Until August

by Gabriel García Márquez

Sitting alone beside the languorous blue waters of the lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach contemplates the men at the hotel bar. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years and has no reason to escape the life she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels by ferry here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover.
     
Across sultry Caribbean evenings full of salsa and boleros, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire and the fear hidden in her heart.
     
Constantly surprising, joyously sensual, Until August is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, self-transformation, and the mysteries of love.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook

Paperback

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

[Emma.catherine]

Blind Library Pick 📚

I went into this book without knowing what to expect. I actually went to the library in search of one hundred years of solitude (which they didn’t have 👎🏽) and came out with this instead.

Although short, I was surprised at how effortlessly this story flowed. It was a somewhat simple, gentle narrative but held some big, hard hitting themes. Through the main character, Ana, Márquez explores love, aging, and that uneasy feeling of being unfulfilled with life. There was something SO very vulnerable and real about this story. It’s not complex, yet has great emotional depth.

This was an unexpected treasure that held a profound, thought-provoking message that stays with you long after you close the book. Perfect for a one-sitting afternoon read 💝✨

3.5 🌟🌟🌟✨

[Creedling]

I very much enjoyed the plot twists ✨

[Anna]

I can’t help but wish this book was longer, however, Ana Magdalena Bach felt very real so ticks for that, esp at the start and at guy 4 & 5

[Ine Willems]

Audioboek 🔊

[Ananya M]

3.5 ⭐️
My first Márquez book!! Nice and breezy story but a great character study. I’m very intrigued by how Ana allows herself (albeit after bouts of self-loathing each time) to have sordid affairs once a year but acts like she’s going to die when she heard about her husband sleeping with someone else ONE time.
I did like the ending though, it felt right with the potential revelation of her mother being the same as her. Good book if you’re in a slump, you’ll fly through it.

[Imogen]

quick lil read

[Simge]

My first book from Marquez, kinda wish he was able to complete the book. It is a quick read and a good story but I found it lacking depth, but I guess that was expected.

[Ani]

The shackles of freedom

This is my first Gabriel García Márquez novel after spending months immersed in Japanese literature, and Until August felt unfinished, which, it is and which I liked.

At first, I was taken aback by the macho and overt sexual tone of the novel and by how freely the protagonist seemed to indulge in her affairs. It felt almost liberating reading about it. My initial reaction was that this character found freedom through them. The more I read, however, the less convinced I became.

Rather than feeling free and unbothered, these affairs felt like shackles. What began as a yearly need to escape the life shared with her 'twin' of a husband eventually transformed. After a few encounters, the affairs became fueled by anger and indignation over her husband's own infidelity.

I got the sense that she wanted more from life and more from being 'happily' married and the only way she knew how to live in this man's world was to have control and become the powerful, sensual, beautiful stranger who could turn heads and leave before dawn. Just like how easy her husband seemed to have done it.

Every August, after leaving flowers on her mother's grave, she slips into this other version of herself. She becomes sultry, daring, elusive, and goes night hunting. Yet beneath this façade of power lies something much sadder. I felt that the more she seeks external validation through these encounters, the more dependent she is on them. This leaves her unsatisfied and frustrated and we see how fragile that so called power is at the end when she is in tears alone in her room.

The novel never convinced me she was truly becoming empowered and it felt as though she had mistaken desirability for power. As long as she could attract attention, she remained in control. But when things did not go her way (age, life, her own confusion, her indecisiveness), she crumbles.

Perhaps that was Márquez's point all along. What initially appears to be a story about liberation, reveals itself to be about loneliness, aging and coming to terms with life being unfulfilled as much as this novel seemed to be.

[Kevin Kindred]

Good for completionists, probably not really necessary.

[Melody]

“Then she made herself comfortable in the bed, without changing her clothes or switching off the lights, and cried herself to sleep furious with herself for the disgrace of being a woman in a man's world.”

A quick and yet powerful read about a middle-aged woman escaping her life (or perhaps seeking something for her own) with an annual affair. Themes include: womanhood, patriarchy, aging, desirability, and the complexities of love. There is no external relationship development… just the one between the central character (Ana Magdalena) and herself. BRB- must read again.

[Elizabeth Bartos]

I LOVED this book!
I cannot tell you why. And the reason is because I completely do not understand the last page. The ending.
It is a fast page turning book. Very short story. Very well written! And one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever read.

Pretty bad review on my part, but oh my gosh! It was just an amazing way to spend time reading a book.

[Jee]

blech

[Jana]

“furious with herself for the misfortune of being a woman in a man’s world.”

