Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Memories of my Melancholy Whores is the tenth novel by Colombian author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The narrator is a second-rate journalist who decides to treat himself to a virgin on the eve of his ninetieth birthday. As he is a very frequent customer of his local brothels, the madam duly arranges a fourteen-year-old virgin for him. But he finds himself and, in fact, his whole attitude to life changed by the sight of the young, naked, sleeping girl. He is apparently in love for the first time in his life, but whilst he leaves her virginity intact, his descriptions of her do bring to mind the word paedophile. And the discussion he has with one of his previous whores about the relationship with the young virgin is no less disturbing. Into the story at various times come art and music, a bicycle, an angora cat, a housekeeper and a birthday party. Marquez’s lack of punctuation for dialogue requires careful reading to ascertain just who is speaking. While fans of this lauded author may enjoy this compact offering, many other readers may well wonder what the fuss is about.