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jess7040's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
I don't even know what to write, I am sat here in a puddle of tears trying to unpack what I just finished reading. I have never and will probably never read another book like this one. It took me months to read, which at times was really frustrating, but in a way I'm SO glad it took that long because I was in the world of Macondo for the whole time. I am really going to miss this. This book will stay with me forever. Anytime I now see almond trees or yellow flowers or red ants, I will always think of one hundred years of solitude.
The magical realism in this book was perfection. I LOVED Gabriel Garcia Márquez's writing style, everything felt so incredibly real.
I don't even know what else to write, but this is one of my favourite quotes from the book:
"Upset by two nostalgias facing each other like two mirrors, he lost his marvelous sense of unreality and he ended up recommending to all of them that they leave Macondo, that they forget everything he had taught them about the world and the human heart, that they shit on Horace, and that wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end."
The magical realism in this book was perfection. I LOVED Gabriel Garcia Márquez's writing style, everything felt so incredibly real.
I don't even know what else to write, but this is one of my favourite quotes from the book:
"Upset by two nostalgias facing each other like two mirrors, he lost his marvelous sense of unreality and he ended up recommending to all of them that they leave Macondo, that they forget everything he had taught them about the world and the human heart, that they shit on Horace, and that wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end."
eml113's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is fantastical, charming, and absurd. It’s also horrible and violent and grotesque. It’s tragic, it’s bleak, it’s strangely human. And it is, most of all, absolutely exhausting.
I think I’m glad I read it, though I also am pretty sure I never want to pick it up again. This book has excellent mood/atmosphere. It’s beautifully written, with fascinating themes. Still, the (repetitive) plot lines and characters in this century-long journey are a bit of a mixed bag.
I think I’m glad I read it, though I also am pretty sure I never want to pick it up again. This book has excellent mood/atmosphere. It’s beautifully written, with fascinating themes. Still, the (repetitive) plot lines and characters in this century-long journey are a bit of a mixed bag.
angrydance's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
kxsak's review against another edition
4.0
I've read a few books lately that I can sum up by saying: "This one's about a pretty fucked up family."
One Hundred Years of Solitude is about a fucked up family too. But, of course, it's far more than that. Did I grasp it all? Probably not. Did I still enjoy what I didn't grasp? Yes, mostly. Maybe, because this novel has such a reputation, I was actively searching for meaning in every word, line, page, sequence. Maybe this is why I'm rating this 4 instead of 5 stars. Going into a novel like this with such high expectations caused me to reread the section in which Aureliano Segundo nearly eats himself to death in a competition against a woman dubbed The Elephant multiple times, tying to UNDERSTAND it. The last time I reread this part, I laughed, because it's funny, and I moved on. This novel is really, quite tedious, and I suppose at times I bored myself while searching for significance in every single damn line. This isn't the point of literature, and I'd argue it definitely is not the point of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's more than that.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is about a fucked up family too. But, of course, it's far more than that. Did I grasp it all? Probably not. Did I still enjoy what I didn't grasp? Yes, mostly. Maybe, because this novel has such a reputation, I was actively searching for meaning in every word, line, page, sequence. Maybe this is why I'm rating this 4 instead of 5 stars. Going into a novel like this with such high expectations caused me to reread the section in which Aureliano Segundo nearly eats himself to death in a competition against a woman dubbed The Elephant multiple times, tying to UNDERSTAND it. The last time I reread this part, I laughed, because it's funny, and I moved on. This novel is really, quite tedious, and I suppose at times I bored myself while searching for significance in every single damn line. This isn't the point of literature, and I'd argue it definitely is not the point of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's more than that.
8n0's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sorrowfulweeper's review against another edition
4.0
Not experienced enough to comment on this, but I found it fascinating and baffling at the same time.
amokoma's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
spenkevich's review against another edition
5.0
‘It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.’
