Escobar

Title : Pablo Escobar: My Father
Author : Juan Pablo Escobar
Published : 0/07/2017
Pages : 368
Format : Paperback
Publisher : Ebury Press

     Until now, we believed that everything had been said about the rise and fall of the most infamous drug lord of all time, Pablo Escobar – from books to film to the cult series ‘Narcos’. But these versions have always been told from the outside, only capturing half the truth, and never from the intimacy of his own home. Now, more than two decades after the full-fledged manhunt finally caught up with Escobar, his son brings us the dramatic truth as never before.

     Like a lot of other people I blasted through the T.V show Narcos with great delight. An enjoyable series with plenty of action and a gripping story line.  But here's the rub You forget that these were real people and events that took place. So after I'd finished I decided to take a deeper look in to the real Escobar and that's when I came across this book. I was interested to find out what his son had to say about the real man.

 

     Juan starts of at the end of his story after Escobar had died Showing us the turmoil that followed in the wake. Then going back to were it also started. He does a great job in plotting out all the major event that took place as well as giving us some insight it to what it was like to have a father so well known for his criminal activities. And I like the contrast it gives a man who many thing the know a different perspective. That is not to say that he shy's away from that horrific acts that were carried out. It must be a difficult place to find you self in. How do you balance the  two sides together. When it come to our a parents we all have an image of them that we hold dear. But when it is shown in the papers and on the nightly news that it might not all be good what then.

 

     This was an interesting read and the author managed to convey a great deal of information. Not only about himself but his father and the history of Colombia at the time. While at times you could pick out the bits that showed up in the T.V series it add so much more to my understanding of the man and why he chose to do the things he did. His ability to help those in need in the community from building schools and hospitals and making sure that the children of poor family's had presents on Christmas. On the other hand he had no problem in killing people on a whim and exploding bombs across the country. Jaun shows us that while he doesn't hate his father he has come to terms with who he was.  The amount of death Pablo caused by he own direct hand or by that of the drugs he imported into the U.S will probably never be known but you must figure its way up there. I think the book benefits well for showing the family life of Escobar rather than only focusing on that of his empire. Many books have been written on that subject and I'm sure they are good reads. He apologise many times for the actions carried out by his father through the book. Saying he didn't known a lot of the things he was up to. I realise some doubt this but how much could the young boy of the time really know . All we can do is take his word for it.

 

     Juan now lives a quiet life as an architect in Argentine. He promotes a world view of peace and harmony. This is probably the best outcome from every thing that took place. As I said before this was an interesting read and I learnt a lot. It such a shame that the country is still in the grip of new cartels and violence. I glad I gave it some of my time.