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What is the strange attraction and repulsion that we have towards violence? 'In Evil Hour' by Gabriel García Márquez is a fictional story set in the same universe as his most famous work of '100 Years of Solitude' but without the magic realism he is famous for. The story starts and ends with a killing, depicting the start of the oppression and the escalation that is to follow. Violence (both overt and subtle) lingers throughout the interactions of the tyrannical mayor as he re-institutes a curfew and control over his town.

I summarised the book as follows. "This is one of the first works from García Márquez and for me, not one of his finest. He captures the environment and ambience of the setting but the story and characters lacked a bit of bite. It felt like it needed a more dominant, driving antagonist as the mayor was responding to everything that happened, instead of instigating it like a 'proper' villain would do. That being said it still does contain the unique style of the great Colombian and is worth reading if you want to see his progression as a writer."

As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!

Timeline:

(0:00) - Synopsis

(2:22) - La Violencia: The political battle of Colombia

(3:36) - Los Pasquines: The dark side of human nature

(6:33) - Personal Observations

(9:23) - Summary

(11:05) - Pragmatic Takeaway: Keep up the out loud reading

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