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A "poem on the solitude of power" according to the author, the novel is a flowing tract on the life of an eternal dictator. The book is divided into six sections, each retelling the same story of the infinite power held by the archtypical Caribbean tyrant.

García Márquez based his fictional dictator on a variety of real-life autocrats, including Gustavo Rojas Pinilla of his own Colombian homeland, Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain (the novel was written in Barcelona), and Venezuela's Juan Vicente Gómez. The product is a universal story of the disastrous effects created by the concentration of power into a single man.

The book is written in long paragraphs, each a single sentence. The general's thoughts are relayed to the reader through winding sentences which convey his desperation and loneliness alongside the atrocities and ruthless behaviour which keeps him in power.

One of the books most striking aspects is its focus on the god-like status held by the protagonist and the unfathomable awe and respect with which his people regard him. Dictators such as Stalin, Franco, and TrujilloThis article is about Rafael L. Trujillo, former president of the Dominican Republic. For other persons see Rafael Trujillo (disambiguation). General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina ( October 24, 1891 May 30, 1961) was the ruler of the Dominican Republic managed to hold sway over the populations of their respective nations despite internal political divisions because of the mythical aura which surrounded their persons. García Márquez symbolizes this with the discovery of the dictator's corpse in the battered presidential palace; the newly liberated subjects are unable to identify the body of a man whose image has marked their entire lives because they are unable to see him as a human being (hence: " Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still deadThe death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975 served as the source of one of the first catch phrases from SNL to enter the general lexicon. Franco lingered near death for weeks before dying. On slow").

The Autumn of the Patriarch incorporates a variety of real-life incidents interwoven with the fiction created by García Márquez. The expulsionIn World War II terms, expulsion was a euphemism for genocide. The Nazis used this term to describe the forced deportation of Jews and other victims to death camps. In the Book of Genesis expulsion refers to the decree of expulsion from the Garden of Eden of the Roman Catholic ChurchThe Roman Catholic Church (often called simply the Catholic Church, but see Catholicism for other meanings of the term "Catholic Church") is a worldwide body of Christians in full communion with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and subscribing to the beliefs from MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co in the mid-19th century is played out here in exaggerated proportions, as are the constant political games played between military and political leaders under Latin American juntaThere are a number of things that junta hUn-tah could refer to: It can be a military dictatorship. See also Military rule. In History of Spain, junta ("coming-together") was the name chosen by several local administrations forming in Spain during the Penis. García Márquez mocks the practice of bestowing high military rank on the young heirs of autocrats and the overspending of their families and cronies. A frighteningly accurate portrait is drawn of the intelligence director who soon directs the general's every move and constructs and apparatus of terror and political repression.

This last portrait is one of the most compelling: "advisors" have often marked the corruption and descent into oppression of some of Latin America's most outstanding dictatorships. TrujilloThis article is about Rafael L. Trujillo, former president of the Dominican Republic. For other persons see Rafael Trujillo (disambiguation). General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina ( October 24, 1891 May 30, 1961) was the ruler of the Dominican Republic's Dominican Republic carried out dozens of assassinations and terror campaigns against Dominican exiles under the direction of intelligence chief Johnny Abbes García , and Peru under Alberto Fujimori was corrupted down to the last congressman by SIN chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

Among García Márquez's most haunting and realistic novels, The Autumn of the Patriarch gives an understanding the phenomenon of caudillismo and a perspective into the mindset of a nation living under oppression.

Despite the great realism shown, especially when describing the atrocities of the patriarch, the book is full of magic too. Unbelieveable and fantastic things occur, such as the sold of the sea to the English, who put it in a ship and took it away.

The book was also written with a great sense of humor and sarcasm, which are typical in García Márquez, making the reader laugh, sometimes even of tragic events.

A translation is available in English, published by HarperPerennial of HarperCollins and translated by Gregory Rabassa.