A review by happi_mess
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

3.0

“...time was not passing...it was turning in a circle...”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───



If this book could talk, this is what it's saying to me.

If you're looking for a book to read so you can relax, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
If you don't have that great of an attention span, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
If you don't like characters having the same names over and over and are easily confused, again, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

BUT...

If you want to experience magic realism...
If you want to get lost for a little while away from reality...
If you want to get sucked in a book...

Then please, do pick up this story.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Rating: ★★★.5

I honestly don't know how to rate this book, but one thing that I know is that there are a lot of parts in it that I loved. But on some parts, I was bored out of my wits and was wishing that I was through with that period of time.

I personally think that people should read this with another reading companion material to better appreciate what is happening. If I had not read this without Sparknotes after every few chapters, I would have gone out of my mind and I would have probably given up on this.

This is not just a book that you can just read and toss in the corner after you're finished. There are a lot of things that happened in Macondo that mimicked the author's life. There is also politics and history. And a truckload of symbols and Bible-like events. Get yourself educated while reading this okay. The history of bananas is kinda evil (please also check TedEd's video about this).

As I've said, this is not a book that you would just read because you felt like reading it. You have to commit yourself to finding the magic in it.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The things that I like

☽ I have to say that the best thing about this book is the story of Meme and Mauricio. Such a great and tragic love story in just a span of a few pages. I have never felt heartbroken for a little while and this hit me in the chest quite hard.

☽ The writing. I swear. You are going to GET LOST in the back and forth of time that you would not exactly find sense in it, but you're going to enjoy it. The writing is incredible. The descriptions are vivid. The emotions are felt.

☽ The ending. Just poetic and stayed true from what happened in the beginning.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The things that I DID NOT like

☾ It could get slow sometimes. Some characters would not interest you whatsoever but try as you might ignore them, a few of them are going to resurface and have a bigger role than you imagined.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

In sum:

I don't think there are enough words to express how I felt reading this book. To be honest, I felt like I have just woken up in reality but my mind is still in Macondo. Let's be real, this book is not going to be for everybody, but if you want to know where magical realism started as a genre and you think you have the patience for it, then go ahead and try this out.

All in all, I did have a great time. I annotated the crap out of this book. While I do wish that I enjoyed it more, I think I loved it better than I expected.