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A review by ra2chael
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow. Where do I even start? One Hundred Years of Solitude follows the Buendía family throughout 7 generations over 100 years that feels more like an entire span of a universe. That’s what this book feels like - reading the happenings of a world from its creation to its eventual combustion. It overflows with veiled biblical retellings, magic, irony, desire, and the infallible human nature to fall into the same old traps over and over and over again.
Outside of the central theme of solitude, ‘Time is a circle.’ Is one of the most repeated ideas in the book. It’s what stayed with me the most and indeed at some point it really clicked for me how important it is that the characters all have the same names, as it really adds to the blurring of time and reality in a simple but genius way. There’s so much more to say about this book. Though it’s not super long every page is so full and the poetic style requires so much concentration that it feels like it could be 2000 pages long even though its 400. I slugged through the first half over almost 2 months and then it finally clicked and I zoomed through the second half. So , so incredible.
Outside of the central theme of solitude, ‘Time is a circle.’ Is one of the most repeated ideas in the book. It’s what stayed with me the most and indeed at some point it really clicked for me how important it is that the characters all have the same names, as it really adds to the blurring of time and reality in a simple but genius way. There’s so much more to say about this book. Though it’s not super long every page is so full and the poetic style requires so much concentration that it feels like it could be 2000 pages long even though its 400. I slugged through the first half over almost 2 months and then it finally clicked and I zoomed through the second half. So , so incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia and Incest
Moderate: Violence and War