Current:Home > FinanceCritics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes -AssetScope
Critics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes
View
Date:2025-04-12 12:55:16
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! (71)
Related
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- Scream’s Josh Segarra Seriously Wants to Form a Pro Wrestling Tag Team With Bad Bunny
- Never Have I Ever Star Jaren Lewison Talks His Top Self-Care Items, From Ice Cream to Aftershave
- How Love Is Blind’s Amber Pike Is Shading the Show
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Bachelor Nation's Sean Lowe Says Son Needed E.R. Trip After Family Dog Bit Him
- Kate Middleton Gives a Clue on Her Coronation Outfit for King Charles III's Regal Celebration
- From 4chan to international politics, a bug-eating conspiracy theory goes mainstream
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Madison Beer Details Suicidal Thoughts, Substance Abuse, Sexual Assault in Her Book The Half of It
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Why Sofia Richie's Brother Miles Richie Missed Her Wedding to Elliot Grainge
- DWTS' Len Goodman Dead at 78: Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and More Pay Tribute
- Global heat waves show climate change and El Niño are a bad combo
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- This fishing gear can help save whales. What will it take for fishermen to use it?
- The heat is making squirrels 'sploot' — a goofy act that signals something serious
- This It Cosmetics Balm Works as a Cleanser, Makeup Remover, and Mask: Get 2 for Less Than the Price of 1
Recommendation
Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
What we do — and don't yet — know about the malaria cases in the U.S.
Lionel Richie Shares Insight Into Daughter Sofia Richie's Luxurious Wedding to Elliot Grainge
Queen Camilla’s Son Tom Parker Bowles Makes Rare Comments on Her Marriage to King Charles
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
NASA is sending an Ada Limón poem to Jupiter's moon Europa — and maybe your name too?
A haze is blanketing major swaths of the East Coast because of the Canadian wildfires
Barefoot Dreams Flash Deal: Get a $120 CozyChic Blanket for $30 Before It Sells Out, Again