One Hundred Years of Solitude

Oct 04, 2008 brian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i remember the day i stopped watching cartoons: an episode of thundercats in which a few of the cats were trapped in some kind of superbubble thing and it hit me that, being cartoons, the characters could just be erased and re-drawn outside the bubble. or could just fly away. or tunnel their way out. or teleport. or do whatever, really, they wanted... afterall they were line and color in a world of line and color. now this applies to any work of fiction -- i mean, Cervantes could've just written...more i remember the day i stopped watching cartoons: an episode of thundercats in which a few of the cats were trapped in some kind of superbubble thing and it hit me that, being cartoons, the characters could just be erased and re-drawn outside the bubble. or could just fly away. or tunnel their way out. or teleport. or do whatever, really, they wanted... afterall they were line and color in a world of line and color. now this applies to any work of fiction -- i mean, Cervantes could've just written Don Quixote out of any perilous situation, but it just felt different with a lowest-common-denominator cartoon. it felt that adherence to reality (reality as defined within the world of the cartoon) wasn’t a top priority.

this ended my cartoon watching days and i’ve pored over it in the years that followed: was it a severe lack or an overabundence of imagination that made it so that while all my friends were digging saturday morning cartoons i alternated between tormenting my parents and attempting to use logic to disprove the fact that everyone i knew and everyone i ever would know was gonna die?

i had a similar experience with One Hundred Years of Solitude. the first chapter is just brilliant: gypsies bring items to Macondo, a village hidden away from mass civilization by miles of swamp and mountains… these everyday items (magnets, ice, etc.) are interpreted as ‘magic’ by people who have never seen them and it forces the reader to reconfigure his/her perception of much of what s/he formerly found ordinary. amazing. and then the gypsies bring a magic carpet. a real one. one that works. and there is no distinction b/t magnets and the magic carpet. this, i guess, is magical realism. and i had a Thundercats moment. lemme explain:

the magic carpet immediately renders all that preceded it as irrelevant. are ice and magnets the same as magic carpets? what is the relation between magic and science? how can i trust and believe in a character who takes such pains to understand ice and magnets and who, using the most primitive scientific means, works day and night to discover that the earth is round -- but then will just accept that carpets can fly? or that people can instantaneously increase their body weight sevenfold by pure will? or that human blood can twist and turn through streets to find a specific person? fuck the characters, how can i trust the writer if the world is totally undefined? if people can refuse to die (and it’s not explained who or how or why): where are the stakes? if someone can make themselves weigh 1000 pounds, what can’t they do? how can i care about any situation if Garcia Marquez can simply make the persons involved sprout wings and fly away?

should the book be read as fairy-tale? as myth? as allegory? no. i don’t think it’s meant to be read solely as any of those. and i’d label anyone a fraud who tried to explain away a 500 page book as mere allegory. moreover, i don’t believe Garcia Marquez has as fertile an imagination as Borges or Cervantes or Mutis –- three chaps who, perhaps, could pull something like this off on storytelling power alone; but three chaps who, though they may dabble in this stuff, clearly define the world their characters inhabit.

so i’m at page 200. and i’m gonna try and push on. but it’s tough. do i care when someone dies when death isn’t permanent? and do i care about characters who have seen death reversed but don’t freak the fuck out (which is inconsistent with what does make them freak the fuck out) and who also continue to cry when someone dies? yes, there are some gems along the way, but i think had Solitude been structured as a large collection of interconnected short stories (kinda like a magical realism Winesberg, Ohio) it would've worked much better.

this is one of the most beloved books of all time and i’m not so arrogant (damn close) to discount the word of all these people (although I do have gothboy, DFJ, and Borges on my side -- a strong argument for or against anything), and not so blind to see the joy this brings to so many people… i fully understand it's a powerful piece of work. but i really don’t get it. and i aggressively recommend The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll to any and all who find Solitude to be the end all and be all.
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Mar 27, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Revised 28 March 2012

Huh? Oh. Oh, man. Wow.

I just had the weirdest dream.

There was this little town, right? And everybody had, like, the same two names. And there was this guy who lived under a tree and a lady who ate dirt and some other guy who just made little gold fishes all the time. And sometimes it rained and sometimes it didn’t, and… and there were fire ants everywhere, and some girl got carried off into the sky by her laundry…

Wow. That was messed up.

I need some coffee.

The was roughly ho...more

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Mar 28, 2008 Adam rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Academics and their students that are forced to read it.

