Clark's Reviews > Collected Stories

So, first of all, I have been reading this off and on for about three years now and I finally decided about two weeks ago to give it a serious effort from the beginning. This is more than just an interesting collection of stories; it's a document of Marquez's growth as a writer. The first third of the book is frankly pretty terrible. It's filled with failed experiments in which Marquez grows closer to developing his signature magical realism, but these experiments instead come off as ghost stories that get bogged down in maudlin torpor. Then, something clicks. The next two thirds of the book are incredible. Marquez finds his voice and more importantly, he starts to serve the story. The characters go somewhere instead of stagnating in their own ghastliness. The stories themselves are richer and they say something. The three standouts are "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings", "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother".