In many of the stories in the first part of this collection, the author does not identify characters or setting by name, and often the time elements seem confusing. Are these devices effective for carrying out the author's intent? What is the author's intent in employing these devices?

What is the author's attitude toward his characters? Compassionate? Ironic? Detached? If there is an overall message that runs through this collection about the author's view of humanity, what is it?

Some of the stories resemble in form the fable, in which human traits are ascribed to animals to be more carefully examined. In "Eva Is Inside Her Cat," for example, a beautiful woman somehow exchanges her soul with that of her cat so as to avoid witnessing her own aging. What is the core truth Garcia Marquez communicates by this device?

In "The Woman Who...