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Jayson's Reviews > Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by
by
Jayson's review
bookshelves: read-in-2025, audiobook-audible, author-latin-american, format-translated, genre-literary-fiction, genre-romance, era-cold-war, z-saturday
Feb 13, 2025
bookshelves: read-in-2025, audiobook-audible, author-latin-american, format-translated, genre-literary-fiction, genre-romance, era-cold-war, z-saturday
Read 2 times. Last read February 13, 2025 to March 3, 2025.
(B+) 77% | Good
Notes: Wherein love is blind, undefined, limitless potential, but also illusion, addiction, delusion and capriciously torrential.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)
Notes: Wherein love is blind, undefined, limitless potential, but also illusion, addiction, delusion and capriciously torrential.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)
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Reading Progress
August 24, 2009
–
Started Reading
(Hardcover Edition)
August 24, 2009
–
Finished Reading
(Hardcover Edition)
August 1, 2013
– Shelved
(Hardcover Edition)
March 24, 2015
– Shelved as:
author-latin-ame...
(Hardcover Edition)
March 24, 2015
– Shelved as:
format-translated
(Hardcover Edition)
March 24, 2015
– Shelved as:
100-199-pp
(Hardcover Edition)
March 26, 2015
– Shelved as:
genre-romance
(Hardcover Edition)
September 15, 2016
– Shelved as:
read-in-2009
(Hardcover Edition)
January 6, 2023
– Shelved as:
genre-literary-f...
(Hardcover Edition)
February 13, 2025
–
Started Reading
February 13, 2025
– Shelved
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
read-in-2025
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
audiobook-audible
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
author-latin-american
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
format-translated
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
genre-literary-fiction
February 13, 2025
– Shelved as:
genre-romance
February 13, 2025
–
0.0%
"Notes:
(1) I read this book a really long time ago. It's one of the very first books I read when I started reading recreationally.
- I chose it because I'd read "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" for a university English class and always had Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez down as an author whose work I wanted to explore more of.
- Incidentally, it's still the only GarcÃa Márquez book I've read, and now for the second time."
(1) I read this book a really long time ago. It's one of the very first books I read when I started reading recreationally.
- I chose it because I'd read "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" for a university English class and always had Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez down as an author whose work I wanted to explore more of.
- Incidentally, it's still the only GarcÃa Márquez book I've read, and now for the second time."
February 14, 2025
–
25.0%
"Notes:
(1) "Oh, Señor, she said, with a mournful lament, that wasn't made for coming in but for going out."
- At the risk of sounding juvenile or crass, there's been an awful lot of butt talk so far—butt talk in seemingly every way conceivable.
- I guess this is meant to underscore the unnamed narrator's gross and profane morality and mindset, and to draw stark contrast with the 14-year-old virgin he seeks to defile."
(1) "Oh, Señor, she said, with a mournful lament, that wasn't made for coming in but for going out."
- At the risk of sounding juvenile or crass, there's been an awful lot of butt talk so far—butt talk in seemingly every way conceivable.
- I guess this is meant to underscore the unnamed narrator's gross and profane morality and mindset, and to draw stark contrast with the 14-year-old virgin he seeks to defile."
February 16, 2025
– Shelved as:
era-cold-war
February 16, 2025
– Shelved as:
era-cold-war
(Hardcover Edition)
February 16, 2025
–
46.0%
"Notes:
(1) "For the first time in my long life I felt capable of killing someone."
- All because someone publicly cast into doubt his knowledge of classical music.
- It's a window into what he values.
(2) "Poor thing, she's right here in front of me. Do you want to talk to her? No, for God's sake, I said."
- Of course, because then she'd be an imperfect human being instead of an uncorrupted ideal of youth and beauty."
(1) "For the first time in my long life I felt capable of killing someone."
- All because someone publicly cast into doubt his knowledge of classical music.
- It's a window into what he values.
(2) "Poor thing, she's right here in front of me. Do you want to talk to her? No, for God's sake, I said."
- Of course, because then she'd be an imperfect human being instead of an uncorrupted ideal of youth and beauty."
February 20, 2025
–
64.0%
"Notes:
(1) The girl is both explicitly and implicitly compared with the old man's cat.
- They're both beautiful and rescues of a sort.
- The girl is his imaginary housemate, while the cat is his actual housemate.
- He knows the cat too intimately: "The stink of his rancid urine and warm shit contaminated everything."
- He knows the girl not at all, remaking their brothel love nest into an oasis of ersatz domesticity."
(1) The girl is both explicitly and implicitly compared with the old man's cat.
- They're both beautiful and rescues of a sort.
- The girl is his imaginary housemate, while the cat is his actual housemate.
- He knows the cat too intimately: "The stink of his rancid urine and warm shit contaminated everything."
- He knows the girl not at all, remaking their brothel love nest into an oasis of ersatz domesticity."
February 25, 2025
–
82.0%
"Notes:
(1) We finally get to the point where the virgin speaks, which initially excites the narrator, though upon hearing her "plebian" voice he laments: "I preferred her asleep."
- As long as she's a blank slate, bereft of idiosyncrasies, he can project upon her whatever he desires.
- This absence of individuality backfires later when she disappears, and he sees her in every young girl he encounters and hears about."
(1) We finally get to the point where the virgin speaks, which initially excites the narrator, though upon hearing her "plebian" voice he laments: "I preferred her asleep."
- As long as she's a blank slate, bereft of idiosyncrasies, he can project upon her whatever he desires.
- This absence of individuality backfires later when she disappears, and he sees her in every young girl he encounters and hears about."
March 3, 2025
–
99.0%
"Notes:
(1) The narrator attempts to pawn his mother's jewels to continue financing his brothel habit. The jewels, it turns out, are fake, which he ends up keeping for sentimental reasons.
- Ultimately, the only value that matters here is sentimental value. His love affair with Delgadina is as artificial as his treasured family jewels.
(2) Love here inflames many things: illusion, addiction, delusion, affliction, etc."
(1) The narrator attempts to pawn his mother's jewels to continue financing his brothel habit. The jewels, it turns out, are fake, which he ends up keeping for sentimental reasons.
- Ultimately, the only value that matters here is sentimental value. His love affair with Delgadina is as artificial as his treasured family jewels.
(2) Love here inflames many things: illusion, addiction, delusion, affliction, etc."
March 3, 2025
–
Finished Reading
March 6, 2025
– Shelved as:
z-saturday
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
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Dr. wrote: "Hi Jayson,A thorough review- I don't think I'll read the book, thanks for the " warning" :)"
Always glad to be of assistance, Jasmine. Glad you liked the review.
Dr. wrote: "(Did the author manage to show anything lovely in his character, I wonder?)"
In the protagonist? Sure. He's a sort of Don Quixote figure, as it relates to love. In his delusions he protests against the idea that old age is a diminished existence. He falls madly in love for the first time and, regardless whether it's an authentic relationship or entirely in his mind, his final years are filled with passion and excitement.
A thorough review- I don't think I'll read the book, thanks for the " warning" :)
The most beautiful, ethereal, and delightful flowers could be easily squashed-dead-into-the-mud with the dirty wellies.. and it sounds like the protagonist is doing exactly that. It is sad, that he lived a long life without learning much (it seems). (Did the author manage to show anything lovely in his character, I wonder?)
A human being could behave in an honourable-graceful- godly manner, or in the most despicable-cheap-crass ways- in relation to love, including.
Thanks again :)
Jasmine