Bir Kaçırılma Öyküsü

by Gabriel García Márquez, İnci Kut (Translator)

Yazarlık mesleğine gazete ve haber ajansı muhabirliğiyle başladıktan sonra 1960'lı yıllardan beri Latin Amerika tarihini kendine özgü o 'büyülü gerçekçilik' üslubuyla roman ve öykülerinde yeniden anlatmaya koyularak, sanki tüm Latin Amerika için kimlik arayışına giren, Nobel Ödülü sahibi Kolombiyalı büyük yazar Gabriel Garcia Marguez, Kolombiya'yı yıllarca haraca kesen uyuşturucu kaçakçısı Pablo Escolar'ın, can düşmanı olan öbür kartellerin elinden kurtulabilmek için bir yandan adalete teslim olma sürecini işletirken, öte yandan da pazarlık gücü kazanabilmek amacıyla tam dokuz kişiyi kaçırmasını anlatan 'Bir Kaçırılma Öyküsü' adlı bu yeni kitabıyla, gazeteciliğe bir tür dönüş yapıyor. Birçok yapıtında gazete haberlerinden yola çıkmış olan Gabriel Garcia Marguez, bu kez haberi romanlaştırırken, hemen hepsi gazeteci olan bu dokuz kişinin, ailelerinin, dostlarının, onları kaçırıp rehin tutanların ve hissettiklerini büyük bir ustalıkla ve bir gazeteci gözüyle ortaya koyuyor; Kolombiya'nın bu karanlık dönemini irdelerken de, ülkesinin gerçeklerine bir başka açıdan ışık tutmuş oluyor. Bir Kaçırılma Öyküsü'nün ilk basımını, yazıldığı dil olan İspanyolca dışında ikinci dilde yayınlayan ilk birkaç ülkeden biri olduğumuzu da övünçle belirtmek istiyoruz.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, True Crime, Spanish Literature, Crime, Journalism, Latin American

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Gabriel José de la Concordia Garcí­a Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garcí­a Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.

Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.

(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) (Ukrainian: Ґабріель Ґарсія Маркес) (Belarussian: Габрыель Гарсія Маркес) (Russian: Габриэль Гарсия Маркес)

Reviews

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Revised 2/7/23]

Truth is stranger than fiction. Marquez returns to his roots as a journalist in this 1996 true account of kidnappings in Colombia. He interviewed the survivors and relatives of ten people, mostly prominent citizens, who were kidnapped in 1990 by Colombia’s drug lord and narco-terrorist Paulo Escobar. (Escobar was the counterpart to Mexico’s El Chapo.) Some hostages were held for six months.



Rather than giving away the story focused on the prisoners’ ordeals, I’ll write about the political setting and violence. In the 1970s and 1980s Escobar controlled the drug empire around Colombia’s city of Medellin, a metropolitan area about the size of Seattle or Detroit. Medellin is Colombia’s second-largest city after the capital, Bogota. He was responsible for about 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the US during that time period.



Life in Colombia’s cities was taken over by incredible violence. In the run-up to the 1990 presidential elections, Escobar’s thugs assassinated FOUR presidential candidates he didn’t like. There were 20 murders a day and a massacre of some type every four days. In one car bombing, 70 were killed and 620 wounded; in another 20 were killed and 143 injured. A bomb on a plane missed its intended political target but killed 107. It got so bad that when airplane passengers saw a prominent official aboard a flight, they would evacuate the plane before it took off.

Police went through the barriadas, the slums of Medellin, shooting and killing young men they ‘thought’ worked for Escobar. The drug lord retaliated by putting a bounty on policemen and his thugs killed 457 policemen in four months in 1991. Yet Escobar’s occasional Robin Hood gestures to people in the barriadas led to some treating him as a saint and having an altar to him in their homes, complete with candles.

Through his drug empire, Escobar was connected with, although not directly responsible for, other violence at the time by Colombia’s M-19 guerrillas. In 1980 there was an international incident. Guerillas took over the Dominican Republic embassy while a party was going on. For 61 days guerrillas held 50 officials including 16 ambassadors from other countries. That incident ended with just a few deaths but in 1985 guerrillas took over the Supreme Court building which was later stormed by police. This event resulted in 95 deaths, including nine justices, almost half of the nation’s supreme court.



Releasing the ten kidnapped hostages in the incident the book focuses on became a PR battle fought in the press. There were clandestine negotiations. One leader of the negotiations was the husband of one of the women held captive. Government officials could not conduct the negotiations because Escobar would not deal with them. Another key person in the negotiations was an 82-year-old priest who had a national television show. Escobar met in person with the negotiators. Various Colombian celebrities appeared on TV daily asking Escobar to release the hostages and negotiate to turn himself in. Soccer matches began with a plea for Escobar to release the hostages.

The President at the time of these kidnappings (there were many other kidnappings) ran for office and won on an anti-crime platform of ‘no negotiations with kidnappers.’ The President personally knew many of those upper-class people who had been kidnapped and their families. The only thing he promised the families was that if the police discovered their whereabouts (the captives were held in three or four different locations, some of which changed over time) he would attempt a rescue only with the consent of the families. Why? Because they knew from previous incidents that when the police kicked in the door, the hostages would be the first to be killed. Some kidnapped victims were murdered and their bodies dumped as ‘a message.’



Escobar, exhausted by being on the run for years, had indicated his willingness to negotiate ‘confinement’ – he wanted a district or territory set aside where he could preside and maintain his lifestyle. The government knew that meant Escobar would simply continue to run his drug business from there. The government wanted to extradite him to the USA where he would face life imprisonment, in theory without the ability to continue his operations or to bribe his way out – as happened before. Escobar, knowing all this, assumed surrender meant he would simply be killed when captured. So negotiations were tough and took years.



An amazing story! To paraphrase one of the blurbs, it’s a phantasmagorical setting in a great Márquez novel, and even though we can scarcely believe it exists – it does. If you are a fan of Marquez, be aware that this is a good book but it is very much non-fiction and written in the style of a journalistic narrative. It's not at all 'literary' like the three or so novels I have read by him.

