Scan barcode
A review by tonytharakan
In Evil Hour by Gabriel García Márquez
2.0
I can't say I have read everything Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote, but "In Evil Hour" (La Mala Hora) doesn't seem to be his best work. First published in 1962 (in a bowdlerized version that Marquez disowned), it is now considered a forerunner to "One Hundred Years of Solitude", his masterpiece.
In a Colombian town, lampoons appear on walls and doors, targeting its residents. Everyone is worried that they may become the subject of the malicious rumours. And a murder later, things get really serious.
As usual the novel is populated with some great characters, but my problem with "In Evil Hour" is I didn't care enough for them. Some of the minor ones seemed to just drop off the pages, never to be seen or heard again. And the mystery of the lampoons is never solved.
"It's the whole town and it's nobody," says a fortune-teller from a travelling circus and that enigmatic reply is supposed to satisfy the reader.
Marquez fans would never forgive me but this novel seemed more like a collection of good character sketches of people going about their daily lives. (Some weird ones there, btw)
Maybe I am supposed to see the larger picture. Perhaps I should wait till my Spanish is good enough to read the original. Or maybe I should stick to his later, and more famous, works.
In a Colombian town, lampoons appear on walls and doors, targeting its residents. Everyone is worried that they may become the subject of the malicious rumours. And a murder later, things get really serious.
As usual the novel is populated with some great characters, but my problem with "In Evil Hour" is I didn't care enough for them. Some of the minor ones seemed to just drop off the pages, never to be seen or heard again. And the mystery of the lampoons is never solved.
"It's the whole town and it's nobody," says a fortune-teller from a travelling circus and that enigmatic reply is supposed to satisfy the reader.
Marquez fans would never forgive me but this novel seemed more like a collection of good character sketches of people going about their daily lives. (Some weird ones there, btw)
Maybe I am supposed to see the larger picture. Perhaps I should wait till my Spanish is good enough to read the original. Or maybe I should stick to his later, and more famous, works.