News of a Kidnapping: From the Nobel Laureate, the International Bestseller That Takes Us into the Horrific World of the Medellin Drug Cartel

by Gabriel García Márquez

Book Overview

Consumed these past twenty years by a "biblical holocaust," Colombia has endured leftist insurgencies, right-wing death squads, currency collapses, cholera epidemics, and, most recently and corrosively, drug trafficking. Returning to his days as a reporter for El Espectador, Gabriel Garcia Marquez chronicles, with consummate skill, the period in late 1990 when Colombian security forces mounted a nationwide manhunt for Pablo Escobar, the ruthless and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140269444
• ISBN13: 9780140269444
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.8" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Well documented, well translated

This is my first attempt at GGM's work. The author's writing style is very different in accounting the events happened during that kidnap saga. As he explains the events unfolding, he carefully adds the background information of the appropriate character(s) involved in the scene and he gets back to the present by providing the correct dose of the past. Though the reader aware of the victims killed, the heart races every time the government forces goof up and we wonder whom going to get killed. That means successful writing. The book details the exhaustive account of how all the sides acted during the period of kidnapping, how professionally and emotionally the victims' families handle the situations. The author explains them in a measured quantity rather than tiring the reader with too many deatils.The translation is great and I can't help feeling that Edith Grossman got into GGM's mind and translate it exactly what he was trying to put it. Very rare I come across a translator like that.Worth reading.

Insightful Reading

If one were not familiar with the kidnappings that have occurred in Columbia, one might just believe this was a brilliant piece of fiction. Unfortunately this is not the case and Marquez does a fantastic job of recounting the terror that the hostages had to go through in their ordeal. This a true life tale of one of the plagues of Latin America. It is all to common to hear of prominent atheletes, entertainers and other high profile individuals being held ransom to fullfill a political cause. This is a story of Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug lord and how he conducted his reign over Columbia. This is the story of the Medellin cartels attempt to pressure the United Staates into not exradicting any of it's members. The portrayl of the drug lords and their lackeys is brilliant, showing the human side of people who are inhumane. The captives are so real, as portrayed by Marquez that one becomes very emotional over the conditions they had to endure. This book details the kidnapping of various journalists, ten in all, one by one. An easy enough book to read one will finish this book quickly as the suspense is, to use a pun, captivating. That Gabriel Garcia Marquez would write such a book is amazing considering that he risks his life by doing so. True to his his journalist roots he did it at the urging of the released captives suggestion. Marquez is to be applauded for his effort and his bravery as well as he shed some international light on a terrible malady of Latin America. After reading this you will appreciate your freedom and and all the luxuries it affords.

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How can anyone think that one of the greatest authors of the twentieth century, who also happened to be a journalist, could write anything that was shallow is beyond me. But the fact that this book is a highly readable account of one of the major judicial events in the history of the world, as well as being book by a Nobel laureate, makes it absolutely amazing. The man weaves together a complex narrative which creates a certain amount of empathy for the persons involved as well as illuminating the truly fascinating history behind it; i.e., the Medellin cartel's insidious network of kidnapping journalists and ransoming them against their own extradition.The fact that anyone would think that an author of Marquez' stature would write a book about such a complex and intriguing subject, and not do it well, is beyond me.

To live under the guerillas sword.

I read News of a kidnapping(Noticias de un Secuestro) of colombian writer, Gabriel García Márquez in spanish, and for me it was one of those book that I found myself cryng while reading it. Does it loose something with the translation?,I don't know; Does it loose something with the cultural gap?, maybe.Maybe if you don't live in a country were your physical integrity its in constant risk, you'll find this novel an odd version of Magic realism, but one musn't forget that García Márquez began his career as a journalist, and in his collected journalist works you could find in seed what you can fully appreciate in News of a kidnapping: That Gabo is almost as talented in non-fiction as he is in fiction. He might not be your typical or classical journalist, his works are so interesting and well written that you might think that you're reading fiction. Lástima that this is not the case: in Colombia, and lately in Venezuela, people live in constant fear of beign the next prey of the kidnappers,or maybe even worse, their loved ones. These menace is for everybody: Young, old, women, men, children, poor people, rich people. I think that García Márquez dared to write about something that few would: the kidnappings of a number of colombian journalists.How they lived during their endless months in captivity; their families and their desperation; the negotiations; the sacrifices of human life for what: An ideal...or greed? News of a kidnapping its a wonderful books of a horrible contemporary latinamerican issue.

Maravilloso!

Como enfrentar una realidad tan dura y devastante, llena de olor a sangre, odio y muerte sin estar alli? Como sentir en carne viva la agonia de la democracia amenazada por el mal sin tener que verlo en carne viva? Solo hay un camino, lea este libro. Garcia Marquez ha refabricado este mundo con tal maestria que usted habitara, comera y llorara junto a un pais que dolorosamente se desangra...una obra maestra!