A story about desire, rituals and imperfect love

[Sarah ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ]

Ok the ending caught me off guard LOL but was a good book overall. Too short to get a real sense of the characters but felt good that I could finish a book quickly (it was 110 pages…)

[Katherine Madder]

mostly slurped thus up in my lunch hour. gabo (bc we’re mates) has the most distinctive descriptions and knowing that it’s about memory, edited in memory posthumously was particularly lovely.

[Tyler]

I don’t know what I was expecting but it was interesting nonetheless. I appreciate the preface as I think this is probably not his most refined work, but knowing that gives it more depth - you can see where he continues to write despite his age and still tells a beautiful story. Some of the references were lost on me, but I think it gives a lot of perspective on humanity.

[Andrew]

A good short book, Marquez uses so few words to immerse you in the characters world. It’s a collection of short stories based around protagonist Ana Bach, who travels every august to a Caribbean island to place flowers on the grave of her mother, spending a night away from her family and engaging in extra marital affairs.

It’s a quick read at just over a hundred pages, there is an ending despite being unfinished, although the ending is open to interpretation. It presents a woman and her sexuality from the perspective of a male writer, some times I think he gets a bit too caught up in Ana’s pert breasts rather than presenting the views of Ana. But the complicated relationship of Ana and her mother come across well, her mother despite being barely characterised seems a background presence throughout and comes up in the behaviour and consciousness of her daughter.

There is a lot left untold in this story, so you will have to fill in some of the blanks yourself, but it’s an enjoyable read, worth the short time spent.

[Rebecca]

It may have been a rogue choice to choose this book as my first Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel but ‘Until August’ was an easy read that found me when in needed it.

It’s concise, vulnerable & beautifully human.

The characters felt so real and flawed in such a human way that immediately blew any view of perfectionism of anyone out of the window. Personally I’d never read a story that explained ageing, love and still having unfulfilled desires which really summed up life and was very simply profound, taking on themes that are often romanticised in a very real way.

May read again when I’m older too as I think there’s more to take from it I’d understand more in later life.

[Iliyan]

Gabo’s wonderfully moving last novel is a poignant examination of the sweet, solemn storms within the human heart.

The text has a gorgeously quiet, ephemeral quality that makes you recognise Gabo’s unmistakeable penchant for emotional veracity instantly.

Yes, the novel was published posthumously against Gabo’s wishes. Yes, as his sons themselves have said, it is a betrayal. Yes, the prose might not be perfectly polished, there may be inconsistencies, but why should that make it less of an achievement?

If anything, the book is alive. It’s imperfect and therefore very human. It is different and therefore beautiful. It is all the more special knowing that, constrained by his progressing dementia, though having started writing it decades before, Garcia Marquéz could no longer work on developing the plot. It remained unfinished forever.

Despite it all, it’s a wonderful little tribute to a towering legacy that, despite all the criticism toward this imperfect novel, will move you and inspire you.

[Tay Za Tun]

Even in just the recollections of the embers of this virtuoso's life's work. There is a sense of seeing a master at work.

Although, it is clear to me that this is a draft. Yet, it dances the line between stating matter-of-factly like a 'stupidest version' of events unfolding and being so precise with the word yet that there is not a sense of even a single line or word being wasted. This type of sharpness only comes from the experience, combined with the sharpening of his craft, of a life long author and learner.
I am just in amaze and awe of the penmanship and vocabulary that it takes away from the gripes I have with the story.

Until August is a story about a middle aged woman who visits an island every year on the 16th of August to visit her mother's grave. This, on her 46th birth year, turns into a mischiveous string of annual one night stands and a painful account of this older woman's insecurities and disatisfactions with her near perfect family life and husband. The story despite the painful love affairs, is depicted beautifully around a tourist island falling apart under the weight of its own development of tourism.
It is easy to hate the woman for creating problems and digging deeper holes yet, it is also easy to understand her insecurities and indignance at the men around her who always seem to be at odds with her current whims whatever they may be. To the point where there is dissonance within herself which is finally recitified with that ending.

Although, this is where it is painfully clear the story is a draft or underflourished, because as the book goes on, the sharpness doesn't drop, however the point it portray becomes simpler. It is as if there is more going on between the cracks of the paragraphs, lines and chapters. Not in the sense of just time passing but development lost to the recesses of Gabo's mind - to the poisonous smog of dementia.

Yet despite its briefness working against the development of the characters. The story/novella is still a tightly knit a hundred or so pages that does exactly what it sets out to do as a beautiful and often complicated tale of love between older people.

