Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - One Hundred Years of Solitude

(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.

Content Warnings

jonmayb's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I read this book in Spanish, knowing that it would allow me to get the most out of it possible, and I certainly feel as though I did. This book could certainly be considered an incredible feat of literature, and I recognise its worthiness of the Nobel, but I don't think this was the right book for me. However, I will note, this is certainly a book I'll likely be able to get more out of on a reread.
Spanning six generations of the Buendía family, Gabriel García Marquez exhibits breathtaking world-building. Throughout approximately 500 pages of beautiful, although, at times annoyingly convoluted prose, the town of Macondo, from its establishment, to its dissipation, comes to feel real. Additionally, I found the themes of history repeating itself to be really compelling, as well as the terms of forgetfulness and belief. The part towards the end of the novel where Aureliano Babilonia is walking through Macondo only to find that to be particularly compelling. The prevalence of ghosts and spirits in this book, and their presence as something simply accepted, and not viewed as otherwordly also made for an interesting read. The reappearance of Melquíaldes and his scrolls throughout the work served as an interesting link between generations, as did the theme of solitude.
However, despite being able to recognise this work's merits, I found it to be a nearly unbearable read at times. While Gabriel García Marquez's prose was incredible, and I'm very grateful to have opted to read this work in Spanish, as I mentioned before, it was extremely convoluted at times. Sentences dragged on, changing topics and points of views multiple times within them. At one point, I found a sentence that lasted three and a half pages and had 992 words in it.
Nonetheless, I found this book to overly rely on the abuse of women as a plot device. While, unfortunately, domestic and sexual abuse was something common during this book's time period, the way García Marquez describes them leaves a lot to be desired; sexual abuse tends to be written quite light-heartedly, in a manner in which women are portrayed as becoming near accomplices in it.
Additionally, aside from the interesting points it touches upon, and the genuinely profound themes of forgetfulness, belief, and such, I found this book to feel mostly artificially profound. Many of the more absurd events were seemingly crafted to just require the reader to extract their own meaning from it. For example, when . Even in many reading guides I found, multiple interpretations were put forth, or otherwise didn't present an interpretation at all.
To be honest, I had to claw my way through this book. Even though I can recognise that it was written that way intentionally, I disliked how characters simply floated in and out of relevance. However, upon finishing it, struck by the novel's ending, all my feelings of dislike for the book got obscured. Reflecting upon the book, it's difficult to consider how I would rate it, even remembering how much I struggled to get though it.

Content Warnings

gaby_inz's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

johnsaysjulia's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

dastardly_red_witch's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

natalie809's review

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

I really wish i knew spanish so i could read the original text! But regardless this book is amazing. Just not incredibly enjoyable all the time and took a lot of patience.

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