Strange Pilgrims

The Nobel prize-winning author Garcia Marquez has collected a dozen of his stories about Latin Americans in Europe, most of which, although magical, end on an unsettling note. Thus, an expatriate ex-president is recognized by an ambulance driver bent on exploitation; a man travels from Colombia to Rome with a cello case to see the pope; a woman with car trouble finds herself trapped in a mental institution; a prostitute plans her funeral. The plots are simple, but the character study and use of language is incisive. - Ann Irvine.