The Autumn of the Patriarch

When Gabriel Garcia Marquez died I heard a podcast discussing his work and the critic in the podcast chose Autumn Of The Patriarch (1975) as the most representative of his writing. I was intrigued since it is one of the novels that I hadn't read yet, so I decided that would be the next Marquez novel I would read. it reflects all the great lyricism of other novels such as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love In The Time Of Cholera. It also catalogs the barbarity of the military dictatorships that once dominated South America and most of Latin America. The book is divided into six sections about the eternal dictator and his cruel reign as well as the discovery of his so-called dead corpse at the onset of each section. The sentences and paragraphs are long, flowing, and lyrical. It is truly one of his masterpieces of modern fiction.

This is a masterpiece and the perfect book to read right now as it's about a South American dictator whose name is never known. (One can't help but think of Donald Trump.) The story is told in the past, present and future tense accented with amazing images like cows eating the paintings in the ruins of a once beautiful presidential estate. Marquez drives home the point that dictators live inside their heads, ignoring reality. His henchmen kill the opposition with an avid taste for blood. And if the dictator receives any criticism from the press or others...off with their heads. A must read for anyone who enjoys unique images, surrealistic literature and the deconstruction and decline of ignorance in power.

I have been a big fan of Mr. Marquez for many years now, and have read at least four of his other books. This one intrigued me when I read about it, since it is reputed to have been his first.I found the first fifty or so pages difficult to get into because, typical of Marquez, he tends to write in run on sentences, no paragraphs, and differing persons. Stick with it, however, and the book will captivate you. For anyone familiar with one or more of the dictatorships typical of South America, either past or present, you will become enthralled with his eye for detail. A great read, and an object lesson for would be dictators.

Amazing.I have no other words describing this book. The narrative style, for those complaining - is in my humble opinion Marquez BEST : spell binding magic realism.The book details in long and convoluted sentences the minutiae of every day life of a maniac, a universal type of tyrant - which just happens to be caught in Marquez writer's cross hairs in South America. It may be one of the many South American dictators and it could easily be one of their European monster counterparts. Marquez is sometimes sublime, often bold and always funny in a strange way. Recommended !

The book is kind of confuse, difficult to follow and boring.Maybe because it is a translated book from Spanish language that doesn’t capture all the original author’s thoughts.

As it was expected! I will buy more items from this company.

Marquez shines in this unusual book. To me, he is among the Top 5 writers in our time. How could I not like it?

That this is a tough read is an understatement. But worth the effort. The story is so relevant: a warning never to forget, as those who hear the word of God hustle politics, believing their own shtick. Marquez's imagination is so astounding it makes me fearful that Western civilization died a long time ago. In the best of my dreams I can only sustain for five seconds what Marquez holds together for his entire novel.

Reads like a endless poem, hardly a full stop in sight. it jump back and forth in time magically from first to last sentence: it’s a take on the danger of putting too much power in the hands of one person and the deadly consequences for those under his power and ultimate the desperate empty lonely life lead by the evil doer himself

Your life won't change if you read Marquez, but it will be less rich if you don't.

GGM is one of my favourite authors. I have read most of the books he written. If you enjoyed 100 years of solitude or Nobody writs to the colonel you will enjoy this one

Very compelling reading

I did not find this the most accessible of Marquez's novels, indeed I first picked it up in 1985 and did not persevere. I am so glad I gave it another chance, there are passages of stunning descriptions and moving episodes which reveal the contradictions that haunt the personality of the central character. It might take a bit of persistence to get over the lack of full stops but the style creates an atmosphere of the relentless passage of time. Only gave it one star less than five because it demands something of the reader, but that is not a bad thing.