Top photo of Medellin from s23688.pcdn.co on WordPress
Map from maps.lib.utexas.edu
Demonstration for an end to violence after a car bombing in 2019 from straitstimes.com
Pablo Escobar from britannica.com
The author from ccsj.edu

[Issa Deerbany · Rating 4 out of 5]

احدى المخطوفات لديها علاقة مع الكاتب العظيم ماركيز وطلبت منه تأليف كتاب عن اختطافها هي وشقيقة زوجها.
كان من الممكن ان يكون كتابا عاديا ولكن اكتشف ان ظروف اختطافها لا يمكن فصلها عن ظروف الاختطافات الاخرى والتي كانت مجموعها عشرة أشخاص.
يركز المظؤلف على ظروف الاختطاف والمعاملة التي كانت يتلقاها المخطوفين مع الحراس والذين كانوا يتغيرون كل اربع شهور وأحيانا اقل.
والجهود التي بذلت لتحرير الرهائن من قبل جميع الأشخاص من العائلات الى نواب ونواب سابقين ورؤساء حكومات سابقين والسلطة الدينية.
المعلومات الدقيقة التي يقدمها المؤلف تظهر الجهد الكبير الذي بذل في جمع المعلومات ومقابلة الأشخاص ليصل هذا العمل بهذا الشكل الرائع.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, the Medellin Drug Cartel led by Pablo Escobar terrorized Garcia Marquez's home country of Colombia. The author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, called this reign of terror a "biblical Holocaust"(1970's - early 1980's). It was a period during which four presidential candidates were assassinated, twenty judges, a thousand journalists and government officials. There was also police brutality and murder in retaliation, especially in the poor sections of Medellin where Escobar recruited his henchmen with promises of money and power - but maybe not a long life. It was in these areas that Escobar became an anti-hero, providing the poor with many of their needs. He was blatant, cunning, and elusive, a Robin Hood who was prayed to by some. Colombia's democracy was infected.

In 1993 ten prominent people, journalists and relatives of politicians, were abducted. This book is the recounting of their kidnapping and resulting years of captivity. They were used as bargaining chips in Escobar's surrender and incarceration. Escobar was tired of running and was paranoid about his possible murder at any time; he wanted to surrender, but on his own terms, terms that would seem ludicrous to most. First on his list was the guarantee he wouldn't be extradited to the U.S. He knew he would not get to pick his U.S. prison, would not get special privileges, no posh accommodations. The U.S. would treat him harshly. He was responsible for 80% of the cocaine that entered there. "Better a grave in Colombia than a cell in the U.S." was the motto of the cartel.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was encouraged to write this book by his good friend Alberto Villimizar, husband of one of the abducted. For various reasons, this friend became the chief negotiator in the surrender, always aware that the lives of those held were dependent on his sensitive dealings with this brutal killer. Much of the book follows the hours and days of those in captivity, those who weren't sure they would live another day. Of particular interest to me was the bizarre relationship between the prisoners and those who held them captive. These young guards who were plucked out of poverty and thought nothing of murder would show respect to their wards , often purchasing magazines and special treats for them.

I have long been fascinated (horrified as well) by how cartels and other criminal groups such as the U.S. and Sicilian mafia can infiltrate and control a country. It is a frightening occurrence. Escobar may be dead, but terror from like groups seems to proliferate. Money and power will always motivate them. I strongly recommend this interesting read.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez is usually associated with his novels containing elements of magical realism, but he was a reporter in his younger days. In "News of a Kidnapping" he returns to nonfiction to tell the story of ten hostages who were kidnapped by the wealthy Medellin drug cartel in Colombia. Pablo Escobar used the hostages to bargain with the Colombian government when he feared he would be extradited to the United States in 1990 for drug crimes. The city of Medellin, where the drug cartel was based, was full of violence with hundreds of policemen and members of the drug cartel killed each month.

In addition to the harrowing accounts of the captives, the book shows how the families, government officials, and an elderly saintly priest worked out a solution with Escobar. It was especially moving to read how a husband acted as one of the chief intermediaries between Escobar and the government, hoping for the release of his kidnapped wife and putting his own life at risk. After the first captive was killed, I was on edge wondering what the fate of the others would be. This well written book shows how Escobar kept the country of Colombia emotionally and politically hostage in his efforts to avoid extradition.

[Araz Goran · Rating 4 out of 5]

غابرييل غارسيا ماركيز..

خبر إختطاف.. قصة الرواية حقيقية جرت أحداثها في كولومبيا سنة 1990 ،، حيث تم إختطاف مجموعة من الصحفيين وذوي المسؤولين الحكوميين من قبل جماعة (أسكوبار) تاجر المخدرات والمجرم الشهير..

تبدأ الرواية بعملية خطف سريعة ل (ماروخا) زوجة (بيياميثار) وأخته (بياتربث) .. ثم تجري الرواية بشكل دراماتيكي ومثير حقيقة ووصف للحالة النفسية المخطوفين وذويهم بأسلوب أدبي مشوق ،، وكذلك الترتيب الزمني لإحداث بشكل متقن أضاف للرواية الكثير من المتعة والترقب..

الرواية ستكون جيد لمن لم يسمع بالقصة ومجرياتها وكيف ستنتهي الاحداث،، أما من يعرف تفاصيل القصة الحقيقية فلا بأس بقرائتها والتعرف على أسلوب ماركيز في سرد أحداث القصة..

[Ramzy Alhg · Rating 4 out of 5]

غابرييل ماركيز ، مدهش حد الثمالة ، حتى في تحويل تحقيقاً صحفياً الى رواية صحفيّة ، بطريقة وصفيّة تجعلك تعيش التفاصيل حيّاً داخلها.

قرأت الكثير عن سيرة بابلو إسكوبار "المجرم القديّس" ، وأكتشفت أني لم أقرء شيئاً حتى كتب ماركيز .

الرواية تحكي قصة إختطاف عشرة شخصيّات كولمبيّة بارزة من قبل عصابة "ميدلين كارتل" التي يقودها المجرم العالمي بابلو إسكوبار ، ليستخدمهم كورقة ضغط على الحكومة الكولومبية في مفاوضاته معهم لوقف تسليمه الى أمريكا الى أغرقها بالمخدرات.

يصف ماركيز محنة الضحايا المخطوفين ، كما يصف محنة الخاطفين ، حيث تجاوز إدانتهم وغاص في أعماق نفوسهم وخفاياهم ليكشف أيضاً أنهم ضحايا السلطة الفاسدة التي صنعتهم.

كما توغل أيضاً في عرض جوانب المأساة الكولومبية من القروي البسيط الى رأس السلطة ، وهو الذي شكّله تاريخ أمريكا اللاتينيّة ، وأعاد تشكيله هو بخياله الذي لايتوقف عند حد.