Few memories of reading a book can match the sweetness of the warm spring day while at university when I sat in the grass down by a river and began Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s masterful One Hundred Years of Solitude. The novel gripped me immediately and I followed the myth-like tales of the Buendía family and the fictional town of Macondo across multiple generations until the sunlight had vanished, the sound of the river adding an idyllic rhythm to my reading that made me keenly aware of the passage of time the idea of one thing flowing into the next. This novel truly is a tour de force earning its canonization not only as a crucial work of Latin American literature but as an internationally renowned novel of great beauty and insight. The amalgamation of stories all colliding within the novel form a complex web of critical analysis of history that functions as commentary on colonialism, political struggles of war and life under dictatorship, as well as interpersonal issues of family, legacy and love or the lack of it, making this a dense yet delightful novel that will forever reside within the hearts and minds of its readers.
One Hundred Years of Solitude was written in the span of just 18 months but will linger on in immortality as an important work of 20th century literature. It has sold over 50 million copies in over 25 languages (translated into english by the incredible [a:Gregory Rabassa|50060|Gregory Rabassa|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464035315p2/50060.jpg], the former WWII cryptologist was handpicked by Marquez for the task and reportedly said that Rabassa’s translation was better than his original in Spanish) and continues to charm readers everywhere. It is a cornerstone of modern Latin American Literature that has made Marquez a household name along with [a:Jorge Luis Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1652029755p2/500.jpg], from whom Marquez drew much inspiration (particularly from the story [b:The Garden of Forking Paths|10438328|The Garden of Forking Paths|Jorge Luis Borges|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297454026l/10438328._SX50_.jpg|14566729] which you can read here and inspired the cyclical ending of the novel).
[a:Harold Bloom|236|Harold Bloom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1212940902p2/236.jpg] wrote of One Hundred Years of Solitude that ‘It is all story, where everything conceivable and inconceivable is happening at once.’ And indeed it does feel as if the whole of life is bursting forth from the book, which is a family epic that spans from the 1820’s through the 1920’s. Marquez combines his mythmaking with historical events, using magical realism as a political action of uncovering the meaning hiding in plain sight of historical reality. [a:Carlos Fuentes|1367127|Carlos Fuentes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1379743694p2/1367127.jpg] writes in [b:The Great Latin American Novel|41720379|The Great Latin American Novel (Mexican Literature)|Carlos Fuentes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536174853l/41720379._SY75_.jpg|18094160] that Marquez’s storytelling serves ‘as an act of knowledge, as a negation of the false documents of the civil state which, until very recently papered over our reality.’ While Marquez says in a 1988 interview ‘there's not a single line in my novels which is not based on reality,’ it seems to affirm Fuente’s analysis and point to the reality in storytelling being a method to unlock a reality in life previously unobservable.
In this manner of magical realism, Marquez can move from tales of extraordinarily large men, women floating away into the sky, or absurdly long rain storms to actual historical events, such as the Banana Massacre when the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) called in the army to massacre striking workers at the request of the US. Through this work and it’s investigations into US military intervention, dictatorships and revolutionaries, Marquez wrests the official narrative of history from the colonialist lenses that would prescribe a narrative to the Latin American countries they sought to exploit and gives history its own mythological life to function more freely. This also opens the novel up to multiple ways of reading it, where any of the numerous themes could be emphasized.
‘The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.’
As one would expect, solitude is a major theme working through the novel, with Buendía's own sense of solitude enlarged in the isolation of Macondo, which is falling apart by the end of the book. The weight of feeling ones country collapsing to external forces is strongly imposed as the novel careens towards conclusion, and as new technologies arrive and different societies begin to integrate, those of the old guard feel more and more isolated from the world. None of this moves in a straightforward manner, however, and the ending reveals history to be a cyclical process, one of constant creation and undoing. ‘...time was not passing...it was turning in a circle…’
One Hundred Years of Solitude is truly worth the read and holds a very special place in my heart. It is such a fascinating and fantastic blend of magical realism and historical insight that was a major work in world literature. One to read and read again.
