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gavinofhaynes 's review for:
One hundred years of solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
This book is probably my best example of something that is clearly artistic and "important" in the most literal since, while also being something that I just did not love reading. One Hundred Years of Solitude does so much well, but I found myself reaching the halfway point amazed that the book had decided to carry on.
There is no doubting one thing, Gabriel García Márquez has a profound sense of style and voice. I have not read anything I can think of that fits the bizarre comedy and realism that is often unrestrained by traditional pacing or punctuation. This is probably best exemplified by the four page run-on-sentence rant one character is given, but also by the random notes of characters dying while we are still reading from their disembodied perspective. The joy I found in this book was almost exclusively because of these quirks and twists that Márquez sprinkles quite liberally through what on my read seemed like an inhospitably dry affair.
My troubles enjoying this book are based largely in the other portions of Márquez' style. This read less like a novel and more like stream of conscious narration by a entire lineage of a family. This leads to lots of humor and despair, as great grandchildren are often repeating the sins of their grandfather twice removed, but it also muddles the actual story.
I feel, that I may be doing the author a disservice, as this is likely the point and I am just not enjoying that particular flair. The overall effect of these choices was personally a hypnotic like state when reading this book. By the time the fourth Aureliano appears, you're no longer questioning the fact that the second Remedios is floating into heaven. This weird blending is clearly why Márquez is considered a pioneer in the genre of magical realism, I just can't say that it's to my liking.
Overall, this book is something that I'll likely reflect on and discuss when possible. Some books are a ride that you want to never stop, or when it does, you hop back on shortly after. This is a ride that made my stomach hurt a little, but made me proud to say I gave it a shot.
There is no doubting one thing, Gabriel García Márquez has a profound sense of style and voice. I have not read anything I can think of that fits the bizarre comedy and realism that is often unrestrained by traditional pacing or punctuation. This is probably best exemplified by the four page run-on-sentence rant one character is given, but also by the random notes of characters dying while we are still reading from their disembodied perspective. The joy I found in this book was almost exclusively because of these quirks and twists that Márquez sprinkles quite liberally through what on my read seemed like an inhospitably dry affair.
My troubles enjoying this book are based largely in the other portions of Márquez' style. This read less like a novel and more like stream of conscious narration by a entire lineage of a family. This leads to lots of humor and despair, as great grandchildren are often repeating the sins of their grandfather twice removed, but it also muddles the actual story.
I feel, that I may be doing the author a disservice, as this is likely the point and I am just not enjoying that particular flair. The overall effect of these choices was personally a hypnotic like state when reading this book. By the time the fourth Aureliano appears, you're no longer questioning the fact that the second Remedios is floating into heaven. This weird blending is clearly why Márquez is considered a pioneer in the genre of magical realism, I just can't say that it's to my liking.
Overall, this book is something that I'll likely reflect on and discuss when possible. Some books are a ride that you want to never stop, or when it does, you hop back on shortly after. This is a ride that made my stomach hurt a little, but made me proud to say I gave it a shot.