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impresionante crónica periodística que con sinceridad y supuesta simpleza logra helarte la sangre.
Un relato que sin ser una de esas historias en las que García Marquez mostraba todo su talento e imaginación, tiene una poesía muy especial.
Me ha impresionado en muchos aspectos y sobretodo me ha sobrecogido gracias a la pluma de García Márquez, siempre incisiva, clara y maravillosa.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before he became the father of magical realism, Gabriel García Márquez worked as a journalist in his home town of Aracatapa, Colombia. As a boy, his grandparents encouraged young Gabo to tell stories and write them down, which lead to his career as a newspaperman. It was not until Gabo turned forty two that he birthed Cien Años de Soledad into the world. The book that created a genre now known as magical realism had been born. Now it is normal for writers to describe snow following a woman across town or apple leaves budding on a tree year round. In 1970, one either wrote fantasy or literary fiction. García Márquez combined both, and writers the world over soon followed suit. Gabo pined for his days as a newspaperman even after his book grew to worldwide popularity. He would receive his break in the 1990s at the height of the Colombian drug trade. Fellow journalists who had been taken as hostages by Pablo Escobar’s Extraditables implored of García Márquez to tell their stories. He would make good on this entreaty following Escobar’s murder when the coast was clear to bring the atrocities committed by his guerrilla group to light. What follows is the story of ten journalists who had been taken hostage and their families’ efforts to free them.

Alberto Villamizar was a marked man by guerrillas, surviving countless attempts on his life both in Colombia and while posted as ambassador to Indonesia. Escobar’s group the ELN had grown tired of rule by the middle and upper classes. This is the promise that the higher ups gave to young enlistees- join up with Escobar and you can have a chance to overthrow the government. Escobar also had no use for FARC, a competing terrorist group that ran the not so underground drug trade. The United States targeted the leaders in both groups and desired the imposition of an international extradition law in order to try drug lords in their country and then imprison them there. Colombians would rather die in their own country than sit in jail in the United States, making Escobar a staunch opponent of any extradition law on the books. He distanced himself from FARC in hopes that it would mean remaining in his home country despite of what any international law read. Colombia’s President at the time César Gaviria was a man with a heart of stone who did not listen to the pleas of his people to stop all extradition. At this time, Escobar targeted journalists such as Maruja Villamizar who had family members in government as a means of bargaining with leaders for ending extradition in exchange for freeing the hostages. Maruja, wife and daughter of politicians, was Escobar’s biggest bargaining chip.

After spending six months as a hostage and being freed in exchange for Escobar turning himself into the government, Maruja and Alberto Villamizar asked Gabriel García Márquez to write their story. He would in time three years later after Escobar’s murder, with the book published three years later. The Colombian government changed constantly and the United States continued to wage a war on drugs with Colombia providing the largest pipeline of crack and cocaine. News of a Kidnapping follows ten journalists who had been taken hostage and their daily struggle to survive. For the most part, Escobar did not want these journalists dead; they were meant as a bargaining chip to ensure safety for his own family. As a former politician Alberto Villamizar had access to president Gaviria and met with him nearly every day that his wife and sister were being held by the Extraditables. All aspects of this struggle- the hostages’ daily living, their family members’ pleas to the government and to Escobar, and Escobar’s own demands- seemed monotonous. Many hostages mark time by scratching off marks on a wall. These hostages had access to television but remained skeptical of the government due to past experiences. The writing makes readers feel the monotony because the words and daily routine repeat themselves, the hostages not knowing if the captivity would lead to freedom or death.

Over the years I have read Gabriel García Márquez’ award winning works of fiction and found them to be excellent. Something here seemed off. The sentences were short and choppy, a stark contrast to Gabo’s fiction. Perhaps it was the monotonous nature of the subject matter although the book read fast enough as I desired to know the resolution. After discussion with others who read in translation, I came to the conclusion that some of Gabo’s brilliant language usage must have been lost in Edith Grossman’s translation. Grossman is said to be an excellent translator but perhaps here she was not up to par. A good or poor translation can make or break a book, my reminder to myself that if I can speak Spanish almost fluently, then I should not be afraid to read in the language as well. That goes for other languages as well, Jhumpa Lahiri noting that each language contains nuances that others might not have. While this is not a book on linguistics by any means, News of a Kidnapping proves that even a Nobel Prize winner can be a victim of work lost to translation. I would be intrigued to skim through a Spanish version of this work to see if the language flows in a manner I have come to expect from Gabo, and from Latinx writers in general.

My husband has watched entire documentaries on Pablo Escobar. When I told him I was reading a book that took place during his regime, he had a lot to add to the subject, including how Escobar did not trust anyone, not the FARC or those said to be in his inner circle. All he desired was safety for his family, the same as what the families of the hostages pined for. Escobar was a shrewd and calculating man. He knew that he would die had he been extradited to the United States and demanded a change in the law in exchange for the hostages going free. Better to die in Colombia, he noted countless times in the negotiations. The words might have repeated themselves but so did the lives of the hostages in captivity; it must have been brutal and demoralizing. I am not sure that Gabriel García Márquez had enough material to write a full length book so he repeated a lot of information or structured chapters in a similar matter. Perhaps he had been away from journalism for too long when asked to tell this story; however, a story is a story and García Márquez was one of the masters. I know to check his translator going forward or to attempt to read his novels in Spanish. While the hostages’ plight brought the ELN regime to light, I do not list this as Márquez’ best work, unless I choose to reread it in the Spanish language.

3.5 stars

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maruja Pachón steps into her Renault and within minutes armed men surround the car, kill the driver, and drag her into captivity. Beatriz Villamizar hurls rings out the window before demanding to remain with Maruja, prompting the captor’s astonished comment, “What a loyal friend you have, doña Maruja!” In their dim cell they confront Marina Montoya, whose “limp white hair, dazed eyes, and skin that adhered to her bones” terrify them with the suggestion of death.

García Márquez renders each moment with meticulous staging: balaclavas improvised from sweatpants, guards threatening “we’re carrying ten kilos of dynamite,” the women grasping cigarettes and cardamom seeds to endure the suffocation of confinement.

In parallel episodes Diana Turbay accepts a supposed interview, rides mules through coffee groves, and ends in the hands of the Extraditables, while Francisco “Pacho” Santos is taken during Bogotá traffic, drinks aguardiente in a boarded room, and listens as guards cheer for Santafé.

The book pieces together these harrowing fragments as if splicing news bulletins into a collective chronicle of terror. The jarring blend of the mundane and the horrific defines the atmosphere.

Dr. Pedro Guerrero receives the abduction call while preparing a lecture on “the evolution of animal species from the elementary functions of single-celled organisms to human emotions and affections.” General Maza Márquez interprets his survival of two bomb attacks as divine favor, while Escobar interprets his own survival as another miracle.