5/5
Buendía family tree (source)
Few memories of reading a book can match the sweetness of the warm spring day while at university when I sat in the grass down by a river and began Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s masterful One Hundred Years of Solitude. The novel gripped me immediately and I followed the myth-like tales of the Buendía family and the fictional town of Macondo across multiple generations until the sunlight had vanished, the sound of the river adding an idyllic rhythm to my reading that made me keenly aware of the passage of time the idea of one thing flowing into the next. This novel truly is a tour de force earning its canonization not only as a crucial work of Latin American literature but as an internationally renowned novel of great beauty and insight. The amalgamation of stories all colliding within the novel form a complex web of critical analysis of history that functions as commentary on colonialism, political struggles of war and life under dictatorship, as well as interpersonal issues of family, legacy and love or the lack of it, making this a dense yet delightful novel that will forever reside within the hearts and minds of its readers.
One Hundred Years of Solitude was written in the span of just 18 months but will linger on in immortality as an important work of 20th century literature. It has sold over 50 million copies in over 25 languages (translated into english by the incredible [a:Gregory Rabassa|50060|Gregory Rabassa|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464035315p2/50060.jpg], the former WWII cryptologist was handpicked by Marquez for the task and reportedly said that Rabassa’s translation was better than his original in Spanish) and continues to charm readers everywhere. It is a cornerstone of modern Latin American Literature that has made Marquez a household name along with [a:Jorge Luis Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1652029755p2/500.jpg], from whom Marquez drew much inspiration (particularly from the story [b:The Garden of Forking Paths|10438328|The Garden of Forking Paths|Jorge Luis Borges|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297454026l/10438328._SX50_.jpg|14566729] which you can read here and inspired the cyclical ending of the novel).
[a:Harold Bloom|236|Harold Bloom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1212940902p2/236.jpg] wrote of One Hundred Years of Solitude that ‘It is all story, where everything conceivable and inconceivable is happening at once.’ And indeed it does feel as if the whole of life is bursting forth from the book, which is a family epic that spans from the 1820’s through the 1920’s. Marquez combines his mythmaking with historical events, using magical realism as a political action of uncovering the meaning hiding in plain sight of historical reality. [a:Carlos Fuentes|1367127|Carlos Fuentes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1379743694p2/1367127.jpg] writes in [b:The Great Latin American Novel|41720379|The Great Latin American Novel (Mexican Literature)|Carlos Fuentes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536174853l/41720379._SY75_.jpg|18094160] that Marquez’s storytelling serves ‘as an act of knowledge, as a negation of the false documents of the civil state which, until very recently papered over our reality.’ While Marquez says in a 1988 interview ‘there's not a single line in my novels which is not based on reality,’ it seems to affirm Fuente’s analysis and point to the reality in storytelling being a method to unlock a reality in life previously unobservable.
In this manner of magical realism, Marquez can move from tales of extraordinarily large men, women floating away into the sky, or absurdly long rain storms to actual historical events, such as the Banana Massacre when the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) called in the army to massacre striking workers at the request of the US. Through this work and it’s investigations into US military intervention, dictatorships and revolutionaries, Marquez wrests the official narrative of history from the colonialist lenses that would prescribe a narrative to the Latin American countries they sought to exploit and gives history its own mythological life to function more freely. This also opens the novel up to multiple ways of reading it, where any of the numerous themes could be emphasized.
‘The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.’
As one would expect, solitude is a major theme working through the novel, with Buendía's own sense of solitude enlarged in the isolation of Macondo, which is falling apart by the end of the book. The weight of feeling ones country collapsing to external forces is strongly imposed as the novel careens towards conclusion, and as new technologies arrive and different societies begin to integrate, those of the old guard feel more and more isolated from the world. None of this moves in a straightforward manner, however, and the ending reveals history to be a cyclical process, one of constant creation and undoing. ‘...time was not passing...it was turning in a circle…’
One Hundred Years of Solitude is truly worth the read and holds a very special place in my heart. It is such a fascinating and fantastic blend of magical realism and historical insight that was a major work in world literature. One to read and read again.
5/5
Buendía family tree (source)