Everything starts when the main character decides that spending a night with a young virgin is a great way of celebrating his birthday. So, the eve of turning ninety, he calls Rosa Cabarcas, the woman who manages the brothel he used to visit a long time ago. That phone call would change everything: "aquel fue el principio de una nueva vida a una edad en la que la mayoría de los mortales están muertos". To start with, a man who had always paid to have sex would learn to love for the first time. Not only that, but he would also learn more about himself and others, a new knowledge that would motivate him to write a written account of what happened. In his own words, "Nunca hice nada distinto de escribir, pero no tengo vocación ni virtud de narrador, ignoro por completo las leyes de la composición dramática, y si me he embarcado en esta empresa es porque confío en la luz de lo mucho que he leído en la vida. Dicho en romance crudo, soy un cabo de raza sin méritos ni brillo, que no tendría nada que legar a sus sobrevivientes de no haber sido por los hechos que me dispongo a referir como pueda en esta memoria de mi grande amor".

The story is not outstanding (I would give it 3 stars out of 5), but I really appreciated the way in which such a consummate storyteller as García Marquez tells it (5 stars out of 5). The author manages to convey to the reader ideas, feelings and concepts that make him forget that he is reading a story instead of just living it. For that, I recommend this book to you :)

Belen Alcat