Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

48 reviews

sina_lchnr's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

Wieso so viel Inzest und Pedophile😫 ich habe lange mit dem Buch gebraucht, aber fand die Geschichte der Familie und des Landes richtig interessant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

kat_tk's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, and Cannibalism

destiny_jay's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

I have no idea how to put into words how I feel about this book. I forced my way to the end hating most of my time spent reading it but yet by the end I found myself completely enamored.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

sofipitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This is a beautifully written book. It's also very political. It has the same themes of colonialism, political wars, traditional/catholic views vs modern lifestyles, and family that surround a lot of Latin american works. I read "The House of the Spirits" and I can see how Garcia Marquez influenced Allende. The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is for the depictions of sex, in a lot of scenes the women don't want to and are more or less raped only to "fall in love/have sex all the time" with the man, it happens multiple times and isn't clearly condemned by the text which is, big yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness and Excrement

Minor: Antisemitism and Abortion

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Fatphobia, Miscarriage, and Dementia

Minor: Rape

basedrincewind's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Infidelity

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Cannibalism

catapocalypse's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

There is so, so much to say about this book.

First, I can't believe how seldom its humor is brought up by others! There's a lot of focus placed on the heavy, cynical, serious elements, but there's also many absurd and silly and tongue-in-cheek and clever elements!

Even while mixing all those things, García Márquez subtly shifts the feel of the narrative as it progresses. Mind, this is an entirely character-driven story, with little to no real plot beyond the lifespan of the Buendía family and their town of Macondo. Folks who prefer plot-driven stories may find this book incredibly boring! But as time passes, the family, town, and narrative itself seem to shift and mature in a way. The beginnings of all three feature many fantastic elements. There are flights of fancy viewed with an almost childlike wonder. Time feels more sprawling.

But as things progress, they become more grounded in reality (though never entirely), and more serious events and concerns pop up. The little town of Macondo starts without even a mayor, but gradually sees Colonel Aureliano Buendía's war, the influence of foreign colonizing powers, and the high tension of the banana company worker strikes. Time gradually speeds up to the hurricane pace of the ending.

Across this lifespan of the Buendía family and Macondo, there's a lot going on, and García Márquez brilliantly connects all of it together. Even fanciful elements are not careless. I feel it has high reread value, and might even consider an immediate reread if I didn't have so much else to get to right now.

I do have some warnings. While the narrative is fairly linear in time, there are some overlapping points where events are retraced when the focus has moved between characters. This isn't so bad, so long as you can keep track of the many similarly-named ones. I recommend an edition that provides a family tree, like that from Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

There are also many Content Warnings, some rather significant, so please check out those listed for the book on its entry!

The prevalence of some of this, especially of the incest and problematic relationships between adults and minors, will definitely turn off some readers, which is valid! I was conflicted on its inclusion the entire way through, but ultimately, I think it ties into the presentation of the Buendía family as being deeply flawed. Let's face it, Úrsula was probably right about everything all along.

I'm sure there are even further layers I'm not fathoming. I do think that this book fully deserves its status as a classic, and I will absolutely read more Gabriel García Márquez. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Vomit, and Cannibalism

keenanmaree's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, and Dementia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Excrement, and Dementia