Books to Read Before You Go To Colombia

Even when he’s not writing it, it’s nearly impossible to escape the influence of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Colombian literature. The father of magic realism also inadvertently created a movement of realistic literature that pushed back against it.

As you would expect, Colombian literature is dominated by guns, drugs and sultry, scantily-clad women.

The Armies by Evelio Rosero

The Armies is a no-holds-barred accounting of Colombia’s civil war. The book is an alluring allegory in which an aging professor has to face the changing landscape both inside himself and around him.

Delirium by Laura Restrepo

Restrepo examines the hypocrisy and class divisions during Pablo Escobar’s 1980s cocaine regime. Seen through the lens of four characters from distinct backgrounds and generations, Delirium exposes the eros and insanity that marked the time.

The Train of Fire and Ice by Ramon Chao

Because simply listing 100 Years of Solitude would be too easy, this unexpected memoir tells the true story of an almost unbelievable cast of musicians, acrobats and artists as they ride a train bound for Marquez’s real-life Macondo, Aracataca. It is the kind of pilgrimage that only Manu Chao and his band Mano Negra could pull off.

Maria by Jorge Issacs

Isaacs’ only novel is the highlight of the 1800s’ Latin American Romantic Movement. It comments on the budding Colombian society in addition to being a sweeping romance.

In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Did you really expect us to leave you without a single book from Marquez? Shame. Check out this slim precursor to 100 Years that explores the horrifying consequences of a village that does its very best to consume itself in an all-out smear campaign.