Recommended to Adam by: I'd rather not say

Shelves: classics

So I know that I'm supposed to like this book because it is a classic and by the same author who wrote Love in the Time of Cholera. Unfortunately, I just think it is unbelievably boring with a jagged plot that seems interminable. Sure, the language is interesting and the first line is the stuff of University English courses. Sometimes I think books get tagged with the "classic" label because some academics read them and didn't understand and so they hailed these books as genius. These same acade...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Shan Jago rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Imagine you work the night shift stocking shelves in a grocery store with seven other misfit insomniacs. It’s a new job in a new town. You are still fairly young; a bit green and romantic (if you were ever those things), though you like to believe you’re not. The store opens at 6. A dark summer’s morning lingers outside. The overhead music has looped. You know this because Don’t Get Me Wrong by the Pretenders is playing for the second time that shift. It’s 5:15 AM. Time to ditch. Once outside yo...more Imagine you work the night shift stocking shelves in a grocery store with seven other misfit insomniacs. It’s a new job in a new town. You are still fairly young; a bit green and romantic (if you were ever those things), though you like to believe you’re not. The store opens at 6. A dark summer’s morning lingers outside. The overhead music has looped. You know this because Don’t Get Me Wrong by the Pretenders is playing for the second time that shift. It’s 5:15 AM. Time to ditch. Once outside you leap on your bicycle, peddle up that first hill, then ride straight downtown like a dewy arrow into the town’s slumbering heart. The town is quaint. Quiet. There is still a quality of discovery for you here. At the large pond near Town Hall you dump your bike in the grass. There is a gazebo that seems to float, strung with a tangle of white lights, and the moon is an 8o watt bulb hanging in a mirror of water. This is your reading room. You’ve been following this routine since you started your new job. You are nearly finished One Hundred Years of Solitude. Later, when the sun peeks a reddened eye over the tree line and the first twisting scents of breakfast steal over the sidewalks, you will find a Diner. But for now, you open Marquez’s novel and think ‘this book might as well be bound in a jacket cut from magic carpet’. You feel its gentle tug, playful, and in your hands it catches the tail of a zephyr and suddenly you’re like one of Chagall’s exalted figures rising over the town, or the Dude led by his bowling ball above the city of Los Angeles; only the environment you see below is a labyrinthine village constantly reshaping itself . You are flying in circles above this village and its inhabitants at about the height of the smallest mountain (which is pretty high indeed), and there are tiny tornadoes and dust devils starting to form on the ground. In the air there is a fall of tiny yellow flowers and a butterfly that’s all up in your face. The village people *cough* are looking up, pointing at some marvel in the sky that isn’t you after all, but a passing airplane. The book sputters in your hand, as if it had an engine and you fall a few meters before you catch another current of air. Must be running out of magic juice. Below a train rolls past filled with oversized bananas (when you see this you wish you could take people from other books and place them in the one you’re reading, for instance, poor Vardaman would shit his pants seeing all those bananas!). The villagers have gathered around a light bulb and you notice that you’re in a tailspin, but luckily there are plenty of hammocks to fall into. Instead you hit the dirt in the courtyard. The town seems a lot less populated than you remember and the dust storm is worsening. You run into a home, where on the floor, ragged and pale, a few carpets shuffle doggedly around. On a table there is a very modern blender which you jam the book into, hitting the button marked ON (why you would do such a thing isn’t really certain; though you are known to be a bit of a whack job). When you’re satisfied it’s been mixed for long enough you empty the contents on the table and discover a mound of tiny metal golden fish. Having finished, you close the book and look out over the pond and the slants of rooftops in the foliage of the town. A new town. A new life. Grab hold, before it's only dust in your palm. (less)

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Jun 11, 2008 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

More like A Hundred Years of Torture. I read this partly in a misguided attempt to expand my literary horizons and partly because my uncle was a big fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Then again, he also used to re-read Ulysses for fun, which just goes to show that you should never take book advice from someone whose IQ is more than 30 points higher than your own.

I have patience for a lot of excesses, like verbiage and chocolate, but not for 5000 pages featuring three generations of people with the...more

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Mohsen Hello!! I just read your review and I am on the floor laughing!! You are absolutely right! And I truly can't stop laughing! Bless you!! xD
Jun 05, 2013 01:33am

Willow Iluminada wrote: "Wow! Lucifel, you described the book "One-Hundred Years of Solitude" to the point! Thank you! Many people just don't do justice to t...more Iluminada wrote: "Wow! Lucifel, you described the book "One-Hundred Years of Solitude" to the point! Thank you! Many people just don't do justice to this fantastic story-telling book. I read the book first in SPA..."

Thank you Iluminada and Lucifel for your beautifully-written reviews of one of the most magical and challenging books I have ever read. "One-Hundred Years of Solitude" is an epic with enough tears and pathos, as well as comedic elements, for a hundred lifetimes.
I was fortunate enough to spend nine weeks with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his opus in a graduate level Contemporary Literature course taught by an instructor who taught from the perspective of Edenic archetype which provided a template for understanding the numerous triumphs and tragedies as the overwhelming desire to get back to the garden and find redemption and peace. It was right after Marquez had won the Nobel prize; little did I know how involved I would become with the politics of the United States, Cuba, and Latin America in a personal way.
When Marquez tried to come to America he was refused admission. I was deeply entrenched in mythical Macondo at the time. The threads of corrupt government and public hypocricy as well as personal tragedy were interwoven in both fact and fiction as I reeled from the stunning revelation that a long-time friendship between Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez was the reason fearful and nebulous powers reared the "Not Welcome" sign to Marquez. He needed to visit a sick relative and was denied that most humane of reasons simply because of his affiliation with a Communist...one that we, had in fact, put in power. The Latin American students and several English majors joined in a protest against the actions of the United States. We were angry that a country would be so treacherous; teaching an author in colleges and awarding him the Nobel Prize then denying a visit to that same country was the antithesis of justice; a mockery of democracy; another cop-out as the media hinted at some darker, insidious motive Marquez might have.
Gradually, the group I was in became integrated with another Latin American group who invited a poet from Mexico to come speak. He was allowed to cross our hallowed borders and speak of the kidnappings and executions in Mexico; it was his associatin with the USA that made him a person of interest to the Mexican government just as Marquez was in the States. The irony was just too rich.
There was a large and vocal movement to allow Marquez into the country; we wrote passionate letters and held rallies. Thus, both book and author were pivotal figures in the ethics of democracy and The First Amendment and whether its rights included foreign authors. Even if the United States had made a profit from the sales of a best-selling Nobel Prize winning book; could the political affiliations become an issue? Maybe the folk who rolled on the floor laughing would sit up and shake the dirt out of their hair and the dust in their brains if they realized how much this writer and his book affected them personally. For when one man is denied freedom; all men are denied that most basic right, by proxy.
In the December 2008 edition of "Vanity Fair" I have kept a photo of Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez taken by the iconic photographer Helmut Newton in Havana, 1987. A grizzled Fidel Castro looks like he's just spotted Che Guevara picking Donald Trump's pocket; he is holding a martini glass in his hand while Marquez looks on, a blurry foreground showing only his noble profile in sharp relief.
It is a classic. They had a friendship long before Cuba; Castro admired Marquez' writing and Marquez valued the intellect of his friend Fidel; there was never any proof of political duplicity between the two; never any reason, really, to bar him from America
I took away the two most important influences; the leit motif in my writing from "One-Hundred Years of Solitude." Redemption through loss and the resilience of the human spirit are the gifts that Marquez gave me in this book.
It is not what you know but who you know that decides one's fate, regardless~~Was he ever allowed in our country?
Ah! Still a chance to learn more; the legend lives on!(less)
Jun 16, 2013 05:39pm

