborhoods Are Hotter
Ranking
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- UAW strike day 4: GM threatens to send 2,000 workers home, Ford cuts 600 jobs
- UAW strike, Trump's civil trial in limbo, climate protests: 5 Things podcast
- Missing Maine man found alive after being trapped in his truck in a mud pit for two days
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Stock market today:
- As leaders convene, the UN pushes toward its crucial global goals. But progress is lagging
- Deal Alert: Get a NuFACE The FIX Line Smoothing Device & Serum Auto-Delivery For Under $100
Recommendation
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
A Florida man bought a lottery ticket with his Publix sub. He won $5 million.
Wild black bear at Walt Disney World in Florida delays openings
Wild black bear at Walt Disney World in Florida delays openings
Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
Ukraine and its allies battle Russian bid to have genocide case tossed out of the UN’s top court
Indiana attorney general sues hospital system over privacy of Ohio girl who traveled for abortion
11 Mexican police officers convicted in murders of 17 migrants who were shot and burned near U.S. border