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The Robber of Memories: A River Journey Through Colombia
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“An adventure story and a travel narrative, but also an excursion into memory itself.” —Booklist
When travel writer Michael Jacobs began traversing the Magdalena, a river that courses through the heart of Colombia, he was determined to leave modern conveniences aside—with the exception of a cell phone. Through its sporadic signal, he attempts to keep in touch with his mother, who is in deteriorating health with dementia. At the same time, he is journeying through South American townships and villages with the world’s highest incident of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
While navigating the mysterious river and unfamiliar territory—both emotionally and geographically—Jacobs comes across author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose own faltering memory shows a growing obsession with the Magdalena River of his youth. When Jacobs and his companions are apprehended by FARC guerillas who turn out to be as quirky and affable as they are intimidating, life begins to imitate the magical realism of Marquez’s signature works.
Filled with reflections on this nation’s violent past and uncertain present, interwoven with musings on his mother’s forgetting of her own history, The Robber of Memories is a suspenseful, entertaining, and poignant read.
“Eerily hypnotic . . . A well-rendered travelogue and a profound excursion into what it means to remember and forget.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Stands with Paul Theroux, Bruce Chatwin, and, even, in some ways, Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi.” —Booklist
When travel writer Michael Jacobs began traversing the Magdalena, a river that courses through the heart of Colombia, he was determined to leave modern conveniences aside—with the exception of a cell phone. Through its sporadic signal, he attempts to keep in touch with his mother, who is in deteriorating health with dementia. At the same time, he is journeying through South American townships and villages with the world’s highest incident of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
While navigating the mysterious river and unfamiliar territory—both emotionally and geographically—Jacobs comes across author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose own faltering memory shows a growing obsession with the Magdalena River of his youth. When Jacobs and his companions are apprehended by FARC guerillas who turn out to be as quirky and affable as they are intimidating, life begins to imitate the magical realism of Marquez’s signature works.
Filled with reflections on this nation’s violent past and uncertain present, interwoven with musings on his mother’s forgetting of her own history, The Robber of Memories is a suspenseful, entertaining, and poignant read.
“Eerily hypnotic . . . A well-rendered travelogue and a profound excursion into what it means to remember and forget.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Stands with Paul Theroux, Bruce Chatwin, and, even, in some ways, Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi.” —Booklist
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