Jul 24, 2012 Stephen M rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: solitude is bliss

Recommended to Stephen M by: The most beautiful girl at school

Shelves: metafictive-madness, ocean-of-noise, thinking-of-a-dream-i-had

Many years later, as the most beautiful girl in town disclosed the book from her folded arms and revealed its brilliant glow to his eyes, Francisco Rodriguez de la Campiña was to recall that distant, savage summer when his grandmother first taught him to read. At that time, he would spend hours under the cockspur coral tree behind their bark and leaf house while his grandmother, Pilar Popa, lectured him on the finer points of grammatical etiquette. Peering over his shoulder, grasping his elbows...more

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Oct 14, 2010 إسراء البنا rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pdf, novels

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الرواية فى قمة الروعة
تستحق فعلا جائزة نوبل للادب

بالرغم من تداخل الاشخاص فى الرواية و اعادة الاسماء فتلك السلالة الطويلة .. يسمى فيها الابناء باسمين اما اورليانو او خوسيه
و تتعدد الاجيال و تمر السنين و يتسم ابناء هذه السلالة بالعزلة

و لكن تلك العزلة تختلف
فلا يجد فيها ملل بلا على عكس فيها حياة

اول السلالة كانت نهايته تحت شجرة الكستناء و اخر السلالة انتهى فى الغابة عن طريق النمل

اتعجب من ماركيز كيف استطاع ان ينهى تلك الرواية بتلك النهاية المثالية
فلم اكن اتوقع ابداً النها...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Anthony Vacca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, translation, my-own-personal-jukebox

Many weeks later, as he stared at the empty word document on his computer screen, Anthony Vacca was to remember that distant evening when he set down his paperback copy of 100 Years of Solitude, and whispered, meaningfully, “Fuck me.”

What was there he could say that surely had not been mentioned before? What new insight gleamed or experience, um, experienced could he possibly add to the already endless cannon of praise and scholarship that had been written over the many years since this book was...more

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Jan 19, 2012 ميّ أحمد rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

حين تفكر بقراءة هذه الرواية يجب أن تضع نصب عينيك أنك لا تقرأ عملا اعتياديا يستلزم جهدا مشابها
عليك أن تترك كل حواسك مع الكتاب
المترجم علماني كان متفهما جدا لطبيعة القارىء العربي وربما صعوبة التواصل مع أسماء بهذا الكم وأجيال بهذا العدد فما كان منه إلا أن وضع خارطة للأجيال الستة التي مروا على قرية ماكوندو من أسرة خوسيه أركاديو بوينديا تسهيلا وحتى لا يقع القارىء في لبس الأسماء وهذا يحسب لعلماني كمترجم له باع في الترجمة بلغة سلسة أصبح يتهافت عليها الجميع

الرواية من الروايات العظيمة والتي تقدم دروسا...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Mala rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: brain-pain-group-read, dream-fantasy, classic-ever-enduring-appeal, all-time-favourites, nobel-prize-winner

Review of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
Shelf: Latin American writing,Magical Realism,Nobel Prize winners,Brain Pain Group read.
Recommended for: You.

This is a book of such terrible and heartbreaking beauty that I'm still reeling from the impact! Books like Nightwood & One Hundred Years of Solitude are proof that greatness shdn't be judged by size alone. This tale is perfect cause in it Márquez finally found the "right tone"–

...the tone that I eventually used in One...more

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Jul 25, 2007 Kenghis Khan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The book picks up not too far after Genesis left off." And this fictitious chronicle of the Buendia household in the etherial town of Macondo somewhere in Latin America does just that. Rightly hailed as a masterpiece of the 20th century, Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" will remain on the reading list of every pretentious college kid, every under-employed author, every field-worker in Latin America, and indeed should be "required reading for the entire human race," as one review...more "The book picks up not too far after Genesis left off." And this fictitious chronicle of the Buendia household in the etherial town of Macondo somewhere in Latin America does just that. Rightly hailed as a masterpiece of the 20th century, Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" will remain on the reading list of every pretentious college kid, every under-employed author, every field-worker in Latin America, and indeed should be "required reading for the entire human race," as one reviewer put it a few decades back.

