The General in His Labyrinth
Having read GGM before going to Latin America (100 years of solitude) I've dipped into him over the years and although liking his stories feel a little removed from them. This book is about the mighty American liberator Bolivar who successfully united the south american continent albeit temporarily. This book doesn't dwell on Bolivar's fantastic feats of rebellion and politics but on his memories as he's passing into a self imposed exile that he never achieves. We follow him travelling down rivers staying in insufferably humid towns and villages alternately lauded and abused by the public whilst his dwindling retinue attempt to get him to exercise his undoubted influence across the continent whilst attempting to make the great leader as comfortable as possibly as his health and mind fail until reaching all our destinies. Brilliantly written and more compelling that the other books by GMM I've read maybe because I spent a few days on a crowded passenger boat on the Amazon in intense humidity and heat. Not quite the same as Bolivar's experience of this book but a little way there! This is a story and not purporting to be factual but it's very believable. Having read a bit about Bolivar the liberator many decades ago in trying to understand the continent I was about to visit and seeing streets with his name in every town I visited this book has given me the urge to read a factual account of his life. I doubt I'll find one as engaging as The General but I guess that's the advantage of not having to stick to the fact. Recommended.
http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141032528,00.html#
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