The 180-degree opposite of the interminable Wolf Hall: General in His Labyrinth

For a novelist so political, with a background in journalism and advocacy, Garcia Marquez takes a very calm, neutral stance in "The General in His Labyrinth," it's almost as if he set himself a task or challenge of staying within the boundaries of a tight narrative strand - a journey that takes place over a few days or maybe weeks at most, from point A to point B (Bogota to the coast), by one man, Bolivar - and though the novel is full of hints and innuendos about Bolivar's revolutionary activism it's all hazy and shadowy, we don't learn much about the "history" - in short, this not a historical tome but a psychological novel about the last days of a powerful man. We're left wondering: what is it that turned Bolivar from an international hero, a great liberator, into a pariah in his own land? Why do so many of the people despise him, he has to almost sneak out of Bogota in darkness? It's not just internal power politics, because the hatred of Bolivar extends to the villages. And then there are some who do still revere him - as we see when he stops at the mysterious city of Mompox (a real place?), where the river widens and becomes almost like a swamp, a miasma. The book raises questions in will not answer, and that's to its credit - a 180 degree opposite from the interminable Wolf Hall in which readers are overwhelmed with details of palace intrigue. Some obviously loved that - not me. I think this novel would read as well if the General had been a purely fictional character, Garcia Marquez's creation. In a way, he is.