No review, however laconic or ponderous, can do justice to this true piece of art. Perhaps I can only hint at a few of the striking features of the work that are so novel, so insightful, and which make it such a success in my opinion.

By far and away the most inspiring element of the work is the author's tone. He reportedly self-conscioulsy wrote in the style that his grandmother back in Columbia used to tell him stories. Thus there is a conversational, meandering, but indeed succinct and perfect narrative voice to whisk the reader through the years of Macondo's fantastical history.

Not unrelatedly, the tone has ample visual imagery, with superb attention to detail (and just the right quantity and nature of the detail that surrounds everyday life) to help prod the story along. The dolls of the child-bride treasured by the mother-in-law and heroine Ursula. The paranormal and mundane contrivences of the gypsies that are celebrated in the opening pages and which close the book. The tree to which the mad genius who founded the town and Buendia line is tied and dies in. The pretentious suitcases of the returning emigre. The goldfishes that are the relicts of a disillusioned but celebrated warrior. And the ubiquitous ants. All these objects have their proper place among the daily going abouts of the Buendia family, and serve to weave into the story a sense of BOTH the ordinary and the surreal.

There is ample space in this world of Macondo and the Buendias for a sad commentary on that world South of the Rio Grande. Incessant, pointless civil wars. A rigid political and ecclesiastical hierarchy shoved down the throats of decent folk. The rampant exploitation of the tropics by outsiders, both foreign and domesitc. And perhaps most significantly, the strangely marginal and uncomfortable space occupied by technology in daily life in the Latino world. I am surely not alone in uncovering some facet of the work that speaks so boldly and loudly to me. This rich yet surprisingly elegant novel has, it seems, on every page the germinating seeds of an exciting conversation that speaks directly to an observation and experience everybody, and especially those coming to or from Latin America (or any underdeveloped nation), has had.

And of course there are the brilliant characters, and the sense one gets of how they are affected by, and in turn affect, their setting. The story is aided by a pedigree one keeps referring to in the beginning of the book, as its immense scope (yes, 100 years) and maddening array of characters demand of the reader to conjure up visualizations of what exactly is going on. It is no wonder that this work is celebrated for being almost biblical in scope.

Yes, my review can be condensed into three words: READ THIS BOOK!!! (less)

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Apr 18, 2010 Tasneem rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, frndz-gifts, own-it

أنا أؤمن في الإنسان و في قدراته العقلية و الإبداعية و أن العبقرية ليس لها سقف أو حدود, و لكن ..

أستطيع أن أعقد لكم الأيمان على أحد شيئين..

إما أن "ماركيز" ليس من البشر, بل هو ممسوس . يتلقى المساعدة _في كتاباته_ من ملك الجان شخصيا,, أو ربما كان يتلقاها من الجدات/الجنيات القديمات اللاوتي شهدن خلق الكون و يحفظن عن ظهر قلب ما سيؤول إليه حال الخليقة منذ أن أخرج الله البشر من ظهور آبائهم و أشهدهم على أنفسهم و أطلقهم في الأرض ليستعيدوا ذاكرة فقدوها.

أو أنه إنسـان مثلنا, يملك ما نملك و لا يزيد عنا يدا أو...more

أنا أؤمن في الإنسان و في قدراته العقلية و الإبداعية و أن العبقرية ليس لها سقف أو حدود, و لكن ..

أستطيع أن أعقد لكم الأيمان على أحد شيئين..

إما أن "ماركيز" ليس من البشر, بل هو ممسوس . يتلقى المساعدة _في كتاباته_ من ملك الجان شخصيا,, أو ربما كان يتلقاها من الجدات/الجنيات القديمات اللاوتي شهدن خلق الكون و يحفظن عن ظهر قلب ما سيؤول إليه حال الخليقة منذ أن أخرج الله البشر من ظهور آبائهم و أشهدهم على أنفسهم و أطلقهم في الأرض ليستعيدوا ذاكرة فقدوها.

أو أنه إنسـان مثلنا, يملك ما نملك و لا يزيد عنا يدا أو قدم بل فقط لديه من طول البال ما يسمح له بكتابة رواية عادية متسلسلة الأحداث غير متشابهة الأسماء أو متشابكة المواقف فيما يقرب من 500 صفحة , ثم يعـود و يحضر دفاتراً جديدة و يبدأ في نقل الأحداث _ التي كتبها سلفاً_ بصورة متداخلة حيث أنه على علمٍ بالنهايات و بتوالي الأحداث و ما ستؤول إليه النهايات.

نعم.. لابد أنه فعل ذلك.. فلا يعقل أن إنساناً مثلنا يستطيع أن يكتب بهذه العبقرية رواية متداخلة كل هذا التداخل و تتكون من 500 صفحة و تقع أحداثها في مئة عام و لا يوجد في شجرة العائلة إلا اسمين اثنين , أورليانو و خوسيه أركاديو

أما "صالح علماني" ,, فلابد أنه هو الآخر ممسوس و إلا فكيف تُفسرون قدرته على ترجمة هذا الجنون؟

اللعنــة على العبقرية التي ستسبب لنا _نحن القراء_ فقد العقول

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Apr 06, 2008 Mister Jones rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Drunken frauds who see Shamans on a road during a LSD flashback

Recommended to Mister Jones by: Art and Fart Crapper

I must be missing something about this one, and whatever it is, I know it's not much.

