Reviews tagging 'Child death'

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

85 reviews

bludgeoned_by_hail's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

(Spanish follows English)
(Read in Spanish)

A classic for a reason, though not an easily classifiable or interpretable one. 
Aided by beautiful language and imagery, the book elevates the story of multiple generations of the Buendía family to something mythological or biblical one second, and then goes back to basically slice-of-life the next.
While the messaging and symbolism is a bit abstract and can feel muddled sometimes, the emotional moments still hit hard in a very straightforward manner that wraps you in the tragic loop of the family's history and keeps you invested in their repeating fates.
Some aspects of the book might have not aged very well (the pedophilia, incest and sexual violence are especially uncomfortable) but overall the book has an almost whimsical feel that makes it timeless, and politico-social commentary that makes it poignant.
......
Un clásico con razón, pero no uno fácil de interpretar (o leer).
Ayudado por su lenguaje e imágenes de gran belleza, el libro eleva la historia de varias generaciones de la familia Buendía a algo casi mitológico o bíblico en un segundo, y vuelve a la cotidianeidad en el siguiente.
El mensaje y simbología son un poco abstractos y difusos, pero los momentos emocionales son intensos de una forma muy directa, envolviéndote en el bucle trágico de la historia de la familia y manteniéndote involucrado emocionalmente en sus destinos repetitivos.
Algunos aspectos del libro no envejecieron muy bien (la pedofilia, incesto y violencia sexual fueron bastante incómodos, en particular) pero el libro sigue teniendo un ambiente casi de cuento que lo mantiene eterno, y crítica socio-política que lo mantiene actual.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Colonisation

Moderate: Violence, Suicide attempt, War, and Classism

Minor: Child death

ballista_2003's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I’m being so generous with this rating regarding my own experiences with this book. I’m only giving it more than 2.5 stars because when I think 2.5 I think “meh”. This book was by no means just “average.”

Before you pick this monster up please know that this book is DENSE. It is information overload from the first sentence, twisting and turning timelines with seemingly no rhyme nor reason, and so SO many people with the exact same names. 

With a quick google search, you can find upwards of 50 different video analyses of this book that are done super well- my experience was clearly not the same as these peoples. 

This book quite literally killed my reading addiction.

Honestly, as much as I hate to say it (because this book was absolute torture to finish) it demands a reread from me in maybe 10-20 years when I’m older and wiser and can get past the obscene amount of graphic incest this book has- because it was hard for me to get over that (also pedophilia.)

The themes in this book are really complex, but the overall summation I can give you was said by Roro Reads;

“The Buendia family is doomed to repeat themselves in a solitude of their own making”

This book was dense, confusing, every character could be hated for one reason or another and frankly I think I’m just not smart enough to enjoy and understand it to its full potential right now. 

If you pick this up- good luck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child death

jsuispoesie's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

When I was 15 y.o. - after bein  traumatised by the description of an abort in the first part of the narration - I decided I woul  never read this book.  Here I am, ten years later, after finishing this terribly long book, with the unpleasant sensation that this is gonna be one of the best reading of the year. Let's be clear, I absolutely despise the scene of rape and child abuse that the narrator throws in the stories like nothing. There are too many characters, and after a while I started to hate everyone because the characters I loved were no longer the center of the story. I'm not sure I completely understood all the war part, but I guess it's kinda the point of it. After all it really seemed like a spent a hundred years reading this, but at the end of the day I could not - not - like these characters, only because I saw them from the beginning of their life to their end. I don't give it 5 stars for the reasons I enumerated, but gosh I hate the fact that I liked this book!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Abortion, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Genocide

miayukino's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

mayo_confessionary's review against another edition

It's boring and the way is structurr doesn't help. It doesn't confuse, but it does bored me since I want to learn about new characters and we go back to the same lame ones who are so pathetic. Haven't met a single Buendía who isn't a piece of shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, and Suicide

tommy_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rousseure's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this book has amazing commentary and makes great points but it was boring and read like a string of facts from a very detached narrator

more like 100 years of incest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall opinion: I liked it. I didn't love it like I thought I would, but I honestly think the way I read it also had quite a big impact on my experience and final opinion.

I took two weeks and a half to read this book, which is quite a lot for me, and I think that stopped me from feeling fully immersed in the story.

On the other end, the misogyny (and incest) didn't sit well with me. I recognise that it might make sense given the context but nonetheless, I can't help but feel that there were unnecessary parts that could have been handled better. And even with the context, it made me feel uncomfortable and that's something that always stains my reading experience. 

I feel like I need to justify myself because I know this is the favourite of so many (and because it was a direct rec from someone that means so much to me). I especially feel like I need to talk about what I didn't like because what I liked it's quite obvious.

Gabriel Gracía Márquez writes in a wonderful and quirky way. He's an excellent storyteller that knows how to make a message come to life in the form of a narrative. His mastery of magical realism is indisputable.

I guess this was more of a me problem. I feel like I failed to see the big picture and the whole thing fell short to me. The good news is: I can't stop thinking about how a reread in a couple of years will likely become a much more enjoyable experience. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

saraluna's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, and Rape

seanml's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'll probably have to read One Hundred Years of Solitude in a decade or two to really understand it. The book's doses of magical realism and a very spacey flowery prose, instead of creating something more fantastical, make the story much more intimate and human. This doesn't distract at all from the bloody murders, strange incest, or sexual assault. The main family we follow is not made up of good people, but they're not supposed to be either way. They are just people going through time. 7/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Abandonment, and Colonisation