reading log 3

As I was finishing Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book “Of Love and Other Demons” I pictured the last scene where a malnourished little girl dreamt she was sitting watching the snowfall as she plucked at a stem of grapes which would grow back every time one was eaten. I cannot connect with any of the characters in the book per say, but I do understand the Marquis’s random love for his daughter that had spontaneously come to being after neglecting the past 12 years of her life. I can connect this somewhat on a smaller scale to when we sometimes might find a long forgotten object lying around that we decide to love once again or for the first time. Other than this, I share no similar experiences with any of the characters. There is much descriptive imagery of all sorts in the story as well as metaphor that for some can be perceived on a symbolic level although to me I see the story as just a very profound romantic tragedy not written in the traditional sense. I say this because the author is commonly known for his style of writing that includes the feature of magic realism. The setting is very real with probably some historical accuracy. This contributes to the plot which is entirely fictional but not impossibly so. I would not mind being friends with the Marquis’s twelve year old daughter who as a child was immersed in the strange and often horrifying African slave culture of the story. I figure with her talents, I too could learn to become invisible. If I could jump into the story, I would enter the moments of the girls’ last dream watching the snowfall and eating the magical grapes. I’d choose that place just to share the peace and clarity of that dream. I think this same scene I can visualize the best just because of its simplicity.