I didn't enjoy it; I wanted it to be a fulfilling and rewarding read; I want it to be everything that everyone else said it was and then some.

So, I learned that some works aren't worth it--not worth reading, not worth the time, and not worth putting faith in what others may deem "a beautiful book."

Marquez pops characters in and out with different brief activities and events, scattering them into a literary colla...more

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May 24, 2013 Huda Yahya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gabriel-garcía-márquez, ترجمات-صالح-علماني, novels_novellas, fantasy_magical-realism

لأنه مقدراً لمدينة السراب أن تذورها الرياح وتُنفى من ذاكرة البشر
في اللحظة التي ينتهي فيها أورليانو بوينديا من حلّ رموز الرقاق
وأن كل ما هو مكتوب فيها لا يمكن أن يتكرر منذ الأزل إلى الأبد
لأن السلالات المحكومة بمئة عام من العزلة ، ليست لها فرصة أخرى على الأرض

شعرتُ بكل ما هو حي وحقيقي بداخلي ينفصل عني ليحلق وحده بعيداً
عن كل ما تحطم بداخلي ‏،وكل ما مزقته السنون في ماكوندو

حلّقت هدى بخفة بين موجات الحر العنيفة
أحسّت بكل شهقة وبكل قطرة عرق
ذابت بين شقوق الجدران و داعبت الفراشات الصفراء

من يستطيع التناغم...more

لأنه مقدراً لمدينة السراب أن تذورها الرياح وتُنفى من ذاكرة البشر
في اللحظة التي ينتهي فيها أورليانو بوينديا من حلّ رموز الرقاق
وأن كل ما هو مكتوب فيها لا يمكن أن يتكرر منذ الأزل إلى الأبد
لأن السلالات المحكومة بمئة عام من العزلة ، ليست لها فرصة أخرى على الأرض

شعرتُ بكل ما هو حي وحقيقي بداخلي ينفصل عني ليحلق وحده بعيداً
عن كل ما تحطم بداخلي ‏،وكل ما مزقته السنون في ماكوندو

حلّقت هدى بخفة بين موجات الحر العنيفة
أحسّت بكل شهقة وبكل قطرة عرق
ذابت بين شقوق الجدران و داعبت الفراشات الصفراء

من يستطيع التناغم مع العزلة أكثر من فرد معزول عن العالم في بقعة صغيرة من السكون؟

أقلّب فتافيت عالمي بملعقة
تطاردني كل أفكار الدنيا ،وأنا معزولة بين جدران لا أريد مفارقتها

عشتُ العزلة أغلب سنوات عمري
كانت خلاياي تناضل لتبقى وحيدة في عالم أراني لا أنتمي إليه
بداخلي أقمت مدناً لا يسكنها سواي
حدائق أزهارها لا تنتمي لتراب هذه الأرض
عانقتُ كل ما هو ذي معنى وتركتُ اللامعنى خارجاً يداعب ألوف من البشر يومياً

كيف يمكن لعائلة أن تناسبني أكثر من عائلة بويندياالضاربة بجذورها ف ي عزلة الروح ‏والجسد؟

‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘

ما الذي فعله ماركيز بي؟
كيف أنتج عالماً كاملاً بين دفتي كتاب ،وأتقن صنيعته إلى هذا الحد؟
و استطاع ببضع أسماء أن يخلق تجانساً في الشكل والملامح
في الخواطر والأحلام
في قرارات الحياة
وفي المصير المؤلم
وفي نفس الوقت خلق الاختلاف يداعب التجانس خطوة بخطوة ويتمرد عليه

فصاغ أبطاله بحرفية صياغة الكولونيل أورليانو لأسماكه الذهبية
كنتُ أتخيل ماركيز يجلس منعزلا في غرفة
يمسك بشخصياته كما يمسك الكولونيل بسمكاته‏
يعجنها بيديه ويشكل أوهامها وحقيقتها بمهارة ‏
يضيف لماسته المموهة ببصمته
كما يلصق أورليانو عيون السمك الياقوتية فتتوهج الملامح في روحك
وعندما يكتمل عددها يصهرها من جديد كي ينتج جيلاً جديداً يحمل نفس الإسم والملامح بطعم ‏ومصير مؤلم جديدين

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بين تعسّف آمارانتا وحزنها المذعور، وصلف فرنادنا وأطباءها المتخيلين
وبراءة ريميديوس الطفلة ودماها ، و قسوة أركاديو التي طاردته منذ اللحظة التي رأى فيها عملية إعدام
وصلابة أورسولا وعزيمتها المثيرة للإعجاب
تعيش لحظات سحرية لا معقولة
لاشيء فيها بلونٍ واحد ولا يعرف حدة الأبيض أو الأسود
فقد يأتي العذاب من الجمال الباهر والسذاجة بطريقة لا تتوقعها إلا مع وحشية القتال ودمويته