Luis Guillermo Pérez Montoya attempts direct negotiation in Medellín, glimpses a teenage corpse by the roadside, and hears a cab driver’s casual explanation: “One of the dolls who party with don Pablo’s friends.”

Alberto Villamizar’s home becomes so crowded after Maruja’s disappearance that García Márquez notes “all that was missing was music to make the evening seem like any other Friday night.” Television reports bring further irony, as kidnappers and captives watch live bulletins that announce the kidnappings with chilling clarity: “The director of FOCINE, doña Maruja Pachón de Villamizar... was kidnapped at seven-thirty this evening.” The ordinary and the catastrophic fuse into a single rhythm.

The book gives us the sense of a vast drama refracted through intimate rooms where families, politicians, and guards wrestle with despair. García Márquez acknowledges that “it was impossible to separate her kidnapping from nine other abductions,” and the book enacts that impossibility through overlapping testimonies, small domestic spaces hold the burden of an entire era.

The story functions as allegory for a nation held captive by narcotrafficking and by the compromises of its leaders, articulated by the Extraditables’ own slogan: “We prefer a grave in Colombia to a cell in the United States.” The flatness of police reports mixed with the tension of tragedy, creats a work that unsettles and enlightens at once.

From the shocking murder of chauffeurs to the eerie image of Marina Montoya’s silence, the book offers a lesson in how power operates through fear and how families resist with memory, persistence, and wit.

When Gabriel García Márquez chronicled the kidnappings that plagued Colombia, he wrote that “the ordeal was lived as a collective nightmare in which each family suffered the anguish of all the others.” His words echo across decades and continents. They describe precisely what is happening to the families of the innocent Israelis held in the dungeons of Gaza.

Every hostage equals a community living in captivity, a population condemned to silence, dread, and sleepless waiting.

The cruelty of kidnapping lies in its manipulation of time itself. García Márquez spoke of “the slow attrition of time, when hours expanded into days and days into eternities, with each knock at the door carrying both hope and terror.” Those doors now belong to Israeli homes. Families flinch at every phone call, brace themselves before every headline, and wonder if the next hour will deliver release or ruin. This cruelty is not incidental; it is strategic. Hamas hostage-taking weaponizes waiting, turning hope into another form of torment.

García Márquez warned that “a kidnapping does not end with liberation, for freedom carries the scars of captivity,” and that “the return was never complete, for each remained behind in fear, in memory, in the indelible marks of humiliation.” This truth heightens the urgency of international action. Each day prolongs wounds that will last for lifetimes.

Sane governments, true humanitarian organizations, honest religious institutions, and every voice of conscience must act with clarity: the Israeli hostages must be freed, without condition and without delay. Anything less concedes victory to terror and multiplies the scars García Márquez described with such devastating accuracy.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

News of a Kidnapping was a riveting non-fiction account of the systematic kidnapping of ten carefully chosen journalists as written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez about the time of the reign of narcoterrorism by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and founder of the Medellin Cartel.

Garcia Marquez, a noted journalist and author from Colombia, was approached in October 1993 by Maruja Pachon and her husband, Alberto Villamizar, to write a book about her six-month captivity at the hands of the the Extraditables, synonymous with Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel. This is the story of that tragic time in Colombia's history and a recounting of the kidnapping, imprisonment and their eventual release in the early 1990's of a selected and carefully chosen group of people; people with whom Pablo Escobar thought he could exact the most leverage in negotiating his interests.

In the Acknowledgements section of the book, Gabriel Garcia Marquez thanks the protagonists and collaborators for not allowing this horrific drama to disappear as so many other stories have. In his words:

"Sadly, it is only one episode in the biblical holocaust that has been consuming Colombia for more than twenty years. I dedicate this book to them, and to all Colombians--innocent and guilty--with the hope that the story it tells will never befall us again."

G.G.M.
Cartagena de Indias, May 1996

[Mohsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

در كل نميشه با اين كتاب ارتباط برقرار كرد
خيلي بهتر ميشد اگه نصف اين حجم رو داشت 😑

[Harun Ahmed]

narcos সিরিজটা যারা দেখেছেন তারা কলম্বিয়ার মাদকসম্রাট পাবলো এস্কোবারের সাথে ভালোই পরিচিত। তার দৈনিক আয় ছিলো ৬০ মিলিয়ন ডলার! এই আখ্যানে সেই কুখ্যাত এস্কোবার আছেন, তবে পর্দার আড়ালে। মূল ঘটনা এস্কোবার কর্তৃক ১০ জন সাংবাদিক অপহরণ; কারণ সরকারকে চাপে ফেলা ও নিজেদের অবস্থান সুরক্ষিত করা এবং আমেরিকার হাতে বন্দী না হওয়া। সরকার ও সন্ত্রাসীপক্ষের মধ্যে দেন দরবার, কূটনীতিক জটিলতা, বন্দীদের মনস্তাত্ত্বিক বিপ��্যয় ও তাদের পরিবারের দোদুল্যমান অবস্থা নিয়ে মূলত মার্কেজ এটি লিখেছেন। চমৎকার বই। তবে অনুবাদ আক্ষরিক হওয়ায় অস্বস্তিতে পড়েছি অনেকবার।এক জায়গায় অনুবাদ এমন - আপনি আমার ইজ্জতের প্রতি ঋণবদ্ধ। এরকম অনেক উদাহরণ দেওয়া যায়। ইংরেজি অনুবাদ "news of a kidnapping" তুলনামূলকভাবে সহজবোধ্য মনে হোলো।

[Mohamed Samy · Rating 5 out of 5]

عظيمة..عظيمة..عظيمة، وماركيز إمبراطور الادب اللاتينى.

قصة اختطاف..قصة صاغها ماركيز بإتقان بعد اقتراح ماروخا باتشون وزوجها البيرتو بيياميثار بكتابة تجربة اختطافها من قبل جماعة الاكستراديتابليين وهم المجرمون وتجار المخدرات الكولومبيون المطلوبون للعدالة فى الولايات المتحدة وقد شكلوا تجمعا بهذا الاسم للضغط على الحكومة الكولومبية لمنع تسليمهم للولايات المتحدة.

