Magic Realism

After finishing the book, I can see why on the back cover, the Wall Street Journal says "The latest challenge to South America's supremacy in the field of magic realism comes from. . .Orhan Pamuk." The ending of the book, where the visitor is reading a book with a story that is the reality of the lives of Hoja and the italian...or the italian as Hoja and Hoja as the italian...or however you want to spin it, reminds me of the end *spoiler* of 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, where Melquiades' parchments are completely translated as the story and prediction of all of their lives, which makes it seem a fiction because as the story is realized by its participants, the story ends. I may be completely off base, but that's what it reminded me of, although they are very different books. My additional point with the "magic realism" observation, apart from the ending, is that the writer/s seem to have a loose obedience to the reality of the story, in many parts the author/s seem to say that he/they chose a sequence of events in his/their life/lives because it suited him/them and could have just as well have chosen another (very existentialist, but I might be stretching that connection a little far).