فريميديوس الجميلة تأتي في وسط الرواية مثل كائنٍ بلوري شفاف
تقترب منه مبهوراً بلئلائه
فتعانق جبلاً جليدياً تتجمد معه حتى الموت
أو كتلة زجاجية صافية بريئة تمزق لحمك وتتشرب دمك حتى الموت
مثل الجليد الذي بقى يطارد روح الكولونيل أورليانو
ومثل شبح ذيل الخنزير الذي ظل يحوم حول البيت الكبير حتى تمكن منه
لينبعث منها أنفاس موت ، لا لفحات حب
وتنتهي محلقة مع ملاءات البيت إلى السماء في طبقات الهواء العليا حيث لا تستطيع الوصول إليها أعلى طيور الذاكرة تحليقاً

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وبعد قراءتي الثالثة للرواية
لازال الترنح الثمل من السعادة يعرف طريقه إلي
وكنتُ لازلتُ أرتعد وأنا أقرأ
أكثر ثلاث مشاهد مزقوني تماماً

آمارنتا تضع يدها في في جمر الموقد إلى أن تألمت إلى حد لم تعد تشعر معه بالألم ليبقى لحمها المحروق وضمادة الشاش السوداء في ذهني طوال الرواية يمزقني

لحظة إطلاق النار على ماوريسيو بابيلونيا وكأنني أنا التي أنهار في غرفة نوم ميمي

ولحظة اكتشاف آخر أورليانو من السلالة الوليد يتحول لجلد منفوخ بعد التهام النمل الأحمر إياه‏

‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘
مين أين يبدأ السحر هنا؟
هل رأى ميلكاديس قدر العائلة أم خطه هو بيديه؟
هل تشوف الحوادث العجيبة في بللورته السحرية أم كانت لعنة تلك التي أطلقتها تعاويذه عبر رموزها السنسكريتية؟

كيف فعلها ميلكاديس بين مواقد المخبر وفقاعات التجارب في القوارير وأزيز غليان الزئبق؟
وكيف نشأت ماكوندو حقاً؟
أهي صُممت بعرق خوسيه الأكبر وكفاح أورسولا أم نشأت بين أبخرة مخبر بدائي قدّر له أن يكون المبتدى منه وإليه المنتهى؟

من أين جاءت هذه العائلة التي يولد طفلها الأول بين المستنقعات
بدون ذيل خنزير وبرغبة أبدية في الجنون
ليشهد بداية ماكوندو
ويولد طفلها الأخير بين أنقاض البيت وسط الحشرات ولفحات الحر الأخيرة
بذيل خنزير من حبٍّ حرام
كي تتحقق النبؤة
وكي يموت الجنون فيه قبل أن يبدأ
ليشهد نهاية ماكوندو

وفي جو يشبه المستنقعات تسقط أوراق ماركيز الحاملة الرواية المنقحة في الوحل كي تعود لتجففها زوجته ورقة ورقة
تراها أكانت لعنة ميلكاديس لحقت بها؟
!

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يقول ماركيز الخيال هو تهيئة الواقع ليصبح فناً
وتنتمي هذه الرواية لنوع أدبي يسمّى
magical realism
وفي هذا النوع يسري الخيال محلقاً في بيئة واقعية بحيث يشكل جزءاً طبيعياً منها
حيث يقوم حدث شديد الغرابة بغزو حياة منطقية واقعية
وإن كان المؤلف قد وصف روايته بأنها تنتمي لأدب الهروب من الواقع

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خاض الكولونيل أوريليانو بوينديا 32 حرباً أهلية خسرها جميعاً
ومن خلال كفاحه المكلل بخيبة الأمل
وإدراكه في النهاية أنه خاض تلك الحروب لينتهي منعزلاً أكثر مما كان ساخطاً على العالم وعلى نفسه
وعلى كل فكرة بدأت نبيلة وانتهت محطمة بوحشية الدم وشهوة السلطة

و ماركيز كان دوما مناهضاً لجميع الممارسات القمعية لدكتاتوريات العالم ودكتاتورية أميركا اللاتينية بشكل خاص ، ومؤيداً لثورات التحرر
وقد خاض جده حروباً في أمريكا اللاتينية ، وكان ميلاد ماركيز يوافق سنة مذبحة إضراب مزارع الموز والتي أنكرتها الحكومة فأعاد إحياءها في الرواية

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كثيرة كانت الرموز في الرواية
فبين السفينة الغارقة ، ووحل المستنقعات ، وشجرة كستناء صبور
وبيانولا ترقد في الظلام تصاحبها ملاءة بيضاء
عاش الأبطال حيواتهم العجيبة في عزلة أبدية تحتضن برفق هذه الصور في دواخلهم إلى الأبد

وبين صفحات الرواية قضيتُ وقتاً لا يضاهى
أقرأ ملحمة أعظم مما كُتب في كل العصور
عن مدينة نبتت في الوحل وغاصت فيه مجدداً
لتتركني مع آخر صفحة أود العودة إليها من جديد
لأتمتع بهذا العالم الخرافي حتى الثمالة
لتذروه الرياح مجددا ،ويختفي من ذاكرة البشر
ثم يعود نابضاً في صفحات ماركيز كي تتشربه ذاكرة القراء إلى الأبد(less)

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Nov 22, 2010 Philip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites

I imagine these people looking and saying, "Yes, but what does it mean?" As literary critics everywhere cringe or roll over in their clichéd graves I approach this text and review the same way. One Hundred Years of Solitude... beautiful, intriguing... but what does it mean? And does it have to mean anything?

