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Published On: Wed, Jul 3rd, 2013

The Robber of Memories, book review

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If Colombia is a land with no memory as Gabriela Dale argued on Colombia Politics last week, then it is the perfect setting for Michael Jacobs´ meditation on the power of human recall.

The Robber of Memories is a spell-binding journey to the source of the majestic Magdalena river that takes us through the land of García Márquez, into the paramilitary strongholds of the Magdelena Medio and finally up deep into the mountainous FARC-held territories of Huila, near San Agustin.

It all begins with a chance meeting with García Márquez in packed drinking den in Getsemaní, in Cartagena. Gabo is in good shape, Jacobs tells us, sharp and with no sign of his illness, at least during this brief encounter. Magically Gabo reveals he can remember every kink and meander of the Magdalena, the lifeblood river of his novels. Perhaps it will be the last thing he forgets.

As the pages turn on Jacobs´ journey, the memories of Gabo stay with us. His words travel with us to Mompóx where we meet the book´s most memorable characters, the self-proclaimed poet of Mompóx, the ex-pat Gauguin wannabe, and Nando the optician, all deliciously impossible, yet real.

Though there is no love interest for Michael on this trip, he allows us to remember Love in the Time of Cholera as the captain steers a course up river.  As the rough and ready crew inform the author of Colombia´s many slang words for female genitalia, we lament the loss of the romantic steamers that plied this great river, and we drift off to imagine Gabo´s youth.

There is little enchanting however, as Jacobs sails past Barrancabermeja and Puerto Berrío, where he reflects on the cruelty of the right-wing paramilitary forces whose reign of terror scarred much of this resource rich area. We meet those working to rebuild the society and wonder how long before García Márquez´s description in 100 Years of Solitude of a war whose reason for beginning no one can remember are seen as prophetic; realism rather than magical realism.

The pointlessness of Colombia´s conflict is seen most clearly in the book´s final, and most moving section, when Jacobs has a chance encounter with the FARC. Jacobs´ natural irony and wit allows us to see the guerrillas for what they are, their incoherent world view is tragically contrasted with the humanity of a smiling lady in their number who appears to take a bit of shine to the author. What is Lenin to this lady whose hospitality and generosity is so typical to Colombia?

At this point my mind lurched back to Conrad´s great novel about the Congo, The Heart of Darkness. The hairy shouldered FARC commander who plays and toys with Jacobs and his companions is an inferior Kurtz, a power-tripped monster of the jungle.

Jacobs is much more than a travel writer. The Robber of Memories is literary adventure that uses the river to explore memory, the way the mind is sparked by travel. But it is the sadness of memory loss, however, that lingers.

Perhaps the most intriguing character is Jacobs´mother who appears only on the other line of a mobile phone which rings intermittently, when a signal can be found. Her worsening Alzheimer´s hangs heavy over Jacobs´ journey. Her time is almost up.

Great travel books encourage us to set off and to learn. Jacobs mother´s condition reminds us to hang on to our memories and to set sail on our own journey of discovery.

The Robber of Memories is a literary, political, humorous and great read. Jacobs´ love affair with Colombia is poignant, he appears to pine for a life here that he hasn´t had.

A very middle class Brit, Jacobs told me over a bottle of rum in Getsemaní that he felt more Latin than English. The Robber of Memories is a search for these memories of a past or imagined life.

 

Buy the book here.

 

Picture, The Telegraph

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