No One Writes to the Colonel

Update: 09/05/2015

Part of the Speed Reviews.

Pequeña historia sobre el coronel y su esposa, que viven en total miseria y en constante amenaza de quedar sin dinero, sin comida, sin nada. Como pequeño rayo de esperanza, el Coronel va todos los viernes al puerto, a esperar la llegada de su correspondiente pensión, por sus servicios dados a la patria. Pero siempre recibe la misma noticia, el coronel no tiene quien le escriba.

Este libro fue corto y entretenido. Siempre es bueno leer algo de García Márquez, ya que su manera de escribir es muy especial. El cuento en si fué deprimente, con la miseria y tristeza en la que vive esta pareja, y las decisiones que tienen que tomar. Empieza triste y termina triste. Y no hay nada que se pueda hacer por ellos.

Review in English

Little story about the colonel and his wife, who live in utter poverty and in constant threat of being without money, without food or nothing. As a small ray of hope, Colonel goes every Friday to the port, to wait for their corresponding pension for their services rendered to the country. But always get the same news, Colonel no one writes.

This book was short and entertaining. It's always good to read some of Garcia Marquez, as his writing is very special. The story itself was depressing, with misery and grief in which the couple lives and the decisions they have to make. Sad sad begins and ends. And there's nothing you can do for them.

This was one of the texts, studied during my first year at university, back in 2003, though originally in Spanish. All these years later, I thought it high time to sit down and properly read one of the texts I was supposed to study in depth at university, though now without the socio-political and historical context to go with it.

The story's protagonists are The Colonel and his wife, who live in a small town in Colombia, possibly in the same time period as characters such as Aureliano Buendía, who appears in García Márquez's “100 Years of Solitude”.

The story tells us of the misery and desperation they face on a daily basis, whilst the Colonel awaits his long awaited war pension, which never seems to arrive, and money the couple could make from their dead son's fighting cockerel and it's sale.

We spend most of our time spent in limbo, pondering - Is the Colonel's pension ever going to arrive? Will the fighting cockerel ever win a fight? Will life ever get better for the couple?

There's no chapter structure in the traditional sense of a novel and at times, I also found the lack of names annoying as well, and to me, these are what frustrated me more than anything else.

I may read it again in the future, but for the minute, I'm left with a sense of relief that I've finished it and can move onto something else.