Oscar Wilde: "All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril." And what about those who skip acro...more

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Jul 14, 2008 Martine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-drama, magic-realism, modern-fiction, disappointing, south-american, historical-fiction, did-not-finish

I must have missed something. Either that, or some wicked hypnotist has tricked the world (and quite a few of my friends, it would seem) into believing that One Hundred Years of Solitude is a great novel. How did this happen? One Hundred Years of Solitude is not a great novel. In fact, I'm not even sure it qualifies as a novel at all. Rather it reads like a 450-page outline for a novel which accidentally got published instead of the finished product. Oops.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not disputing th...more I must have missed something. Either that, or some wicked hypnotist has tricked the world (and quite a few of my friends, it would seem) into believing that One Hundred Years of Solitude is a great novel. How did this happen? One Hundred Years of Solitude is not a great novel. In fact, I'm not even sure it qualifies as a novel at all. Rather it reads like a 450-page outline for a novel which accidentally got published instead of the finished product. Oops.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not disputing that Marquez has an imaginative mind. He does, unquestionably. Nor am I disputing that he knows how to come up with an interesting story. He obviously does, or this wouldn't be the hugely popular book it is. As far as I'm concerned, though, he forgot to put the finishing touches to his story. In his rush to get the bare bones on paper, he forgot to add the things which bring a story alive. Such as, you know, dialogue. Emotions. Motivations. Character arcs. Pretty basic things, really. By focusing on the external side of things, and by never allowing his characters to speak for themselves (the dialogue in the book amounts to about five pages, if that), Marquez keeps his reader from getting to know his characters, and from understanding why they do the things they do. The lack of characterisation is such that the story basically reads like an unchronological chronicle of deeds and events that go on for ever without any attempt at an explanation or psychological depth. And yes, they're interesting events, I'll grant you that, but they're told with such emotional detachment that I honestly didn't care for any of the characters who experienced them. I kept waiting for Marquez to focus on one character long enough to make me care about what happened to him or her, but he never did, choosing instead to introduce new characters (more Aurelianos... sigh) and move on. I wish to all the gods of fiction he had left out some twenty Aurelianos and focused on the remaining four instead. With three-dimensional characters rather than two-dimensional ones, this could have been a fabulous book. As it is, it's just a shell.

What a waste of a perfectly good story.(less)

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Jul 22, 2009 C. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-or-access, to-be-re-read, south-american, french, may-i-say-blah

I don't know what possessed me to try and read this in French. Actually, that's a lie: it was because I felt like re-reading it and I don't own an English copy. I guess that I thought that since the original language was Spanish, a French translation in theory is worth as much as an English translation. Then I probably said to myself (as I am wont to do) "Well, there's no time like the present to improve one's command of the French language, no matter how tedious, time-consuming and ultimately u...more

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Nov 14, 2007 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a tremendous piece of literature. It's not an easy read. You're not going to turn its pages like you would the latest John Grisham novel, or The DaVinci Code. You have to read each page, soaking up every word, immersing yourself in the imagery. Mr. Marquez says that he tells the story as his grandmother used to tell stories to him: with a brick face. That's useful to remember while reading, because that is certainly the tone the book tak...more

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Jun 02, 2013 lanalang rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, alphabetchallenge2012, babele-challenge

Ci si può innamorare di un libro? Ecco, è proprio ciò che mi è successo con questo. E pensare che dopo averlo comprato è rimasto sulla mia libreria per anni senza nemmeno essere sfogliato. Avevo vicino a me un tesoro senza esserne consapevole. Poi un giorno mi sono decisa ed è stato grande amore. A tal punto che per anni non sono più riuscita a leggere altro perché ogni altro libro mi sembrava insignificante. Così finivo sempre per rileggere 'Cent'anni di solitudine' e ogni volta era come la pri...more

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Jan 16, 2008 Shira rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Ok, I hate when this happens. I hear great things about a book for years, I finally decide to pick it up, and it turns out that I HATE it! It's not just that it's not my kind of book -- it's that I cannot for the life of me figure out what other people saw in this book. I found it to be utterly disturbing. I have never seen so much incest, adultery, rape, and bestiality in the same book!

I know it's supposed to be magical realism, but the sum total of what happens to this family is just over the...more

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Houda Sorry to be picky, but there were a few mistakes in your example: 1) Amaranta is not adopted, 2)Jose arcadio is not her cousin and they are in no way...more
Apr 27, 2010 05:57pm

Andrew Shira -- Do you know the Woody Allen joke that goes, "Is sex dirty? It is when you're doing it right." It sounds as though your objections to this boo...more
Oct 12, 2010 02:38pm

Kinsey Thanks. You're on of the few people who even bother to notice the messed up depictions of rape. It's disturbing to find so many people raving about a...more
Mar 30, 2011 04:07pm

