Biography

THE TOPIC: How can one even begin to understand the life of an author whose oeuvre is certainly biographical, but who is best known for inventing a genre situated at the border between fantasy and reality? Gerald Martin does his best in his biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as he takes us from his impoverished childhood in Aracataca, Colombia (which became the fictional Macondo), through an apprenticeship in journalism, and to his Nobel Prize win in 1982 and beyond. Martin, who over the years went from merely a "tolerated" presence to Garcia Marquez's official biographer, has told this tale not only from the perspective of his subject but from the more than 300 people--from Garcia Marquez's family to writers including Carlos Fuentes and politicians like Fidel Castro--he interviewed for the book.

Knopf. 672 pages. $37.50. ISBN: 0307271773

Christian Science Monitor *****

"It would be intimidating under any circumstances to attempt a biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. ... But you have to extend particular sympathy to anyone who attempts the job from now on." MARJORIE KEHE

Los Angeles Times ****

"'Everyone has three lives,' Gabriel Garcia Marquez once told Gerald Martin. 'A public life, a private life and a secret life.' ... Martin has understood, as far as it is possible for a biographer to understand, the motivations and experiences that have guided Gabo in his three lives, and all of us who love the maestro's work are grateful for it." MARCELA VALDES

St. Petersburg Times ****

"One of Martin's great contributions is to reveal the autobiographical components of books such as No One Writes to the Colonel and Love in the Time of Cholera. ... Martin's lucid, swiftly paced study treats both the writer and his works with equal care, showing that it is impossible to separate one from the other--and showing as well that the world would be much the poorer without them." GREGORY MCNAMEE

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ****

"[Martin] provides a richly detailed authorized biography. Though Martin pulls a punch or two in assessing Garcia Marquez's fidelity to Fidel Castro, his book is a judicious and occasionally juicy examination of Gabo's life, his politics and work." GLENN C. ALTSCHULER

Washington Post ****

"[Martin] on the whole has made the most of the opportunities that Garcia Marquez's life offers. He does rattle on too long about Garcia Marquez's political activities, but he skillfully shows how a long journalistic apprenticeship led to the incredible creative explosion that produced One Hundred Years of Solitude." JONATHAN YARDLEY

Miami Herald ***

"Gerald Martin's biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez suffers from hero worship, but it provides essential insight into this morally myopic man, whose unwavering loyalty to an odious tyrant belies the wisdom and depth of humanity he has demonstrated in his novels and stories. ... But Martin's kid-glove treatment of the friendship between Garcia Marquez and Fidel Castro is a dereliction of his critical duty." ARIEL GONZALEZ