We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other’s opposite and complement.
~Hermann Hesse
Day: July 21, 2019
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memories of My Melancholy Whores is a novella about an old man who has seen much but enjoyed very little specially in human connections and has isolated himself from people as he grows old. He had lived two lives in parallel: first as a journalist and second, as a regular client in brothels. By the age of 50, he had slept with 514 women, all paid one way or the other.
On the eve of the unnamed narrator’s ninetieth birthday, he wanted to treat himself with a wild night of love with an adolescent virgin.
I somehow pity the old man living such a long but loveless life, though, some spark of hope of true love awakes when he saw and watched the teenage virgin sleeping the night it was arranged by the brothel owner for him.
I read this book twice in two days. I didn’t quite like it the first time and felt like I was missing something so I read it again the morning after. It’s a very short read that I finished both times in one sitting. Of course, I appreciated it more the second time as much more meaning emerged.
This is a very short read about watching an adolescent virgin sleeping, nothing so particular to expect but not one to bore you neither and some parts of the story will creep some of you out but there’s much more in the story that will make you continue reading. Add to that the wonderful writing style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, wonderful and easy to read.
Quotable Quotes:
“No matter what, nobody can take away the dances you’ve already had.”
“Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.”
“Just as real events are forgotten, some that never were can be in our memories as if they happened.”
“Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love.”
“There’s no greater misfortune than dying alone.”
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
HappymessHappiness 