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peej_'s reviews
6 reviews
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
adventurous
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I think it would be hard for me to add anything else to reviews of this book that have not already been said by better critics and writers than I, but I will say this:
oftentimes as I try to get back into reading after Ye Olde Adolescent Hiatus that so many of my peers and those before me have gone through, I find myself stuck starting books that I should read vs. books that I want to read. Not wanting in the sense of thinking the concept of a book is interesting and starting to read it; rather in the sense of wanting to read the book after you’ve gotten some ways in. I’ll try to pick up a book that adults are supposed to read, something that’s complicated and well-esteemed and at the reading level that every standardized test I took in school told me I was.
As a result, I’ve read books (some even in the short number of reviews I’ve published here) that were informative, books that won awards or were deemed classics, but were terribly hard for me to get through and enjoy much of the time (#respectfully you cannot get me to read Tom Sawyer ever again). Some just seemed so thick and their prose so antiquated I could barely bother (1001 Nights, I promise I’ll get back to you someday baby). At a certain point I felt like I was doomed to only enjoy YA novels, manga and those airport reads people pick up while starting their holiday. All fun and good things in their own right! But nothing that I could enjoy while being challenged.
Enter Cien Años de Soledad— Nobel Prize Winner, national treasure of Colombia, the seminal work of Latin American fiction.
I can’t say it was easy for me to get through that first chapter as it was my first time in maybe a year reading a proper book, but that’s more atrophy than anything. Once I found my footing, I was hooked. The book is complex and intricate, containing the lives of what seems like an entire village all in beat with the grand scale of time itself, yet still shrouded with a presence of disconnection from reality. It’s very easy to keep plugging along, seeing the world through the almost supernatural lives of the Buendías, but the last 100 pages hit like a truck. I didn’t find a place I wanted to stop in that final act. I was entranced in a proper novel for the first time ever (I think).
If you’re looking for a perfect blend of what you should vs. want to read, if you’re looking for a bit of challenge but still a well-paced work of fiction, read Cien Años de Soledad. You will thoroughly enjoy it.
oftentimes as I try to get back into reading after Ye Olde Adolescent Hiatus that so many of my peers and those before me have gone through, I find myself stuck starting books that I should read vs. books that I want to read. Not wanting in the sense of thinking the concept of a book is interesting and starting to read it; rather in the sense of wanting to read the book after you’ve gotten some ways in. I’ll try to pick up a book that adults are supposed to read, something that’s complicated and well-esteemed and at the reading level that every standardized test I took in school told me I was.
As a result, I’ve read books (some even in the short number of reviews I’ve published here) that were informative, books that won awards or were deemed classics, but were terribly hard for me to get through and enjoy much of the time (#respectfully you cannot get me to read Tom Sawyer ever again). Some just seemed so thick and their prose so antiquated I could barely bother (1001 Nights, I promise I’ll get back to you someday baby). At a certain point I felt like I was doomed to only enjoy YA novels, manga and those airport reads people pick up while starting their holiday. All fun and good things in their own right! But nothing that I could enjoy while being challenged.
Enter Cien Años de Soledad— Nobel Prize Winner, national treasure of Colombia, the seminal work of Latin American fiction.
I can’t say it was easy for me to get through that first chapter as it was my first time in maybe a year reading a proper book, but that’s more atrophy than anything. Once I found my footing, I was hooked. The book is complex and intricate, containing the lives of what seems like an entire village all in beat with the grand scale of time itself, yet still shrouded with a presence of disconnection from reality. It’s very easy to keep plugging along, seeing the world through the almost supernatural lives of the Buendías, but the last 100 pages hit like a truck. I didn’t find a place I wanted to stop in that final act. I was entranced in a proper novel for the first time ever (I think).
If you’re looking for a perfect blend of what you should vs. want to read, if you’re looking for a bit of challenge but still a well-paced work of fiction, read Cien Años de Soledad. You will thoroughly enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Infidelity
Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
It's long been debated whether or not this actually happened. Whether Carlos Castañeda learned the things he said he did from the man he said he met. In my opinion, however, that makes this read better.
The material itself is esoteric and vague. The main characters are somewhere in the desert, master and apprentice, one learning from the other a way to become part of a world he cannot understand. the pacing is slow at times. It feels like you picked up this dusty journal in an old bookstore that didn't look like anything else in the shop and what's inside is the account of a guy who definitely went somewhere and saw something with someone, but it's hard to tell exactly when or where.
The whole book feels bizarre. It doesn't make sense. It defies all that is sensible and real in favor of a haze. of glimpses into a relationship that might have never happened. A highly logical person would dismiss it as the writings of a grad student on a deadline who did some ayahuasca in a national park and decided to make it his thesis. However, I believe that would be a poor assessment of the work. The writing is incredibly sincere and thought out; the author's life is as much a mystery as the story itself. The elements are aligned enough to make it plausible that, at the minimum, Castañeda believes in what he wrote beyond the scribblings of some tripped-out 20-something in the 60s.
In the end, Journey to Ixtlan will leave you with a profound sense of mysticism* and wonder, questioning what parts of this world are real, and what are simply ghosts.
ps-- I can't believe this guy got his PhD off these books. that is wild.
*not necessarily in the context of the Yaqui people, however. It must be noted that most of the specifics aren't in line with the standard understanding of the beliefs of the Yaqui.
The material itself is esoteric and vague. The main characters are somewhere in the desert, master and apprentice, one learning from the other a way to become part of a world he cannot understand. the pacing is slow at times. It feels like you picked up this dusty journal in an old bookstore that didn't look like anything else in the shop and what's inside is the account of a guy who definitely went somewhere and saw something with someone, but it's hard to tell exactly when or where.
The whole book feels bizarre. It doesn't make sense. It defies all that is sensible and real in favor of a haze. of glimpses into a relationship that might have never happened. A highly logical person would dismiss it as the writings of a grad student on a deadline who did some ayahuasca in a national park and decided to make it his thesis. However, I believe that would be a poor assessment of the work. The writing is incredibly sincere and thought out; the author's life is as much a mystery as the story itself. The elements are aligned enough to make it plausible that, at the minimum, Castañeda believes in what he wrote beyond the scribblings of some tripped-out 20-something in the 60s.
In the end, Journey to Ixtlan will leave you with a profound sense of mysticism* and wonder, questioning what parts of this world are real, and what are simply ghosts.
ps-- I can't believe this guy got his PhD off these books. that is wild.
*not necessarily in the context of the Yaqui people, however. It must be noted that most of the specifics aren't in line with the standard understanding of the beliefs of the Yaqui.
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexiévich
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
Bought this in an airport on the way to Prague in 2016, couldn't get into it at the time. Came back to it a few years later and had my worldview changed forever. By the time I got done, my entire concept of what the USSR was, what Russia is, and what the system as a whole did for better and for worse was changed. If you want to understand why Russia is the way it is, read this.
Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
If you're interested in magical realism and don't want to start with Cien años de Soledad/A Hundred Years of Solitude, this is the place to start. Considered the predecessor to the genre itself, author Alejo Carpentier's work is confusing, enthralling and bound to leave you sucked into a vision of post-revolutionary Haiti. Worth it to read Carpentier's original paper on the concept of "the marvelous real" as well if it piques your interest (you definitely cannot find it here: https://bit.ly/3P8Jmi6 ).
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