Current:Home > FinanceCritics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes -WealthPro Academy
Critics slam posthumous Gabriel García Márquez book published by sons against his wishes
View
Date:2025-04-16 05:43:15
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! (4)
Related
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Powell reinforces Fed’s cautious approach toward further interest rate hikes
- Ohio State's Ryan Day denies giving Michigan's signs to Purdue before Big Ten title game
- Japanese automaker Nissan’s profits zoom on strong sales, favorable exchange rates
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- MLB announcer Jason Benetti leaves White Sox to join division rival's broadcast team
- India, Pakistan border guards trade fire along their frontier in Kashmir; one Indian soldier killed
- Melissa Rivers Is Engaged to Attorney Steve Mitchel
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Khloe Kardashian Proves True Thompson and Dream Kardashian Are Justin Bieber's Biggest Fans
Ranking
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Houston eighth grader dies after suffering brain injury during football game
- Israel agrees to 4-hour daily pauses in Gaza fighting to allow civilians to flee, White House says
- India, Pakistan border guards trade fire along their frontier in Kashmir; one Indian soldier killed
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- College student hit by stray bullet dies. Suspect was released earlier for intellectual disability
- Vinny Slick and Fifi among 16 accused mafia associates arrested in U.S.-Italy takedown
- Veteran Spanish conservative politician shot in face in Madrid street
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Father of Liverpool striker Luis Díaz released after his kidnapping in Colombia by ELN guerrillas
In Wisconsin, old fashioneds come with brandy. Lawmakers want to make it somewhat official
Nordstrom Rack's Clear the Rack Sale Is Here: Save up to 95% on Madewell, Kate Spade & More
Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
Federal prosecutors say high-end brothels counted elected officials, tech execs, military officers as clients
One teen dead and one critically injured in Miami crash early Wednesday morning
Officials in Russia-annexed Crimea say private clinics have stopped providing abortions