Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen
Ratings1
Average rating3
A Pocket Penguin 70 year publication - a excerpt of short stories by GGM. Three taken from [b:Strange Pilgrims 22175 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1411334612s/22175.jpg 791346], the third story from [b:Collected Stories 759 Collected Stories Gabriel García Márquez https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1324392308s/759.jpg 750435].Plotlines given away, so a spoiler it is...Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen - A religious woman, an unsuccessful pilgrimage to meet the pope stays in a hotel, a floor above seventeen Englishmen. 2/5.'I Only Came to Use the Phone' - a horror story of circumstance. A woman whose car breaks down attempts to solicit help - to use their telephone, only to be locked away with the other lunatics. 4/5.The Woman Who Came at Six O'clock - the story of a barman and his lady patron, and his love for her. 4/5.Light is Like Water - Magical realism in the wild imagination of two children. I have never really been a huge fan of magical realism presented as a story in a 'normal setting'. One of the boys asks why the lights went on with just a flick of the switch, and the narrator flippantly responds, “Light is like water. You turn the tap and out it comes.” After that the boys ask their parents for a boat, and each time their parents go out they break a light-bulb and let light pour out to a depth of three feet, and go sailing around the house. 2/5So 2, 4, 4, 2 - sounds like 3 overall!