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9780008487898 611cffcd18d75ee0e55919da A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel Garcίa Marquez and Mercedes Barcha https://www.midlandbookshop.com/s/607fe93d7eafcac1f2c73ea4/611cffcf18d75ee0e5591a24/41k8io2ivms-_sx309_bo1-204-203-200_.jpg

The son of one of the greatest writers of our time―Nobel Prize winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel García Márquez―remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender memoir about love and loss.

‘It enthralled and moved me.’ Salman Rushdie

In March 2014, Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold. The woman who had been beside him for more than fifty years, his wife Mercedes Barcha, was not hopeful; her husband, affectionately known as “Gabo,” was then nearly 87 and battling dementia. I don't think we'll get out of this one, she told their son Rodrigo.
 
Hearing his mother’s words, Rodrigo wondered, “Is this how the end begins?” To make sense of events as they unfolded, he began to write the story of García Márquez’s final days. The result is this intimate and honest account that not only contemplates his father’s mortality but reveals his remarkable humanity.
 
Both an illuminating memoir and a heartbreaking work of reportage, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes transforms this towering genius from literary creator to protagonist, and paints a rich and revelatory portrait of a family coping with loss. At its center is a man at his most vulnerable, whose wry humor shines even as his lucidity wanes. Gabo savors affection and attention from those in his orbit, but wrestles with what he will lose―and what is already lost. Throughout his final journey is the charismatic Mercedes, his constant companion and the creative muse who was one of the foremost influences on Gabo’s life and his art.
 
Bittersweet and insightful, surprising and powerful, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes celebrates the formidable legacy of Rodrigo’s parents, offering an unprecedented look at the private family life of a literary giant. It is at once a gift to Gabriel García Márquez’s readers worldwide, and a grand tribute from a writer who knew him well.

Review

When the child of a globally recognized literary giant publishes a memoir, the pressure of inevitable comparison must be immense. And yet Garcia, the son of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, has chosen to focus on the waning years of his parents' lives, when the immediate glare of the spotlights had long passed. This allows Garcia to write candidly about an incredibly painful time, as his father slipped into dementia and eventual hospitalization. The result is an intensely personal reflection on his father's legacy and his family bonds, tender in its treatment and stirring in its brevity. Composed in short chapters of concise, honest prose, Garcia's book pulls back the curtain to provide a view denied to journalists, photographers, and even the doctors and nurses who crowded his father's hospital quarters, eager to get a peek at
the dying star. Perhaps Garcia's experiences as a television and film producer helped him frame each sequence with a cinematic lens, as it seems every remembrance is rendered with uniquely exacting energy, such as when his father no longer recognizes his sons, or how on the flight back from his father's funeral, he sees a fellow passenger reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. An intimate portrait of immense loss.
― Diego Báez

“You read this short memoir with a feeling of deep gratitude. Yes, it is a moving homage by a son to his extraordinary parents, but also much more: it is a revelation of the hidden corners of a fascinating life. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes is generous, unsentimental and wise.”
–Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling

“A warm homage filled with both fond and painful memories.” Kirkus

‘This is a beautiful farewell to two extraordinary people. It enthralled and moved me, and it will move and enthrall anyone who has ever entered the glorious literary world of Gabriel García Márquez’ Salman Rushdie

About the Author

Rodrigo Garcia was born in Colombia, grew up in Mexico City, and now lives in Los Angeles with his family. He studied history at Harvard University before becoming a screenwriter and director. His theatrical films include Nine Lives, Albert Nobbs, and Last Days in the Desert, and he has directed episodes of Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and the pilot of Big Love, for which he received an Emmy nomination. He was a writer, executive producer, and series showrunner for HBO’s In Treatment, and directed several of the series’ episodes.

 9780008487898
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A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel Garcίa Marquez and Mercedes Barcha

A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel Garcίa Marquez and Mercedes Barcha

ISBN: 9780008487898
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  • ISBN: 9780008487898
  • Author: Rodrigo Garcia
  • Publisher: HarperVia
  • Pages: 176
  • Format: Hardback
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Book Description

The son of one of the greatest writers of our time―Nobel Prize winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel García Márquez―remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender memoir about love and loss.

‘It enthralled and moved me.’ Salman Rushdie

In March 2014, Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold. The woman who had been beside him for more than fifty years, his wife Mercedes Barcha, was not hopeful; her husband, affectionately known as “Gabo,” was then nearly 87 and battling dementia. I don't think we'll get out of this one, she told their son Rodrigo.
 
Hearing his mother’s words, Rodrigo wondered, “Is this how the end begins?” To make sense of events as they unfolded, he began to write the story of García Márquez’s final days. The result is this intimate and honest account that not only contemplates his father’s mortality but reveals his remarkable humanity.
 
Both an illuminating memoir and a heartbreaking work of reportage, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes transforms this towering genius from literary creator to protagonist, and paints a rich and revelatory portrait of a family coping with loss. At its center is a man at his most vulnerable, whose wry humor shines even as his lucidity wanes. Gabo savors affection and attention from those in his orbit, but wrestles with what he will lose―and what is already lost. Throughout his final journey is the charismatic Mercedes, his constant companion and the creative muse who was one of the foremost influences on Gabo’s life and his art.
 
Bittersweet and insightful, surprising and powerful, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes celebrates the formidable legacy of Rodrigo’s parents, offering an unprecedented look at the private family life of a literary giant. It is at once a gift to Gabriel García Márquez’s readers worldwide, and a grand tribute from a writer who knew him well.

Review

When the child of a globally recognized literary giant publishes a memoir, the pressure of inevitable comparison must be immense. And yet Garcia, the son of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, has chosen to focus on the waning years of his parents' lives, when the immediate glare of the spotlights had long passed. This allows Garcia to write candidly about an incredibly painful time, as his father slipped into dementia and eventual hospitalization. The result is an intensely personal reflection on his father's legacy and his family bonds, tender in its treatment and stirring in its brevity. Composed in short chapters of concise, honest prose, Garcia's book pulls back the curtain to provide a view denied to journalists, photographers, and even the doctors and nurses who crowded his father's hospital quarters, eager to get a peek at
the dying star. Perhaps Garcia's experiences as a television and film producer helped him frame each sequence with a cinematic lens, as it seems every remembrance is rendered with uniquely exacting energy, such as when his father no longer recognizes his sons, or how on the flight back from his father's funeral, he sees a fellow passenger reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. An intimate portrait of immense loss.
― Diego Báez

“You read this short memoir with a feeling of deep gratitude. Yes, it is a moving homage by a son to his extraordinary parents, but also much more: it is a revelation of the hidden corners of a fascinating life. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes is generous, unsentimental and wise.”
–Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling

“A warm homage filled with both fond and painful memories.” Kirkus

‘This is a beautiful farewell to two extraordinary people. It enthralled and moved me, and it will move and enthrall anyone who has ever entered the glorious literary world of Gabriel García Márquez’ Salman Rushdie

About the Author

Rodrigo Garcia was born in Colombia, grew up in Mexico City, and now lives in Los Angeles with his family. He studied history at Harvard University before becoming a screenwriter and director. His theatrical films include Nine Lives, Albert Nobbs, and Last Days in the Desert, and he has directed episodes of Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and the pilot of Big Love, for which he received an Emmy nomination. He was a writer, executive producer, and series showrunner for HBO’s In Treatment, and directed several of the series’ episodes.

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