En Agosto Nos Vemos by Gabriel García Márquez (2024)

This book was mostly written around the turn of the millennium, and García Márquez tried to finish it but his memory problems made it difficult and he ultimately abandoned it, as his children explain in the introduction. The decision to publish is ultimately against his wishes, but they say they don’t feel too much guilt about it, and as the editor explains in his note, it has been through a full editorial process, partly during and then mostly after the author’s death. It consists of five chapters which take place over five years of the protagonist, Ana Magdalena Bach’s life. When it begins, she is in her mid-forties and heading from her home in an unnamed Latin American city to a Caribbean Island, to carry out a yearly ritual: tending to her mother’s grave. Her mother was a school teacher who died relatively young, and stipulated that she should be buried here, in a graveyard for the poor, on an island where deluxe tourism co-exists with squalid poverty. Her mother’s decision has never been fully understood, and the stormy crossing was always dreaded by Ana, but since a more modern boat has started operating, she can enjoy the experience more. She cleans up the grave, puts fresh flowers on it, and heads back to her hotel to rest. She wakes up starving and heads downstairs to eat. She orders a gin and sees a man with a bottle of brandy, who comes over to her and invites her for a drink. They dance, and end up spending the night together. Ana, who has never slept with anyone other than her husband, feels liberated and invigorated rather than guilty about the experience. But when she wakes to catch her return boat, the man is gone and has left her a twenty-dollar bill. 

She is overcome with shame, and a shadow is cast over her which remains once she is back home. Her family life is mostly happy, she still has a loving and passionate relationship with her husband of many years, and her children are healthy. Both Ana and her husband come form musical families, and their son is a talented cellist whose career is taking off. Their daughter is more of a tearaway – she’s prone to disappear for days and shack up with men, but at the same time she is strongly considering joining a convent. Ana’s feelings are also confused – she worries about her getting pregnant, but calls her a ‘whore’ when she finds out she had a contraceptive device put in at age fifteen. Ana’s shame wears off and she feels better about the incident, seeing the money as a ‘tip’. 

Next year, she stays in a more luxurious hotel, and meets a much younger man – this time the encounter is pre-meditated on her part. She nearly goes to bed alone when he invites her to come out around midnight to see an eclipse. When they get to the beach he admits there is no eclipse, but all the same they share a passionate night together. Some months alter she sees him on television, where it’s revealed he is a known swindler of widows and wanted for several murders.