el coronel no tiene quien le escriba - no one writes to the colonel - gabriel garcia marquez

 This is my favorite marquez book out of the three I have read (love in the time of cholera and 100 years of solitude). The ending is good. I thought it was perfect/funny. I was reading this on the bus on the way back from imf. The plot is good. Basically a retired colonel (this is a weird word in english, isn't it pronounced with an r sound) goes to the mailbox every week to wait for his pension that never comes (the thing about pension is a common theme in many of marquez's books i think, i do not know why but it probably has something to do with his own life i am guessing). Anyways, in the meantime he fights chickens (i think it is a rooster, like bets on chickens when they fight and has his own) to earn a living and survive. Something happens to the chicken and then comes the end of the book. I will let you read it. 

not great but pretty good! page it! this is a short book. I read this in spanish but you should be able to find it in english.