The General in His Labyrinth explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories, in which "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life". Following the success of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera", García Márquez decided to write about the "Great Liberator" after reading an unfinished novel by his friend Álvaro Mutis. He borrowed the setting—Bolívar's voyage down the Magdalena River in 1830—from Mutis. García Márquez spent two years researching the subject, encompassing the extensive memoirs of Bolívar's Irish aide-de-camp, Daniel Florencio O'Leary, as well as numerous other historical documents and
Love in the Time of Cholera to each other. The book is referenced in the TV series "How I Met Your Mother". It was Ted Mosby and Tracy McConnell's (aka the Mother's) favorite book. In the British sitcom "Bad Education", the text is used in the after school book club Rosie Gulliver attends, and Alfie Wickers decides to join them to impress Rosie and attempts to read the book in 6 hours. However, he finds the book boring and gets his class to read one chapter each and bring him their versions of the summary. In the film "High Fidelity" the character Rob Gordon mentions the