January 5th, 2008
See it here: Memories of my Melancholy Whores
Written by Gabriel García Márquez,this is a story about a 90 year old bachleor who has only ever found companionship with the hundreds of prostitutes he has bought throughout his life. On the eve of his 90th birthday, he decides to have a wild night of love with a virgin, and calls upon a Madam he has used often in the past to find him a suitable girl. She presents him with a 14 year old girl.
The book is about how the man finds love for the first time in his life, through this young girl, although he never sees her awake. While the “relationship” is never consumated, it was very hard for me to read through the book, knowing how young this girl was. I understand that it was not about the age of the child, but the fact that the old man has such a profound discovery in his old age, but some of the actions still made me cringe.
I wasn’t thrilled with the story, despite the age of the girl. I suppose it was well written, but not enough for me to ooh and aww over it. However, it seems to have quite a following, so you may want to at least check it out at the library, which, thankfully, is what I did. It is a very short read, so perhaps worth it.