SOURCE: Belli, Gioconda. “Gabo Speaks.” Los Angeles Times (16 February 2003): R5.

In the following review, Belli praises Vivir para contarla, noting that, for Latin Americans, “being able to read García Márquez … without intermediaries is one privilege we cannot forfeit.”

When I opened Vivir para contarla, the plane was climbing to 35,000 feet and fear was thrashing through my blood. Just a few pages later, however, Gabriel García Márquez's words would have sufficed to keep me flying even if the plane had succumbed to the law of gravity. I was oblivious to the fear of death.

The following day, back on terra firma, as I continued to read, such contentment came over me that I treated myself to a long and leisurely bath scented with aromatic salts while Cecilia Garcia Amaro's sensuous music played in the background. Furthermore, I was seized by a ferocious urge to eat...