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A review by micaelabrody
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
challenging
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this rating has very little to do with the objective quality of the book, if such a thing exists, and more to do with my personal preferences. i totally understand why this is a work of Towering Literature - it’s complex without being labyrinthine, sophisticated, and yes the magical realism is stunning. but the nature of the family saga and books from a certain era mean it’s much more focused on themes and concepts than interiority or motivation (at the end, when amaranta úrsula and aureliano start sleeping together and she says she regrets missing so much time with him, i just found myself asking out loud “but WHY??”). i have never been so aware of the lack of dialogue as i was while reading this. it’s all totally my own taste but it’s just not my kinda prose.
however - i dove in because i’d felt that i hadn’t read anything to really chew on for a while, and i definitely could with 100 Years. there’s not much i can say that hasn’t been said before in essays and papers and sparknotes but it was good reading exercise. (side note - i’m can’t decide if i’m glad i wasn’t forced to read it in high school or if it would have been nice to be forced to discuss it with others. i can see it going both ways!) if nothing else, reading Thee example of magical realism was fascinating - it’s not exactly what i thought it would be and i was pleasantly surprised!
this is a lot of words that fundamentally is me trying to paper over the insecurity i have whenever i dive into The Classics and don’t like them. it’s a good book, just not particularly the one for me.
however - i dove in because i’d felt that i hadn’t read anything to really chew on for a while, and i definitely could with 100 Years. there’s not much i can say that hasn’t been said before in essays and papers and sparknotes but it was good reading exercise. (side note - i’m can’t decide if i’m glad i wasn’t forced to read it in high school or if it would have been nice to be forced to discuss it with others. i can see it going both ways!) if nothing else, reading Thee example of magical realism was fascinating - it’s not exactly what i thought it would be and i was pleasantly surprised!
this is a lot of words that fundamentally is me trying to paper over the insecurity i have whenever i dive into The Classics and don’t like them. it’s a good book, just not particularly the one for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest