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Originally Posted by Lisnaholic
 That sounds like an analogy that you have really lived through! |
Unfortunately lol
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I read that book way back when "magic realism" was a new term, and I also didn't really get the reason for the book's reputation. I think I was affronted because there was too much magic and almost no realism.
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It's definitely enjoyable and is easy to read when you enter it without expectation, which is probably the reason for its popularity. The structure being somewhat recursive was very well done, so I think if he fleshed out the details of the events in the book more, it'd be the masterpiece I expected. There's a lot of opportunity for powerful imagery that he largely leaves to the reader to imagine. The famous Remedios ascension only being about two paragraphs long is a good example of it, that easily could have been a few pages long. I guess that's a factor in the realism aspect, since it's addressed as dryly as someone entering a room. I much prefer his influences that I've mentioned in this thread already: Borges, Rulfo, Cortazar, and Casares.