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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
A different headspace this might have been a 4 (I needed an easy to read book and this ain’t it). There were times I didn’t want to put it down, but a lot of times it felt like a chore to pick back up. It’s very dense (longest 417 page book I’ve ever read) and confusing with everyone having the same names. But I can definitely understand people’s love of it.
This was the second time that I read this masterpiece, and I enjoyed it much more. I’m sure I’ll read it again down the road if I’m given the opportunity to continue on this journey.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Once again, I’ve made the mistake of reading other people’s reviews of One Hundred Years of Solitude before writing my own. Now I’m stuck with feelings of frustration sparked by their opinions rather than reflecting on the emotions the book itself awakened in me. I truly have no one to blame but myself.
Excuse my arrogance, but to those who read this book with the Buendia family tree printed out to follow every character’s storyline, I fear you’ve taken a stroll around the point. The novel is written in a way that intentionallly blurs the lines between the characters. You’re meant to confuse the heroes for one another, to feel lost and frustrated by the constant repetition of old patterns, and to witness the cyclical traps they keep falling into over the span of generations. That is the point. Marquez did not write his book with the intention of assigning homework to its readers.
It seems that a lot of people are afraid of relinquishing control over their reading experience that they fight against the essence of the book itself, only to complain later that it’s “too convoluted” or “hard to follow”. This fear of surrendering to the narrative counters what Gabriel Garcia Marques tried to craft.
As for the book itself, I could spend hours discussing the brilliance of the story told. It opened a whole new world of Magic Realism that I wasn't aware I needed in my life.
Excuse my arrogance, but to those who read this book with the Buendia family tree printed out to follow every character’s storyline, I fear you’ve taken a stroll around the point. The novel is written in a way that intentionallly blurs the lines between the characters. You’re meant to confuse the heroes for one another, to feel lost and frustrated by the constant repetition of old patterns, and to witness the cyclical traps they keep falling into over the span of generations. That is the point. Marquez did not write his book with the intention of assigning homework to its readers.
It seems that a lot of people are afraid of relinquishing control over their reading experience that they fight against the essence of the book itself, only to complain later that it’s “too convoluted” or “hard to follow”. This fear of surrendering to the narrative counters what Gabriel Garcia Marques tried to craft.
As for the book itself, I could spend hours discussing the brilliance of the story told. It opened a whole new world of Magic Realism that I wasn't aware I needed in my life.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This is the hardest book I've ever read to date:
• some of the stories/chapters (which is around 20 pages) are interesting, once again (like in Bone Clocks) the politics/war part in this book . . . didn't interest me
• some says that [translated] books are better in their original language, I find it really hard to digest some sentences. Some paragraphs are 2-3 pages long. Periods are really periods, it make you really stop before reading the next sentence.
• the characters, due to their same names, are sometimes confusing
• i really love the weirdness throughout the book
• as much as I wanted to give this book more than 2.5 stars, for now I can't . . . rating this book (for my first read maybe?) as 2 stars (until goodreads learned to have decimals in their ratings)
it's as brilliant as the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, which I also love-and-hate - they are great but the pacing is bad
• some of the stories/chapters (which is around 20 pages) are interesting, once again (like in Bone Clocks) the politics/war part in this book . . . didn't interest me
• some says that [translated] books are better in their original language, I find it really hard to digest some sentences. Some paragraphs are 2-3 pages long. Periods are really periods, it make you really stop before reading the next sentence.
• the characters, due to their same names, are sometimes confusing
• i really love the weirdness throughout the book
• as much as I wanted to give this book more than 2.5 stars, for now I can't . . . rating this book (for my first read maybe?) as 2 stars (until goodreads learned to have decimals in their ratings)
it's as brilliant as the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, which I also love-and-hate - they are great but the pacing is bad