الرواية واقعية تسلط الضوء على فترة كارثية فى تاريخ كولومبيا المعاصر وهى فترة سيطرة تجار المخدرات وعلى رأسهم زعيمهم بابلو اسكوبار على الوضع فى كولومبيا وتكوينه ثروة طائلة من تجارة الكوكايين وفشل الحكومة فى اثبات اى تهمة ضده ثم قرارات الرئاسة منذ عام ١٩٨٩ بملاحقة المجرمين من تجار المخدرات وتسليمهم للولايات المتحدة ، و حينها لجأ اسكوبار لاختطاف بعض الشخصيات البارزة للتأثير على الحكومة بمنع تسليمهم للولايات المتحدة وقبول التفاوض بشأن استسلامهم للحكومة الكولومبية ولكن بشروط، قامت جماعة الاكستراديتابليين باختطاف عشرة اشخاص منهم ماروخا باتشون الصحفية واخت زوجها بياتريث ،وفرانشيسكو سانتوس الصحفى بجريدة التيمبو، ومارينا مونتويا شقيقة الأمين العام للرئاسة السابق والتى تم قتلها ، و ديانا طربية ابنة الرئيس الاسبق خوليو سيزار طربية وفريق تحرير وتصوير برنامجها وقد تم اطلاق سراحهم لعدم اهميتهم وقتلت ديانا طربية اثناء عملية هجوم فاشلة.

لجأ اسكوبار للعنف والارهاب وقتل افراد الشرطة والاعلان عن مكافئات لمن يقتل ضباط الشرطة _ وكانت القيمة تعلو فى مقابل الرتبة _ فى مدينته وموطنه ميدلين ، وكان هذا العنف يقابل بعنف مضاد من قبل الشرطة وانتهاك لحقوق الانسان بتعذيب بعض المتهمين والمجرمين مما دفع اسكوبار بالمطالبة بمحاكمة رجال الشرطة المتورطين.
الصراع الدائر بين اسكوبار والحكومة حاول ماركيز التركيز عليه فى آخر فتراته فى عام ١٩٩٠ وحتى مقتل اسكوبار وخصوصا فترة الاختطافات التى حدثت فى هذا العام.

المشاعر التى ابدع ماركيز فى ابرازها وهى تشكل بنية مهمة فى الرواية بجانب الاحداث التاريخية ، حيث يظهر ماركيز تضارب مشاعر اقارب الشخص المختطف واهله ومعظمهم كان من السياسيين او الصحفيين البارزين وهناك منهم من هو فى موضع المسؤولية بين الرغبة فى انقاذ الرهائن ومحادثاتهم الدائمة مع الرئاسة والشرطة و بين الرغبة فى القضاء على تجارة المخدرات وتسليم المجرمين ومثال ايضا مشاعر الأم نيديا كينتيرو والدة ديانا طربية التى قتلت فى اثناء عملية هجوم فاشلة من الشرطة بناء على اخبارية خاطئة قد حددت مكان اسكوبار مع رجاله المسلحين وكان بالصدفة هذا المكان هو موقع احتجاز ديانا طربية مع الصحفى ريتشارد وتم قتلها والقاء الاتهامات المتبادلة بين اسكوبار الذى يتهم الشرطة بقتلها بالخطأ وبين الحكومة والتى تتهمه بقتلها، وقد طالبت والدة ديانا طربية رئيس الجمهورية سيزار غافيريا بعدم التدخل المسلح لاطلاق الرهائن وطالبته بالهدنة وعدم تصعيد الحملات ضد تجار المخدرات لحين تحرير الرهائن الا ان الرئيس لم يوافق ووصفته نيديا بانه ذو قلب متحجر ومشاعر ماروخا زوجة بيياميثار بعد تحرير اخت زوجها التى كانت قد اختطفت معها وتم تحريرها قبل ماروخا،و عملية قتل مارينا مونتويا العجوز التى كانت برفقتهم بالاسر وعدم معرفتهم بما حدث لها. وهكذا دارت المشاعر بين المختطفين واهلهم والحكومة واسكوبار والخاطفين المجندين من اسكوبار نفسهم.

المثير للدهشة مدى سيطرة بابلو اسكوبار على مدينة ميدلين بالرشوة والتهديد بالقتل من جهة وحب الفقراء الجنونى له من جهة اخرى فقد كانت المدينة كلها معه طوعا او كرها. وماركيز قد اشار الى اسباب هذا الخلل فى البنية الكولومبية فى العديد من اجزاء الكتاب ...


"وقد كان قليلا ما يمكن للعدالة أن تفعله . فالقضاة والمأمورون القضائيون الذين كانت رواتبهم الهزيلة لا تكفي نفقات معيشتهم إلا بصعوبة ولكنها لا تكفي لتعليم أبنائهم ، وجدوا أنفسهم أمام معضلة دون مخرج : فإما أن يقتلوا وإما أن يبيعوا أنفسهم لتجار المخدرات ، ولكن المدهش والمؤثر أن الكثيرين منهم فضلوا الموت . ربما كان ما هو أكثر کولومبية في ذلك الوضع هو قدرة أهالي میدلین المذهلة على الاعتياد على كل شيء ، الجيد والسييء ، وبقدرة على الاستعادة ربما تكون الصيغة الأكثر قسوة للخوف ، فمعظمهم لم يكونوا يعون كما يبدو أنهم يعيشون في المدينة التي كانت على الدوام أكثر مدن البلاد جمالا ونشاطا وكرم ضيافة ، والتي تحولت في تلك السنوات إلى واحدة من أكثر مدن العالم خطورة . لقد كان الإرهاب المديني حتى ذلك الحين مجرد عنصر غريب في ثقافة العنف الكولومبية العريقة . فمقاتلو حرب العصابات التاريخيون - الذين مارسوا هذا النوع من الارهاب - مالبثوا أن أدانوه بحق ، باعتباره شکلا غير شرعي للنضال الثوري . لقد تعلم الناس العيش في خوف مما يحدث ، ولكن ليس العيش في القلق مما يمكن أن يحدث : انفجار يمزق الأبناء في المدرسة ، أو يفتت الطائرة وهي في السماء ، أو انفجار الخضروات في السوق ، فالقنابل التي تقتل الأبرياء على غير هدى ، والتهديدات الهاتفية المجهولة تجاوزت عنصر آخر من عناصر القلق في الحياة اليومية ومع ذلك ، فإن الوضع الاقتصادي لمدينة ميدلين لم يتأثر وفق المعطيات الاحصائية .لقد كان تجار المخدرات قبل سنوات من ذلك « موضة » تحيط بهم هالة خيالية . وكانوا يتمتعون بنجاة كاملة من أي عقاب ، بل واصلوا شيئا من الشهرة الشعبية لأعمال الإحسان التي يقدمونها للأحياء الفقيرة حيث عاشوا طفولتهم كهامشيين . ولو أن أحدا أراد اعتقالهم آنذاك لكان بإمكانه أن يرسل لهم أي شرطي على الناصية القريبة . ولكن قسما لابأس به من المجتمع الكولومبي كان ينظر إليهم بفضول واهتمام يشبه الرضى إلى حد بعيد".

