This final novel (a novella really) by this grand master of literature is somewhat fractured compared to previous works, but still shows sparks of genius. ( )

short story/novella written (and abandoned as unsalvageable) by the author in his later years while he was affected by memory loss, published by his sons after death, with the beginning chapters published separately in various forms and versions.

Set on an unnamed Caribbean island replete with poverty and tourists, and the ubiquitous bolero music providing a dramatic and romantic background for a woman's annual extramarital trysts and potential trysts.

This was a very strange but also an enjoyable and compelling story; I didn't want to set it down until I'd finished reading. A much more interesting novella than I was expecting, with very skilled writing (and translating). ( )

This was the strangest book, and even though it is a novella and short, I had trouble getting through it. The language was beautiful, and the character building top notch even though it is a short book. It also made me decide to read some of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's other books. ( )

Two things:
1) This hardcover edition is so visually gorgeous! Even if you don't like the book, the edition is visually stunning with such a nice mate jacket and gold foil for the book title.
2) I was never planning to buy this book. But it looked like something that could be read real fast and the book is reasonably small so it easily fit in my backpack.

This is a very short novella Gabriel was working on during his last 3-4 years of his life. What we have today is a fixed up mixture between the 1st and 5th drafts. Unlike what I believe were the final projects of Tolkien or Douglas Adams, this book was pretty much finished. There were just lots of plot holes in the notes (like characters having their hair color and age changing each chapter). The author apparently had difficulty selecting an appropriate ending for the book.

So, when his children re read the draft 10 years after his death, they realized it was quite promising, just needed a good edition. In this respect, this specific edition did its job very well. Great homage to the author and it is selling like pancakes in Latin America. An English edition should be available soon.

Now, while I loved the quality of the editing and book, I was meh about the story. I think I read 100 years of solitude over 20 years ago and didn't like it that much for some reason. So, I was entering this book well aware the author is gifted with words (or else, he would have never won a Nobel prize), but not my cup of tea.

Since I haven't read Gabriel's best works, I don't have a baseline to compare to this book.

The plot?

It is... odd. A bored 46 year old married Colombian woman from some random city visits her mom's grave in an impoverished touristy island once a year in August as an apology for missing her funeral. Mom died in the mainland, but wanted to be buried in that island for unknown reasons.

It becomes a sort of personal voyage. Just that... she cheats on her husband for no apparent reason. She doesn't know why or care. But she gets angry the mystery man left a 20 dollar bill. And thus she spends the whole book angry at herself, which seems to be 90% of the plot.

The book is still fun to read. At only 125 pages with very large text, I could read it in a bit over 1 hour. I think it is around 30,000 words, so the read is real quick. For the complexity of the story, I think the length is ok. The protagonist doesn't really know what she is doing or really why she doesn't divorce her husband. Or why her daughter loves sleeping with tons of men but wants to be a nun. The book is all over the place.

While the edition did a great job mending two drafts, the prose is okay, but... Well... I feel there is this dissociation between what readers demand of new indie authors and established trad authors. There is a lot of word repetition in this book and some words are used in an odd context when Spanish has better words to describe a specific action. I still think editors did a marvelous job fixing the book as much as possible.

Some aspects of the book are dated (despite being written in 2005), the way men chase after women and enter their hotel room. And then she ends up melting in his arms and sleeping with him? I swear I felt the book felt like it was written in the 80s. Chances are there is is some truth the book happens before 1990 because cellphones and internet don't seem to exist. But even so, the aggressive way men behave to swoon a woman to sleep with them felt problematic to me. Also, the othering of Afrocolombians. It felt very jarring and I am certain other reviewers will notice this.

And so, the book at brief times was quite good. I am certain if I read the author's earlier works, I will enjoy them. As for this book, it is more a novelty experience because it was his final previously unpublished work. ( )

3.5⭐ (rounded up because I liked the ending)

Until August by Gabriel García Márquez (translated by Anne McLean) revolves around forty-six-year-old Ana Magdalena Bach and her annual visits (on the 16th of August) to the island where her mother is buried. Ana’s itinerary includes a visit to the cemetery where she places a bouquet of her mother’s favorite flowers and indulges in a one-night stand with a different man every year before she returns to her family – her musician husband of over two decades and her two adult children. One of her trysts ends in a humiliating gesture and she carries both the emotional and physical reminder of the same through the years. Every visit to the island and her experiences with the men she meets inspires her to reflect on her actions, her marriage and her family. In sparse prose we are given insight into her motivations, her internal conflict and her desire in a journey of self- explorations with a thought-provoking ending.

A departure (in terms of theme and approach) from the nature of Gabriel García Márquez’s more famous works, this is not the author at his best but for those of us who have enjoyed the author’s work in the past, it won’t be difficult to appreciate the segments that shine with author’s brilliant writing. Sparse prose, But sadly, that is all we can expect from this short novella. I have no doubt had this manuscript been developed into a full-length novel with well-fleshed-out characters, and their motivations and relationships explored deeper; this would have been a worthy addition to the author’s oeuvre.

Please read the Preface to the novel where the author’s sons discuss their decision to publish this novella posthumously despite his wishes to discard the draft manuscript. A segment of this novella (translated by Edith Grossman) was previously published (1999) in the form of a short story.

I appreciate the publisher including printed pages from the author’s unfinished manuscript in the end pages of the hardcover edition. This in itself makes this a copy I will cherish as a part of my personal collection just like my treasured hardback edition of Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky that includes similar material between its covers.

- Do I regret reading this book? No
- Do I think this unfinished manuscript should have been published as a novella? Probably not.
- Am I happy that I could read part of what could have been another masterpiece written by one of
my favorite authors? Absolutely

Many thanks to Knopf for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Note: The short story Meeting in August (translated by Edith Grossman) was published in the December 6, 1990 issue of The New Yorker Magazine and is available in the Archives section. ( )