‘Gabo is an alchemist’: Mateo Garcia Elizondo

For writer Mateo Garcia Elizondo, ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, written by his grandfather Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is not just a classic. 

“It is like a chronicle of my family,” he said at a session at MBIFL. 

“When I read the novel, I understand Gabo.”

Has he been influenced by his grandfather? 

“Obviously it’s a great influence, especially when you have a grandparent like him. When you decide to become a writer, it’s very hard to deny that. Gabo was an amazing grandpa… a very close, very smiling, talkative man. He used to tell us a lot of stories and tricks for writing,” he said.

Marquez advised Garcia Elizondo to strive to retain the reader’s attention all the time.

“He used to say that writing was like hypnosis. If you lose your readers, you will lose them forever. 

So you have to keep them with you all the time. Books are magical and Gabo is an alchemist. His influence is hard to escape and hard to avoid.”

Mateo talks about his own novel. It is the story of a character who has decided to give up life, a very Mexican theme according to him.