"ومع الثروة والسرية ، أصبح اسکوبار هو سيد الفناء الخلفي ، وتحول إلى أسطورة يسيطر على كل شيء من مكانه في الظل . وكانت بياناته ذات الأسلوب النموذجي والحذر تماما تصل إلى التشابه مع الحقيقة التي تختلط بها . وفي أوج ازدهاره أقيمت مذابح صلوات عليها صورته ووضعت حولها الشموع في قرى میدلين . ووصل البعض إلى حد الاعتقاد بأنه يحقق المعجزات . ولم يتح لأي كولومبي عبر التاريخ كله امتلاك وممارسة موهبة كموهبته في التحكم بالرأي العام . ولم يمتلك أحد قدرة أكبر منه على الإفساد . وأكثر شرط مثير للقلق وللدمار في شخصيته هو خلوه تماما من التسامح للتمييز ما بين الخير والشر".


قصة اختطاف تشبه قصة موت معلن فالجريمة معروفة والاشخاص معروفون والحدث معلوم بدايته ونهايته كيف ستكون وان كانت الاولى واقعية والثانية روائية خيالية ولكن امبراطور الادب اللاتينى ماركيز عندما يكتب عن الواقعية السحرية او المواقعية المؤلمة المأساوية فهو يدع فقط القلم يتحرك بالسحر الخالص.


الرواية مليئة بالاحداث التاريخية والسياسية والمشاعر والملاحم الانسانية والتضحية والاهانة وبيع الذمة والضمير والارهاب والمفاوضات والمساومات، فعلا كما وصفها ماركيز بالمأساة البهيمية وإلى جميع الكولومبيين الأبرياء والمذنبين أهدى لهم ماركيز هذا الكتاب آملا الا يحدث لهم مطلقا ما يرويه الكتاب.


ونختم بمقولة ماروخا باتشون صاحبة فكرة كتابة هذه التجربة المريرة لها بالاخص ولباقى كولومبيا عموما:

" يا للفظاعة ! كأن هذا كله قد حدث من اجل تأليف كتاب "


صور فريق عمل ديانا طربية وتم اطلاق سراحهم













ديانا طربية

screenshot captor


نيديا كينتيرو والدة ديانا طربية وزوجة الرئيس الاسبق خوليو سيزار طربية


ماروخا باتشون


الرئيس سيزار جافيريا

[Ninoska Goris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está basada en la historia real del secuestro de varias figuras prominentes de Colombia ocurrido durante la época del narcoterrorismo a inicios de los años noventa con la autoría de Los Extraditables.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before his novels came to define magical realism, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a reporter and journalist. This work is from 1996 - after his greatest novels. It was also a time when the perpetrators of the crimes he writes of were still free and able to do harm.

The modest title belies the stunning narrative. While the focus is on the hostages, it is also the story of how the wily Pablo Escobar negotiated surrender to the Colombian government to include a prison of his own design and staffing so that he could be safe from his enemies. All the while he worked the PR and political systems to get legislation precluding his extradition to the US.

You see how the Escobar’s money bought him power. He was able to buy a “Robin Hood” image, paying slum children to kill policemen for bounty. He was able to buy elections.

What stood out for me were the descriptions of those who did the dirty work for the cartel. Each of the captives was housed in a different location with different “landlords” who seemed to be just trying to pay bills or stay alive. A host of “professionals” such as drivers, lawyers, doctors and even carpet installers served the cartel and kept its secrets.

The changing group of guards ranged from naïve teens who watched American movies and played video games to seasoned crooks. All wore masks and lifted them slightly to eat cake or have a drink on special occasions. These criminals and their enablers show religious devotion and few see a conflict with church teachings and their actions. The hostages had strained relations with their guards, but show no evidence of Stockholm syndrome.

Also profiled are the brave people who stood up to Escobar, notably President Gaviria, who held out for a long time in the face of a large PR campaign and 4 previous presidential candidate assassinations and the hostages and their families. Not profiled, but mentioned, are the police officers (I lost track of how many), notables and ordinary citizens who died in the Colombian drug wars.

This is a very dramatic story. It shows the range of GGM’s writing skills. Another journalistic book, Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín, has a different writing style. In it, he adopts the voice of the Miguel Litten, who entered Chile under false pretenses, to film Pinochet’s Chile.

This is a gripping story with many “can’t put down” parts. Even those with little interest in Colombia and the drug wars will be pulled in to the story.

Hopefully, all of GGM’s reporting and journalism will be anthologized and translated to English.

[Vinod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because I knew what to expect. I didn't expect the magical realism that I love Marquez for. I didn't expect depiction of feelings in any direct way.

This is a journalistic account of a series of kidnappings happened in Colombia during the drug trafficking war days. I was surprised by how he was able to put the pieces together without sensationalizing.

The narration was compelling and I finished the whole book in my record time! :)

Recommend anyone this book, but make sure they read the preface and what this book is all about.

[Shuhan Rizwan]

মার্কেজের এই বই যে আমি পড়েছি, তা বেশ স্পষ্ট স্মরণ করতে পারি৷ এক যুগেরও আগে, আজিজ মার্কেটের পাশের রাস্তায়, তারেক ভাইয়ের সূত্রে-- সবই খেয়াল আছে।

অথচ, বাংলা অনুবাদ দেখে আবার পড়তে গিয়ে আবিষ্কার করি, বইটার আগাগোড়াই অপরিচিত। একটা কিছুও চেনা লাগে না। একটা-দুটো যেসব দৃশ্য চোখে ভাসে, নিজের সাথে ফাঁপরবাজি না করলে বলতে হয়-- তাদের উৎস নিশ্চিতভাবেই পাবলো এসকোবারকে নিয়ে নির্মিত টিভি সিরিজ আর ডকুমেন্টারিগুলো।

স্মৃতির পাগলামি বাদে, বইটাকে ভুলে যাওয়ার কারণ বোধহয় একটাই-- উপন্যাসের মোড়কে এটা আদতে সাংবাদিকের জবানে বলা ইতিহাস। এক-একটা চরিত্রকে পরিচয় করাতে মার্কেজ যে সব উদ্ভট বর্ণনা দ্যান, তেমন কিছু উদাহরণ বাদে এই বইতে চেনা মার্কেজকে খুঁজে পাওয়াই মুশকিল। একটু হতাশই হলাম তাই দ্বিতীয় পাঠে।

[Eliza Rapsodia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Preferimos una tumba en Colombia que una celda en Estados Unidos"

Reseñas de libros de no ficción son mi aporte singular para dar a conocer buenos libros periodísticos (la carrera que estudio oigan) y que de vez en cuando me recuerda lo poderosa y valiosa que es la figura del periodista en un país como el mío. Creo que cualquier persona aunque no le interese el periodismo puede leer esta narración. Esta historia, sucedida en 1990 y 1991 nos cuenta el drama de diez secuestrados en la época de máxima violencia en Colombia: la época del narcoterrorismo.

