Pure Writerly Moments 2 (Short Stories, Essays, Book Reviews, and More)

Book Review - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Collected Stories (Part 1)

Daniel Salvidor Trueba de Clausen, the town book reviewer, lived ten steps from the town church in a small house of an ancient lineage with a door that was never locked. It was said that the town priest would set his watch to the reviewer's morning walks which he conducted with an accountant's regularity.

For many years he worked tirelessly at his craft, turning out book reviews with a machine that would tint the paper with the yellowed residue of old books as if his reviews were of some ancient vintage.

Around the time of his Gabriela Garcia Marquez book review, his habits became irregular, almost primitive, and so the town was thrown into a great confusion when the priest could no longer time his watch properly and sermons were held at ludicrous times based on the whims of a fickle timepiece rendered useless by the change in the mood of the town book reviewer.

Town gossip said that a woman was the cause.


The day of the fabled book review an oppressive heat settled on the town. Even the town whores settled on the patios for respite, unwilling to brave a deadly heat. On that day, de Clausen continued to work away at his review machine, typing the various keys that produced the words that would pass unholy judgment on the art of others.


That day, the priest wandered out of the church vaguely. His walk was unusually muddled. News that the illustrious book review would soon be finished passed from ear to ear, but the priest seemed unequal to the moment. Unaware how he should appear at de Clausen's family home, whether to sanctify the review as if the birth of a profit with Holy water and bread, or whether to call the town's mayor to arrange some small festivities for that evening, he arrived with nothing at all but his humble confusion.


Seated on de Clausen's porch he let the heat overtake him. As he unbuttoned his robe he realized that he had never been so hot in his life. One by one he removed his clothing until he was in his underwear. And still the sounds of the machine churning words would not stop. He lay his head down and enjoyed a moment of respite. The oppressive heat eventually broke in the dull purple of dusk.


As he woke, he reached to gather his clothing but realized with a shock that they were gone. In their place was the review with pages gilded in the yellow residue of ancient texts. As the priest looked up, he saw a man in a priestly robe leaving town by the main street on a horse with three of the town's most revered whores.


On the last line of the review was a note to the priest.


"I leave my review machine to you. May it bring you joys beyond imagination, Padre, in this review and the next."


Signed.

Daniel Salvidor Trueba de Clausen

Part 2 coming soon!