Strange Pilgrims

“Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono”

4.5 • Algunos no me calaron mucho por cuestión de gusto personal, pero no existe un mal cuento en esta antología. Son retazos de cotidianidad mágica agarrados al vuelo.

Com 12 contos muito bem escritos, pude realmente navegar tranquilamente nas histórias contadas pelo autor. Fiquei apenas um pouco decepcionado que metade das histórias eram comuns e sem um sentido, apenas acontecimentos. Os contos que valem a pena, porém, são incriveis.

‘'A continent conceived by the scum of the earth without a moment of love: the children of abductions, rapes, violations, infamous dealings, deceptions, the union of enemies with enemies.''

Father of Magical Realism, a true god of Literature, one of the immortals. Gabriel Garcia Márquez doesn't need introductions. He is the writer who drew my attention to Latin American Literature. Through his work, I fell in love with Colombia, its culture and traditions, with the rich literary world of Central and South America. This collection is one more example of the impact and wonder of his writing.

12 stories. 12 pilgrims whose life led them away from their homelands into the old, safe arms of Europe. But is it so? Can you ever truly leave your birthplace behind? The answer is ‘'no''. It is in your blood, your thoughts, your behaviour. It haunts your steps, it doesn't let go...It doesn't matter whether you are in Paris, Geneva, Madrid, Barcelona, Naples, Sicily, Rome. Your land is inside you. Everything else is only a pilgrimage...

Bon Voyage, Mr. President: A young couple befriends the exiled President of an unnamed Carribean country. Initially their purpose isn't exactly honest but what happens when he actually manages to gain their sympathy? Set in Barcelona.

‘'No one sang or died of love in the plastic trattories on the Piazza di Spagna. For the Rome of our memory was by now another ancient Rome within the ancient Rome of the Caesars. Then a voice that might have come from the beyond stopped me cold on a narrow street in Trastevere. ‘'Hello, Poet''.

The Saint: A tender story of a man who has suffered a terrible loss set in Rome, the Eternal City with the immortal beauty, over a sad summer. A story of Art, hope and...self-canonization.

Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane: A beautiful, heartfelt story of unrequited love at first sight, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Márquez transforms a simple, uneventful meeting into pure Art.

I Sell My Dreams: An extraordinary story of a woman who had the ability of prophesying through dreams, set in Havana, Vienna and Barcelona. And we get to meet Pablo Neruda.

‘'Love is eternal for as long as it lasts.''

I Only Came to Use the Phone: A young woman finds herself in an asylum and her real-life nightmare begins somewhere in the Spanish desert. A harrowing story.

‘'They say this is the country of the Moors'', said another, distant voice that resounded throughout the dormitory. And it must be true, because in the summer, when there's a moon, you can hear the dogs barking at the sea.''

The Ghosts of August: A haunted castle in Tuscany is the summer destination of a beautiful family. And this is how you scare the bloody daylights out of a reader in just three pages...

‘'At Christmas, coloured lights were strung between the acacias, and music and happy voices were heard from the balconies, and a crowd of tourists invaded the sidewalk cafés, but in the midst of all the festivities one could feel the same repressed tension that preceded the days when the anarchists had taken over the streets.''

Maria dos Prazeres: A former prostitute is obsessed with what she perceives to be her impending death. A beautiful, sad story in majestic Barcelona.

Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen: A woman travels to Naples to see the Pope and witnesses a strange, macabre incident. A fascinating mixture of comedy, mystery and drama.

Tramontana: A story that vaguely reminded me of Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Brilliant...

Miss Forbes's Summer of Happiness: Two children have to spend their vacations under the control of an extremely strict nanny who has a few dark secrets of her own. Set in Sicily.

Light Is Like Water: Two boys from Cartagena who adore the sea feel trapped in their small apartment in Madrid. The solution they come up with in order to learn how to row has tragic results...

‘'She made her mental calculations, and only then realized that they had passed Bordeaux, as well as Angoulême and Poitiers, and were driving along the flooded dike of the Loire. Moonlight filtered through the mist, and the silhouettes of castles through the pines seemed to come from fairy tales.''

The Trail of Your Blood In the Snow: A young married couple drives from the Pyrenees to Paris. The woman has an almost invisible scratch on her ring finger, but she is bleeding, leaving tears of blood in the snow...This is one of the most beautiful, foreboding stories I've ever read. It shocks you and leaves you empty and in pain. Actual, physical pain...

Gabriel Garcia Márquez writes about exile, despair, loss, shattered hopes, broken families. And death. His pilgrims are people of all walks of life, their backgrounds varying, their aspirations remaining the same. In morbid twists and shocking closures, the reader completes a difficult pilgrimage in the land of the human soul that searches for the unattainable and the pure...

‘'It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.'' Gabriel Garcia Márquez

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com

I have read some of this book as a Penguin 60, in which four of these were re-published.

Like that review, I have stuck it is a spoiler, as with stories so short it is hard not to give plot information... but no more than other reviews have... and I don't think I have spoiled them...

As it explains on the back of my edition - 12 stories of Latin Americans in Europe, Linked by themes of displacement and exile, vivid stories of love loneliness, death and memories of past life.

