Book No. 8 (2013): NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING

News of a Kidnapping
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The book is the dramatization of a real event in the history of Colombia. The fiction format is used effectively well by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the resulting narrative is as powerful as some of his great works.

 

The book chronicles the hardships, fear, and hopelessness that the 10 kidnapped personalities, mostly journalists, suffered in the hands Pablo Escobar and his 'army," as well as of the negotiations that followed. Escobar was head of a drug cartel; he masterminded the kidnapping of the 10 notable Colombians to use as bargaining pawns. He opposed the extradition treaty signed by Colombia and the US.

 

I found the book mostly insightful. I don't need to comment of the technical merits of the book since to excel in that aspect is already a given for a novelist of Garcia Marquez's caliber. I didn't know Pablo Escobar was until I became curious because he's the main 'villain' in the story.

 

The narrative does not have the magical realism the author has been known for. Despite that, there's still the author's fingerprints stamped all over the book.

 

Rating: 4.5/5.0

 

Date read: March 19, 2013