3.5/5
-Adult
-Magical Realism, Fiction, Short Stories
-It’s a collection of stories where fantasy and everyday Life kinda blura into one? You know, classic García Márquez style. The main tale though, follows Eréndira, a young girl exploited by her heartless grandmother… and let’s just say, the ending is deeply satisfying. Trust me, it’s relatively short and I was so goddamn pissed already.
-The pacing varies, because some stories flow quite well and grab you right away, while others feel dense, abstract, and occasionally confusing.
-It’s full of rich imagery and metaphors, sometimes you get lost, but that’s part of the ride I’d like to presume. Or that’s just me trying to convince myself I’m not dumb.
-Eréndira’s story though… it is poetic and brutal, both tragic and liberating. Please give this girl a hug, gosh.
-The rest can range from “I have no idea what just happened” to “well that was kinda cute.”
-The main character herself radiates quiet strength, because trust me, she’s a woman of only a few words so her suffering speaks louder than any dialogue.
-The grandmother? A true villain… I was cheering by the end, no shame.
-The supporting characters serve more as symbols than people, but that works perfectly here!
-No real romance, just pain, power, and moral decay. Because Garcia Marquez is just weird like that, you don’t know what to expect.
-Standalone, but thematically cohesive through Márquez’s dreamlike prose.
-I’ve never hated a grandma so much in literature
-García Márquez, once again, makes me feel stupid and enlightened at the same time.
-“Did I understand the symbolism or did I just make it up?” Yeah, that was me, constantly.
-“She returned many years later. So much time had passed that the smell of musk in the room had blended in with the smell of the dust, with the dry and tiny breath of the insects. I was alone in the house, sitting in the corner, waiting. And I had learned to make out the sound of rotting wood, the flutter of the air becoming old in the closed bedrooms. That was when she came.”