The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World – Gabriel García Márquez – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 10

Discussion Notes: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Next week’s story is Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review ( for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

Wow, we found a Magical realism story Gerald liked! I was over the moon with excitement and the podcast doth bubble over. The messy video is on our Youtube page, and the glistening audio podcast is above. Check out the great article Kenechi wrote for the Author Spotlight on Gabriel García Márquez. You can feel the passion he has for this author and it’s a wonderful read.

Yes, we do have a rating scale based on Bradberries! For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Anais has the urge to create a Bradberry collage… Imagine, Bradberries on your desktop! You gave last week’s story, “The Old Man at the Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway, 4 Bradberries.

On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.

Our Special Guest Host for next week, Jocelyn Johnson chose the next story! We’ll be reading Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor. I hope you enjoy it!

9 comments on The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World – Gabriel García Márquez – Literary Roadhouse Ep: 10

  1. Todd Williams says:

    I liked this story a lot. It has a sort of mythical elegaic quality that I find present in a lot of fiction that falls under the "magical realism" label (or, as I call it, "stories by Spanish authors" 🙂 )
    I liked the upbeat ending too; most of the stories so far have been kind of tragic, which I’m all for, but its nice to have a positive one every once in a while!

    There was a particular line that was so beautiful I had to keep it in my journal:
    "and everyone held their breath during the fraction of centuries that it took for the body to fall into the abyss."
    Probably the best description of time I have ever heard!

    I also wanted to mention that there is a story called The Drowned Giant by JG Ballard that could be read as a modern take on Marquez’s tale. One of my favorite short stories ever.
    Here is a link to it (note: this goes straight to the pdf)
    http://www.lunsfordnet.com/get/pdf/Drowned%20Giant%20-%20harry_8278.pdf

    I enjoyed this episode of the podcast a lot. Your analysis of the story was good.

    I give this story 5 Bradberries.

    (btw thanks for the kind words about the Bradberry on the podcast a couple of weeks ago)

    1. Maria Concepcion says:

      I agree that’s a beautiful line.

    2. Maya Goode says:

      Yes, that line was wonderful. I love how precise and delicate the language is. When I started highlighting lines, I thought my entire copy was going to end up yellow. One think the podcast is showing me is my own preferences in writing. Since we’re able to read so many different stories faster than we can read different novels, I’m being exposed to so much and it’s making me notice the types of language call me. Delicate, honest and every word counting pulls me in like nothing else. I definitely fell in love with this author. I just loaded the Ballard story into my Kindle, thank you very much for the recommendation. I’m glad to have you in our community.

  2. Maria Concepcion says:

    I love this story! Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of my favorite authors. My grandfather read everyone of the stories and novels he published and he passed many of his books on to me.

    This story had me smiling from beginning to end. To me the theme is not important, the way the story is told is what makes it "pure enjoyment." That’s what I love about this author.

    Maya since you loved the story, I recommend you read 100 Years of Solitud. You will find a lot more of what you loved in this story, in the novel.

    6 Bradberries!

    1. Maya Goode says:

      I can definitely see why he is one of your favorite writers. He is marvelous. Do you read him both in Spanish and English? I’m curious about the differences because the translation was so elegant I almost wondered if it the author did the translation.

      1. Maria Concepcion says:

        I read him mostly in Spanish. I read this story both in English and Spanish. I prefer the Spanish version only because I can hear the women’s voices fantasizing aloud. 🙂

        1. Todd says:

          hey chicas échale un vistazo! es como una alfombra enrollada!

          1. Maria Concepcion says:

            "Like a rolled up rug!" I like that!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.