I liked it.
8/10

[Ruby Warhol]

Indulgent and sun-drenched, deliciously classical. Infused with books and music - each year she is reading a different book on the island while searching for a lover, and books are a central character to the story: books on the bedside table, money between the pages, reading in bed while ignoring the husband, reading in a hotel room before going to a bar to meet a stranger.

The recurring imagery of the herons (interestingly, just like in A Glass Eye) and the lagoon with the changing landscape year by year made it feel like years passed over the course of this short novel.

Very reminiscent of The Comfort of Strangers in its writing style. whereas the loyalty to a hotel where you were happy, and the hotel room being a parallel reality where anything could happen, reminded me pleasantly of All Fours, one of the best books I've ever read

Another parallel to the book I read before (Halbinsel): women in their late 40s experiencing sexuality. Go get it Queen!

Only 4 stars because somehow I expected more, although I don't really know what. I understand the circumstances of the book - it was the author's last work, ultimately put together by his editor and family based on his jumbled notes - so that may be why there is not more background on the protagonist's relationship, childhood, family or whatever, and why she feels the need to sleep with all these random men. It was definitely a no plot just vibes book. I just wanted a little bit of plot, as a treat. And the vibes - although exquisite at times - weren't quite vibey enough to fully justify zero plot.

[Ian Russell]

It’s my first experience of Gabriel Garcia Márquez and it’s a posthumously published novel which he requested be destroyed; “it doesn’t work,” he declared. So, did it work for me? Well, I’m in two minds.

The opening chapter is a marvel, I enjoyed its flow and was intrigued with the premise, but then disappointed the story followed a different path to the one I expected. Then the third chapter - or is it the fourth? - seemed to promise to come back to it; the indignity, humiliation and anger, but no, it drifted away, continuing with her peculiar ritual. I couldn’t get the measure of Ana Magdalena Bach’s motives; spontaneous, random desire, marital revenge, boredom or just a woman’s midlife crisis? What was the man telling us about married middle-aged women and love?

Then the ending came abruptly (there was about a fifth of the book still left to read but the story was concluded (the remainder is pages of notes and pictures from its Spanish edition’s editor). Her solution to what ailed her is gruesome and absurd. What would she do with her package dragged home from her final trip? It’s not part of the story and I’ll never know.

In the very beginning, it did make me think, pondering long on its events hours after I put the book down. That’s a good sign even though the book itself didn’t move on in that direction. There is just enough for me to appreciate the opinions on the author may be true but maybe he was right to say it didn’t work.

Two and three-quarter stars (rounded to three).

[S.R. Severn]

Very, VERY rarely do I give low ratings and write a review expressing my thoughts but I had to with this one. Until August was a book club recommendation.
I didn't enjoy the writing style and I felt like every bit of dialogue was spoken in riddles. I feel incredibly disconnected from a book when I feel like I can't connect with characters or understand them, and there wasn't a single character I could really empathise with in this one. The main character frustrated me so much with her decision making and behaviour, the infidelity on both parts left a bitter taste in my mouth. The issues between her and her husband weren't ever addressed or resolved, making it feel like a bit of a train wreck of a book and quite depressing but again that's just my opinion. I honestly thought maybe knowing that her and her husband had a spicy sex life that he would actually turn up at the villa when she was there and they would pretend they were strangers to fix their marriage (maybe that's the hopeless romantic in me) but nope lol there was no such creativity involved. At times I asked myself where the plot was going as I felt like the blurb had pretty much been smashed out in the first chapter, so I did feel like this book dragged for me massively 😬
The ending was so abrupt too. It would have probably saved the book for me if the main couple had actually had a conversation in the end to talk about their issues. Unfortunately this was not the case.

[pijaa]

Finishing this book in a single day, I came away with a striking realization about communication is the very foundation of any relationship. The narrative subtly reveals how avoidance and emotional manipulation can distort reality between partners, gradually widening the distance between them. Over time, these unresolved tensions accumulate, transforming what was once meaningful into something hollow relationships reduced to mere formality. Márquez masterfully captures how a single moment can disrupt the ordinary and reveal truths we often choose to ignore.

Through the character of Ana Magdalena Bach, Márquez illustrates this transformation with remarkable nuance. Her annual visits to the island, initially intended as a ritual to honor her mother’s grave, take an unexpected turn after a single, intimate encounter by the man who leaves twenty dollars between the pages of her book. This seemingly fleeting moment becomes a catalyst for profound change, awakening desires and complexities she had long suppressed.