Bon Voyage Mr President - tells of an ousted South American President, in Geneva for medical treatment, and living a paupers life. His interactions with a former countryman and his wife end very different from how they were anticipated at their meeting. 4.5/5.The Saint - the story of a child who dies but does not decay, and her father does everything to try to get her canonized. Fantasy fiction. 3/5.Sleeping Beauty on the Airplane - a tale of love at first sight, unrequited love, and a tale of inaction. 3.5/5.I sell My Dreams - A woman is remembered for her dream interpretations. 2.5/5.'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 Ghosts of August - a short ghost story about a haunted house. 3/5.Maria dos Prazeres - A retired prostitute prepares for her death. 2.5/5Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen - A religious woman, an unsuccessful pilgrimage to meet the pope stays in a hotel, a floor above seventeen Englishmen. 2/5.Tramontana - Events in the tramontana , a harsh land wind. 1.5/5.Miss Forbes Summer of Happiness - Children on holidays at the family holiday house at the beach rebel against a nanny, but the result is not the one they expected. 3/5.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. 2/5The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow - On a honeymoon trip, a young bride pricks her finger on a rose, and during a drive across France cannot locate a pharmacy for assistance. Arriving in Paris, they rush to the hospital, and at the emergency ward, she is admitted quickly, while her husband is left to find a place to stay. On returning he is told visiting is only on Tuesdays, the next Tuesday being 6 days away. The story outlines the run around he gets as a non-French speaker in a city he is unfamiliar with. 4/5.(hide spoiler)]I think an overall 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars.

Ainda não conhecia nada do autor, embora já tivesse ouvido falar em seu nome, mas foi segundo a sugestão do vendedor de uma livraria da cidade que resolvi trazer para casa Doze anos de solidão, que foi uma introdução digna à literatura de Gabriel García Marquez, ganhador do prêmio Nobel de literatura.

Dividido em doze contos, como bem antecipa o título, a obra começa com “Boa viagem, senhor presidente”, conto que fala sobre os anseios e o estado de vivência de um presidente derrubado que encontra um pouco de sentido de amizade e compaixão em um até então desconhecido.

O livro começa de maneira cativante, com o conto nos transportando ao momento apresentado quase que instantaneamente, com descrições detalhadas sem prolixidade. Gabriel García Marquez escolhe as palavras sabiamente e as põe no papel de maneira a encantar o leitor a cada página.

“A santa”, segundo conto do livro, nos traz o dia-a-dia da batalha de um homem que busca a canonização da filha, que faleceu e foi encontrada intacta no caixão anos depois da sua morte. É, de maneira singela, um dos contos mais tocantes do livro.

Entre contos de amor, solidão, esperança e reflexão, encontramos espaço até para o sobrenatural em “‘Só vim telefonar'” e “Assombrações de agosto”. García Marquez liga os contos como se fizessem parte de uma só história. É possível perceber a marcação das suas palavras e o ritmo se torna fluido durante o livro inteiro.

“Maria dos Prazeres” nos apresenta a história de uma mulher que não vive no auge da sua inesperada profissão e sente que está prestes a morrer, então encomenda seu leito de morte. É uma personagem brasileira e humana, com uma vida um pouco mais palpável que outras, presentes no livro.

Talvez o conto mais previsível e lugar-comum, “Dezessete ingleses envenenados” não traz surpresa ao leitor e se perde em meio aos contos presentes na obra. Não segue uma linha contínua desde o início e um detalhe é pego para finalização do conto. No final, ainda me perguntei se o autor não poderia ter deixado passar esse, em específico.

Já “Tramontana” é completamente o oposto do conto anterior. Trata das lembranças do autor sobre a tramontana, que vem a ser explicada no decorrer das poucas páginas, e como tais lembranças têm ligação com um fato que está ocorrendo naquele momento na vida da personagem. Está entre os meus preferidos.

Quase no final notei que se trata de um livro de contrapontos e surpresas. “O verão feliz da senhora Forbes” pode ser caracterizado (por mim, claro) como perturbador. Terminada a leitura não soube se ria ou chorava ou o que pensar sobre a história descrita. É um ótimo conto.

“A luz é como a água”, por sua vez, é divertido e um dos contos mais curtos do livro e dá abertura a “O rastro do teu sangue na neve”, que finaliza a obra da maneira mais magistral que pude perceber em uma leitura durante esse ano, quiçá em muitos anos. É um conto sensível e profundo, que nos leva ao cenário frio de Paris para conhecer um pouco da comovente história de Billy e Nena.

Creio que, depois de Doze contos peregrinos, vou ter que ler a maior quantidade possível de obras de Gabriel García. Ele traz ao leitor em sua coletânea de contos um retrato da Europa que geralmente não conhecemos em best-sellers e filmes que chegam ao cinema. É um cenário misterioso e até aconchegante, com um toque de familiaridade que, por vezes, quase é possível se ver dentro de um ou outro conto.

http://epigrafiaalternativa.blogspot.com.br/2014/07/doze-contos-peregrinos-gabriel-garcia.html