Rodrigo García’s “A FAREWELL TO GABO AND MERCEDES: A SON’S MEMOIR”
Book review by Dennis D. McDonald
I had just finished watching Rodrigo García‘s excellent film RAYMOND AND RAY. I did a little bit of research on writer/director García’s background. I was surprised to learn he is the son of celebrated novelist Gabriel García Marquez.
This particular book is a memoir of events surrounding the deaths of both his father and his mother. The book is tender, profound, sensitive, sad, and occasionally funny. Sometimes it’s all these things at once. The author focuses on personal details about his parents. He strikes a balance between his own feelings about growing up with his famous father and intimate details about his father’s and mother’s last days.
Anyone who has experienced the deaths of loved ones will find something recognizable here. Watching the author’s film RAYMOND AND RAY and its tale of two brothers returning for the funeral of their estranged and difficult father, one cannot help but wonder about that film’s numerous unusual vignettes and how they reflect any of the author’s own family experiences.
That’s a bit of a rhetorical question. Asking an artist whether personal experiences have influenced his or her own art is a fool’s game. Of course they have, whether or not the artist recognizes it. But how important is it for readers or reviewers to understand this? Shouldn’t art speak for itself and not burden us with having to know intimate back stories of the artists life to appreciate the art?
My own reaction: art is always influenced by the artist’s personal history. Understanding an artist’s personal backstory can sometimes help explain some of what the artist is trying to communicate in a particular work. Reading García‘s memoir on the deaths of his parents may help explain some of what we see in Raymond and Ray even if the details of that film and its characters’ actions are imaginary. Garcia through his superb writing and directing imbued the people in Raymond and Ray with real personalities. He reveals in this memoir, at minimum, that some of his artistic sensibilities may have been inherited -- whether he knows that or not.
Review copyright 2022 by Dennis D. McDonald