Reseña completa aqui: http://rapsodia-literaria.blogspot.co...

[Tayebe Ej · Rating 2 out of 5]

نمیدونم انتظار چی داشتم، خود عنوان کتاب گفته که «گزارش»ه.. و واقعا هم همینه، خیلی نمیشه با شخصیتا ارتباط برقرار کرد چون خیلی تیتروار در حد دو پاراگراف در مورد هرکدوم توضیح داده شده، و خب حیف، واقعا ماجرایی بوده که میشده ازش یه داستان درست و حسابی درآورد!

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this work of non-fiction published in 1996, Gabriel García Márquez describes the kidnappings and captivities of ten Colombian journalists abducted by a group called the “Extraditables.” They were a group of narcotraffickers led by Pablo Escobar. Escobar’s objective in ordering the kidnappings was to bully the Colombian government into banning extradition, which would mean they would be imprisoned in Colombia rather than face more severe penalties in other countries, particularly the United States.

The author portrays the responses of the hostages’ families and their actions to free them. He recounts the entire event in the context of Colombia's ongoing struggle to combat the illegal drug trade. The storyline focuses on the victims, the conditions they faced, and their thoughts, fears, and responses to captivity. There are many players, including President Gaviria, a high-profile priest, a family of drug trafficking brothers who turned themselves into authorities, and relatives of the victims, many of whom have connections to the government officials (one of the reasons they were taken hostage).

As the account unfolds, there are many people involved, and the author does an excellent job of describing the pressures and difficulties that must be overcome to ensure a workable plan. He depicts the anguish of the victims’ families as they try to influence the negotiations. García Márquez is a skilled writer who can weave together these complex elements into a cohesive whole. It almost felt like reading a historical fiction. Unfortunately, it was all too real, and the outcome was not positive for all involved.

I think the text could have benefited from the inclusion of a list of participants and their functions / relationships, as well as a timeline of events. But overall, this book provides an informative account of the perils of the drug trade and the relationship between the narcotraffickers and the Colombian government. Readers can learn a lot from this book, especially those outside Colombia.

It is based on interviews, news accounts, broadcast media, and diaries kept by the hostages. It is a partial glimpse of a harrowing period in Colombian history. Definitely worth reading. I read the English translation by Edith Grossman.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

1990 wurden in Kolumbien unter spektakulären Umständen zehn bekannte Journalisten und Angehörige von Politikern entführt. Das Medellin-Kartell und der international gesuchte Pablo Escobar wollten damit ein Gesetz erzwingen, das die Auslieferung von Drogenhändlern an die USA verbietet, wo diese mit Gefängnisstrafen von 150 Jahren rechnen durften. Escobar wurde nicht nur von Polizei und Militär gejagt, auch rivalisierende Banden und Guerilleros trachteten nach seinem Leben. Unter diesen Umständen wäre ein kolumbianisches Gefängnis vielleicht der sicherste und bequemste Ort für ihn.

Mit der Chronik dieses politisch brisanten Kriminalfalls zeigt Gabriel Garcia Marquez seine Meisterschaft als Journalist. Nach jahrelanger Recherche und Gesprächen mit den Beteiligten berichtet er über die Entführung, das Schicksal und die persönlichen Erfahrungen der Geiseln. Wie Marquez selber sagt, ist diese Geschichte phantastischer als alle seine phantastischen Erzählungen. Er verzichtet konsequent auf sensationelle Überhöhung und andere journalistische Geschmacklosigkeiten und zeigt, dass auch eine nüchterne Dokumentation ohne alle erzählerischen Tricks ein Pageturner mit atemberaubender Spannung sein kann. Die Story ist komplex und überraschend, die Ängste und Qualen der Geiseln nervenaufreibend. Die oft haarsträubenden Begleitumstände zeigen ein chaotisches Land aus Korruption, Verbrechen, Drogenkartellen, Guerillagruppen, Aberglauben und Telenovelas, alles unter dem blinden Vertrauen auf das göttliche Kind und die barmherzige Mutter. Unglaublich!

[فهد الفهد · Rating 3 out of 5]

خبر اختطاف

فرغت قبل يومين من مشاهدة الموسم الثاني من المسلسل النتفلكسي الرائع (Narcos)، والذي خصص موسماه الأولان لقصة صعود وسقوط ملك الكوكايين (بابلو اسكوبار)، وقد جدد للمسلسل لموسمين آخرين لحسن الحظ نتتبع فيهما قصة كارتيل (كالي) المنافس لاسكوبار والذي ساعد في إسقاطه وسيطر على سوق الكوكايين لفترة قبل أن تلتفت له أمريكا والسلطات الكولومبية وتعتقل قياداته، كما أتمنى التجديد لموسمين إضافيين يتتبعان بقية القصة، حيث ساهمت الضربات التي تلقتها الكارتيلات الكولومبية في انتعاش وسيطرة الكارتيلات المكسيكية على السوق، والتي قادت إلى تسيد كارتيل سينالوا بقيادة (إل تشابو) الشهير، والذي يرى البعض أنه تجاوز اسكوبار أو صار ينافسه، اشتهر إل تشابو بهروبه من السجن مرتين، الأولى كانت في 2001، حيث دفع ما مجموعه 2.5 مليون دولار لحراس السجن لتسهيل هروبه، ولجأ للجبال حيث قاد عمليات التهريب والقتل والتي تصاعدت لتحصد من 2006 قرابة الـ 77 ألف نفس، أما هروبه الثاني فشاهده العالم سنة 2014، عندما فر من زنزانته مستخدماً نفقاً حفره أتباعه تحت الأرض ولمسافة 1.5 كليومتر حتى تم اعتقاله مجدداً في بداية هذا العام ويرجح أنه سيتم تسليمه لأمريكا ليقضي بقية حياته في سجن ذو حراسة مشددة.

