No One Writes to the Colonel
Ratings73
Average rating3.8
বইটা পড়ছি জানতে পেরে হারুন আমাকে মেসেজ করে বললো, বইটা শেষ হওয়ার পরে আমার মুখ দিয়ে প্রথম যে শব্দটা উচ্চারিত হবে সেটা যেন তাকে জানাই।
আমার মুখ দিয়ে কোনো শব্দ উচ্চারিত হয়নি। শেষের কয়েকটা লাইন বারতিনেক পড়লাম। কিছুই বেরোলো না মুখ দিয়ে। আমি একদম নির্বাক।
Un clásico y un libro maravilloso aunque sea corto. García Márquez usa lenguaje corriente para mostrarle al lector la triste realidad del veterano colombiano. El estilo del autor me recuerda a Hemingway, pero aún más conmovedor. Altamente recomendado.
This was one of the texts, studied during my first year at university, back in 2003, though originally in Spanish. All these years later, I thought it high time to sit down and properly read one of the texts I was supposed to study in depth at university, though now without the socio-political and historical context to go with it.
The story's protagonists are The Colonel and his wife, who live in a small town in Colombia, possibly in the same time period as characters such as Aureliano Buendía, who appears in García Márquez's “100 Years of Solitude”.
The story tells us of the misery and desperation they face on a daily basis, whilst the Colonel awaits his long awaited war pension, which never seems to arrive, and money the couple could make from their dead son's fighting cockerel and it's sale.
We spend most of our time spent in limbo, pondering - Is the Colonel's pension ever going to arrive? Will the fighting cockerel ever win a fight? Will life ever get better for the couple?
There's no chapter structure in the traditional sense of a novel and at times, I also found the lack of names annoying as well, and to me, these are what frustrated me more than anything else.
I may read it again in the future, but for the minute, I'm left with a sense of relief that I've finished it and can move onto something else.
This book contains two short stories - the first is the titular story, featuring an un-named Colonel and his wife. The Colonel is retired, and has been awaiting his pension - walking to the post office each Friday expecting it to finally arrive. After 15 years, he has nothing to hold onto but the blind hope it will arrive, while he and his wife slowly starve.
The books opens with the Colonel waking, finding there is only enough coffee for one cup, which he prepares and gives to his wife. “I have had mine,” the Colonel lied. “There was still a big spoonful left.” He then dresses in his best suit and heads out to attend a funeral - “This burial is a special event,” the colonel said. “It's the first death from natural causes which we've had in many years.”
The country is under martial law. Nine months before, their grown-up son, their only child, was shot while distributing subversive leaflets inside a cock fight. The only possession from the son is his rooster, the feeding of which takes food from their own mouths. The couple argue about the rooster - and the fact they should sell it, but the Colonel can't bring himself to do this, believing instead that they will make money when the rooster wins the cockfights - still months away. Instead they have slowly sold all the possessions they can - except a clock and a picture (which no one will buy).
For me this was a story of bleakness, sorrow, pain and hopelessness. The book starts one morning in October, and finishes in mid December, but really it is just a snapshot of life. At the very end, the Colonel reaches a conclusion - one that took him seventy-five years of his life, minute by minute to reach. I won't spoil it for you.
The second story is a bit less orthodox. Presented as one story, but broken up into 8 individual and separate chapter/stories. They all take place in Macondo - like so many of GGM's books (including No One Writes to the Colonel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, etc). They are isolated short stories, but have some characters which run through all. For me it was too fragmented, and if there was an overall theme I didn't pick it up.
First story was 5/5, second was 3/5, so overall four stars from me.
Update: 09/05/2015
Part of the Speed Reviews.
Pequeña historia sobre el coronel y su esposa, que viven en total miseria y en constante amenaza de quedar sin dinero, sin comida, sin nada. Como pequeño rayo de esperanza, el Coronel va todos los viernes al puerto, a esperar la llegada de su correspondiente pensión, por sus servicios dados a la patria. Pero siempre recibe la misma noticia, el coronel no tiene quien le escriba.
Este libro fue corto y entretenido. Siempre es bueno leer algo de García Márquez, ya que su manera de escribir es muy especial. El cuento en si fué deprimente, con la miseria y tristeza en la que vive esta pareja, y las decisiones que tienen que tomar. Empieza triste y termina triste. Y no hay nada que se pueda hacer por ellos.
Review in English
Little story about the colonel and his wife, who live in utter poverty and in constant threat of being without money, without food or nothing. As a small ray of hope, Colonel goes every Friday to the port, to wait for their corresponding pension for their services rendered to the country. But always get the same news, Colonel no one writes.
This book was short and entertaining. It's always good to read some of Garcia Marquez, as his writing is very special. The story itself was depressing, with misery and grief in which the couple lives and the decisions they have to make. Sad sad begins and ends. And there's nothing you can do for them.