What makes the story particularly compelling is its exploration of generational patterns. Ana’s experiences mirror those of her mother, suggesting a cyclical nature of longing, secrecy, and emotional disconnection. The portrayal of a woman nearing fifty, navigating her identity and desires through affairs

[Lisa Van Oosten]

4,5 stars. I devoureddddd this. Such a rich and imaginative story that just takes you on a trip. I always love Gabriel Garcia Marquez his writing and scenery descriptions, and this book was beautifully narrated once again. And it's his last book as well! He wrote it while struggling with memory loss already, and didn't want the book to see the light of day, but 10 years after his death his kids published it for the sake of the readers.

The story is told from a female pov, which I'm usually quite critical of when it's written by a man. Though I feel we didn't really get to see depths to Anna Magdalena Bach's (main character) psyche, not by lack of trying by Marquez, I did feel it was written well enough for me to believe I am reading from a woman's pov. The story stretches out over 4 years, and moves at a high pace which I quite liked. Because of this high pace, and time jumps, it's really noticeable how Anna's attitude switches towards her own desires. Beautiful ending as well.

Definitely worth the read, it's quite short so you could finish it in like a day or two.

[Archana]

I read this book in August, on a trip to a little island, a middle aged woman, traveling for some quiet. And, I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked it up. Thankfully, the similarities end there.

This story is of Ana Magdalena, the protagonist, who travels to an island every August, to lay flowers at her mother's grave. Of course, Ana, in her journey to find something more than just maintaining the peace at home, has some very interesting adventures at the island every single August. But the book is so much more than what happens and why.

In this little book, the power of what is left unsaid, what questions, emptiness and emotions a woman in her position might be feeling, how her various roles as the wife, mother and daughter define so much if what she does, is beautifully captured without being forced into a cage of words.

I am really glad this book just happened to me during this little island vacation, because that will always add to the emotion I attach to the reading experience.

[Katie]

Written while Gabriel Garcia Marquez struggled with aging and memory loss. Published by his children after his death.
A woman awakens to a wild and unexplored side of her sexuality as she has an unexpected sexual encounter with a stranger during her yearly pilgrimage to her mother’s grave. For the night she is feral, yet in control- a femme fatale taking ownership of her sexuality. After this chance encounter her August trip to the island becomes the one time each year where she removes the chains of conventionality and seeks a lover. Unleashing for one night this shadow self. Her one night of assignations in August. This impacts her relationship with her husband and family in subtle ways. Then one year she discovers her mother had a lover on the island- likely why she insisted on being buried there. She exhumes the body and returns home for good.

[amelia]

So, in my opinion, she's just a woman who, after such a long time, finally feels free again. Tapi di dalam "kebebasan" itu, dia justru merasa bersalah dan nggak tenang. Setelah dia tahu kalau ibunya juga pernah melakukan hal yang sama but maybe her mother didn't know how to stop, or maybe she simply didn't want to stop.... bhap

Dan disitu mungkin Ana nggak mau mengalami hal yang sama seperti ibunya. Makanya, menurutku, tindakan Ana membongkar makam ibunya bisa dibaca sebagai simbol untuk menghentikan "kebebasan" itu atau lebih tepatnya, menghentikan siklus yang diwariskan kepadanya. Mungkin dengan begitu, dia merasa sudah nggak punya alasan lagi untuk kembali ke pulau itu dan mengulangi hal yang sama.

but yeah at the end ini kan "unfinished" book yaah... tapi aku suka sih bacanya soalnya ringan!

[Alena]

I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, and maybe that helped. I was pleasantly surprised by how naturally and effortlessly the story flows. It’s a quiet, gentle read, even though the themes themselves are anything but light.
Beneath the simple narrative, Márquez explores love, aging, and that subtle, uncomfortable feeling of being unfulfilled with life — the kind you can’t easily name or fix. There’s something very human and intimate about it. Nothing dramatic happens, yet emotionally it feels surprisingly deep.
It’s not a complex or demanding novel, but it makes you pause and reflect. Soft, melancholic, and thoughtful — the kind of story that stays with you longer than you expect.

[Faith Steele]

"furious with herself for the misfortune of being a woman in a man's world."

I really enjoyed this — however a short read, it packs a punch. It was instantly immersive and had you instantly hooked to understand the motivations of the character. A sweet yet solemn story about desire, loss, imperfect love, rituals and the power of escape.

My only complaint is that I wish it was longer!! I found Ana to be a ferocious and interesting woman I could read about her for much longer!!

Some highlights —

“The sea was an oasis of gold under the afternoon sun.”

“When a woman leaves there is no human or divine power that can stop her.”

“The world changed with her first sip. She felt mischievous, joyful, capable of anything, and beautified by the sacred mixture of music and gin.”