ولكن لنترك كل هذا الحديث عن المخدرات والكارتيلات ولنتحدث عن كتابنا هذا، والذي كتبه ماركيز بعد مقتل اسكوبار ليوثق من خلاله الأوقات العصيبة التي مرت بها الأمة الكولومبية عندما لجأ بابلو اسكوبار في حملته ضد قانون تسليم المطلوبين لأمريكا إلى خطف صحفيين وسياسيين ليقايض من خلالهم ويضمن استسلامه وعندما المساس به وبأسرته، وهي الأحداث الشهيرة التي قادت إلى سجن اسكوبار في سجن خاص جهزه بنفسه، واستخدمه كمقر محمي من الدولة يدير من خلاله نشاطاته، حتى قام بقتل اثنين من أتباعه في السجن نفسه، فتفجرت فضيحة فر من خلالها من السجن وظل مطارداً يعيث إرهاباً في مدينته مديين وال��اصمة بوغوتا حتى تم اصطياده وقتله في 1993.

الكتاب صحفي جداً، ويتتبع مصائر الرهائن والوساطات والمفاوضات التي تمت لإطلاقهم، ظروف سجنهم، من نجا منهم ومن قتل، ليس أفضل ما كتب ماركيز بالطبع، ولكنه كتاب مهم لفهم تلك الظروف الصعبة التي مرت بها كولومبيا.

[Olethros · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Realismo nada mágico.-

Género. Novela.

Lo que nos cuenta. Relato de los acontecimientos reales que rodearon el devenir de varios secuestros conectados entre sí y realizados en la Colombia de comienzos de los años noventa.

¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[بثينة العيسى · Rating 4 out of 5]

هذه رواية شبه بوليسية، شبه تاريخية، ثقيلة العيار، ولكنها أيضا ماركيزية وتصب في عالمه البديع.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Snooooooze.

Maybe it's in the wake of my trip to Colombia, where I thought I would be carried away by all things evoking Marquez, but I am honestly kind of questioning my slavish devotion to his greatness, lately. When I first read them, I was totally enthralled by A Hundred Years of Solitude, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, and at least liked Love In The Time of Cholera pretty well. I was entirely annoyed by Memories of My Melancholy Whores for predictable reasons, and was non-plussed by Love and Other Demons, but he still had a lot of capital to burn with me.

Maybe this is an odd critique of a non-fiction book about other people getting kidnapped, but somehow this book just oozed with an annoying sense of self-importance that I realize I get from a lot of his books. The cover quote said something like "A story only this master could tell!" and he clearly agrees. He is Just So Canonical at this point, and he knows it, and it's annoying. (It's enough to make me want to give Robert Bolaño more of a break for being so aggressively eager to stick it to the literary establishment in Latin America).

Anyway, none of this is really about the book, exactly. The book was kind of boring and meandering and tedious and did a lot of telling not showing (I don't have it with me, but things like "President Turbay was a decisive, calculating man with an iron will"). It was also kind of shockingly cavalier about the fates of "regular" people v. the famous and important people. Drivers getting shot in the head get one sentence. Kidnapped politicians' wives get 50 pages about filing their nails and smoking cigarettes.

I was glad to learn a history lesson about Colombia and wished there were more about Pablo Escobar himself, who seems really interesting, but on balance this was not good. My occasional forays into non-fiction continue to be unsuccessful, people.

[Laleh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marquez is one of my favorite authors. Although, the actual reason I read this particular book was that the Iranian opposition leader currently under house arrest -Mir Hossein Mousavi-, managed to send a message to his family, recommending this book in case people wanted to have a feel of what he is going through. He has been under house arrest for more than seven month now.

This book is different from other books by Marquez: It is not a work of magic realism fiction, it is a report by a true journalist who is also the master of story telling and suspense. I found the book hard to read mostly because of its heartbreaking and hopeless moments. The events in the story are very well illustrated and the characters are well portrayed. There are traces of humor where Marquez shows us contradicting facets of the characters: kidnappers who won't think twice before killing a human, and yet ask a priest to give them his blessing.

I recommend this book, but beware of the sadness and naked human cruelty that it contains.

[Negin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t generally watch much TV. My husband watches more than me and knows which shows I’ll like. We recently finished watching the first season of “Narcos” about Pablo Escobar. This book was a nice addition to the TV series, although I prefer the latter. The book moved more slowly than I had hoped, yet it was a compelling look at that dark period in Colombia. There’s no doubt that Pablo Escobar was an absolute monster. One of my favorite quotes: “The most unsettling and dangerous aspect of his personality was his total inability to distinguish between good and evil.”

[Hamidreza Hosseini · Rating 3 out of 5]

تا به حال کتابی از مارکز نخونده بودم. این کتاب رو هم چون میرحسین موسوی توصیه کرده بود خوندم تا با شرایط غیرانسانی زندانی شدن و حصر در مکانی غیر از زندان های رسمی آشنا بشم.

از لحاظ آشنایی با فضای سخت و دردناک حبس و حصر، واقعا تکون دهنده و دردناک بود. اما از لحاظ ادبی و داستانی و جذابیت، به نظرم خیلی جذاب نبود و یه داستان خیلی خیلی معمولی بود که لازم نبود اینقدر طولانی باشه و میشد به جای ۳۵۰ صفحه، در ۱۵۰ صفحه هم همین موضوعات رو مطرح کرد.

[Laura Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very interesting, but I think some things may have been lost in translation. I had some difficulty keeping up with the timeline, which seemed to shift back and forth at random. Still, it was both interesting and informative to learn more about a name we all know (Pablo Escobar). Since most of the occurrences in this book happened when I was a child AND in another country, I had only a very vague idea that any of this had even happened let alone the extent of the horror.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up

In a nutshell, the central focus of News of a Kidnapping is the story of ten abductions, the victims' experiences in captivity, and the families' efforts to get these people released, but to tell that story, the author places these kidnappings in the wider context of Colombia's troubled history of politics, narco trafficking and terrorism. It also follows how Pablo Escobar went from being host to "Politicians, industrialists, businesspeople, journalists..." at his Hacienda Nápoles to becoming "the biggest prey in our history." Of Escobar, Marquez writes that "The most unsettling and dangerous aspect of his personality was his total inability to distinguish between good and evil," which is shown here in terms of the wave of violence aimed at presidential candidates and other political officials, cops murdered for the bounty on their heads, and explosions in the streets that killed innocent victims.

For me, this book is anything but boring, as some people have said it is, and I read it perched on the proverbial edge of my chair as the victims' stories were recounted. It's downright harrowing to try to even imagine what these people went through, not knowing whether they're going to live or die at any given moment, and the author doesn't spare any pain or fear in the recounting. Also - if you're expecting the same type of magical realism and writing as in his One Hundred Years of Solitude, forget it -- it's not that kind of book.

highly recommended.

http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20...