Graham must be insane. It’s the only possible solution.

Some time ago my friend graham asked for my input on his stage adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s A Hundred years of solitude. He leant me the book, which, as usual, p prevaricated about reading. However, last Thursday I went to his rehearsal, and was so impressed that I decided I wanted to get the damn book read. I was then only sixty pages in, and, given the next rehearsal was next Tuesday – today – I would have to average 100 pages a day.

I read slowly, so this meant at least five hours of solid reading a day, at least. I’m glad I did it on two counts: first, I needed to prove to myself that I could still do it; it’s been ages – years – since I seriously sat down and read something. The last time was Moby dick, and then I cheated by getting the pc to read to me. Second, I wanted to know what the hell graham was on about. Now that I know, however, I don’t think I support g’s project.

The thing is, the book is beautiful: it’s absolutely stunning in it’s scope; it matures over time; characters mature and shape in the mind. It’s a slow, introspective piece of prose, and that’s why I think it’s unsuitable, almost ludditry, for graham to want to convert it.

But that is also why I am fascinated. I want to see how he would pull this off. With any luck, he’ll let me help. What he produces could either be a masterpiece or a total mess. Either way, it’ll be fun.