Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

56 reviews

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I barely understood what was going on or why this book is considered so iconic. 

Edit: after reading some analysis on the book afterwards, I understand a bit of the intrigue about the book, its unusual narrative and the "magical realism" theme. I realized at one point, i should focus on getting through the book rather than understanding it and trying to remember everyone's place in the timeline. It's a book to simply read and then be mystified by.

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dark funny mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this book was a challenging read! the writing was very stream-of-consciousness focused, and so there was less of a reading story, and more just like someone was telling a story in person. this is the first book i’ve read in the magical realism genre. 

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challenging slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this book has some of the most consistently superb writing that i've read - not only in prose, but structure as well. the plot of this book isn't so much a linear plot as much it is the meandering story of the rise and fall of a line of people and their town, jumping around points of time. however, every story beat and reveal feels carefully placed and the entire book has great, steady pacing. 
that being said, i would recommend reading this with the family tree accessible to help remember the character's names and relationships. the repeating names can be confusing to track, but they are important to the themes of certain traits and flaws repeating in the family. 

definitely one of the most fascinating books that i have ever read. i'll be thinking of this doomed family and their exploits for quite a while. 

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challenging dark emotional funny sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

On Bluesky, there's a monthly book club that seems to be mostly "I always meant to read that" selections, and this is one of those books. I'm so glad I decided to participate because, yes, this is worth reading. ("Sara, this book is one of the best known..." YEAH I KNOW, but sometimes you gotta state the obvious.)

Some of the deaths and uh..... relations.... are a bit hard to stomach, but that's part of the point of the book and isn't just because of changing times. You'll also have to flip back to the family tree at the beginning in order to keep track of all the Aurelianos. The rest is a wild ride of magic and devastation, and it's a masterclass of descriptive writing.

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

You need to be in the mindspace to focus completely on the plot or you will get lost. 

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

 oved the magical realism aspects but definitely got a bit lost with the story. But I know that's pretty much the point. Maybe one day I will try rereading but for now I don't want to see the names José Arcadio or Aureliano for a long long time. 

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*****.*

CW: for dated terms for Romani people, sex workers, etc.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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