Nov 12, 2012 Ahmed Rachid is currently reading it · review of another edition

إنها لَمدعاة إلى الدهشة... حقاً!!!
ظننت في البداية بأن الموضوع عبارة عن اختلاف في الآراء و الأذواق...
و لكنه الآن بات جلياً واضحاً... إنه حتماً ليس كذلك!!!
***************
المسألة و ما فيها أنني كلما اخترت كتاباً حائزاً على جائزة خرافية لأقرأه... أتفاجأ بأنه لا يرقى حتى لمستوى النشر!!!
ما هذا التناقض الجبّار؟؟!!
في البداية "لا أحد يعرف ما أريده" و الآن "مئة عام من العزلة" ...
كتب حصدت جوائز قيمة... الأخيرة منهما حصلت على أرقى الجوائز الأدبية التي من الممكن أن تُحصد في هذا العالم... جائزة نوبل للآداب!!!...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book went from 5, to 4, to 3 stars. It went from brilliant & zany, to unique & amusing, to overworked & predictable. Magical realism--the sine qua non of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the archetype, the empyreal novel that pioneered the outburst of this type of South American writing. I would not re-read this novel, but I would recommend it to all who savor the radial expanse of genre in literature. To be considered a comprehensive reader at life's end, you will had to have read magic...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Chandra rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, classics

Gabriel Garcia Marquez himself has expressed bemusement over the outrageous success of this seminal work. He said in a conversation with a fellow novelist:

Most critics don't realize that a novel like One Hundred Years of Solitude is a bit of a joke, full of signals to close friends; and so, with some pre-ordained right to pontificate they take on the responsibility of decoding the book and risk making terrible fools of themselves.

Prior to finishing 100 Years I tended to believe this might just...more Gabriel Garcia Marquez himself has expressed bemusement over the outrageous success of this seminal work. He said in a conversation with a fellow novelist:

Most critics don't realize that a novel like One Hundred Years of Solitude is a bit of a joke, full of signals to close friends; and so, with some pre-ordained right to pontificate they take on the responsibility of decoding the book and risk making terrible fools of themselves.

Prior to finishing 100 Years I tended to believe this might just be the self conscious protestations of an author both uncomfortable and embarrassed by his own success. Now, after having finished the book I still think that is partially true, but for the most part I think he was being honest. And I don’t mean that as an insult to the book – in fact I think that is one of the things that makes this book worth reading.

It’s the bizarre, nonsensical rambling quality that sets this book apart from other ‘masterpieces’. It is a style that will either captivate or put people off completely. I can honestly sympathize with both reactions and found myself somewhere in the middle. I really enjoyed the beautiful and distinctive writing - this is the novel’s real strength in my opinion and I can’t imagine what the experience of reading this in the original Spanish must be like! But, simple minded reader that I am, I also really felt the lack of a cohesive plot. This book was easy to put down for days (sometimes weeks) at a time. But then again I was always glad to pick it back up and resume my journey with the fascinating Buendia family. I’m not entirely convinced every book needs to be a page turner. The characters are dynamic and captivating and days after putting this down I’m still thinking about them. Why couldn’t Amaranta forgive herself or Rebeca? How could Colonel Aureliano Buendia have the capacity for war and art and yet lack passion? And finally, the concept of solitude (expressed on almost every page) is something near and dear to my heart.

Ultimately, I feel like I lack the basic socio-political knowledge of Colombia and Latin America to even begin to dissect this novel so I’m not even going to attempt being one of those ‘terrible fools’ and ‘pontificate’ on the meaning of this classic.

**My final verdict – Everything you’ve heard is true - this is a dense and confusing work, but there are rewards to be had for those who persevere.
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May 28, 2011 Meg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Meg by: Springville Library Book Club

I guarantee that 95% of you will hate this book, and at least 70% of you will hate it enough to not finish it, but I loved it. Guess I was just in the mood for it. Here's how it breaks down:

AMAZING THINGS: I can literally feel new wrinkles spreading across the surface of my brain when I read this guy. He's so wicked smart that there's no chance he's completely sane. His adjectives and descriptions are 100% PERFECT, and yet entirely nonsensical. After reading three chapters, it starts making sens...more

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Aug 23, 2007 Jacey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

This was the first book I'd ever read where the end was as good as the beginning and middle, that's to say -- excellent. A circular story of a family through the generations, through the banana trees, through the political turmoil. Magical realism at it's best.

If it helps, by the time you get half way through the book you shouldn't have to look at the family tree at the front of the book anymore.

25 likes · like · see review

Mar 16, 2013 Sara Sbaraglia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1950-1999, sf_xx-secolo, sf_alph_challenge, colombia

Un romanzo... difficile... ecco, forse è questa la parola giusta. Emana una strana sensazione di confusione, disordine, in un intrico di rami di un albero genealogico di nomi riperpetrati di padre in figlio in cui già alla quarta generazione, insieme agli stessi personaggi, cominci a perdere memoria su chi è figlio di chi. E di sicuro non aiuta lo stile narrativo, fatto di istantanee di vita di tutti i personaggi miscelati a vere e proprie biografie del protagonista del momento, con un continuo...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Ben Winch rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-american, colombian

Why I hate the term 'magic realism':

1. It's widely misused. Not every work of fiction that references the supernatural is magic realism. Poe, for instance. In Poe, when something supernatural happens the characters respond with awe; in Marquez they don't even notice it. As Marquez said, he tells it flat, the way his grandmother used to. Nor, to pick someone contemporary, is Murakami related; yes he tells it flat, but Mr Wind-Up Bird is disturbed by the intrusions of the dream-world into his rea...more Why I hate the term 'magic realism':

1. It's widely misused. Not every work of fiction that references the supernatural is magic realism. Poe, for instance. In Poe, when something supernatural happens the characters respond with awe; in Marquez they don't even notice it. As Marquez said, he tells it flat, the way his grandmother used to. Nor, to pick someone contemporary, is Murakami related; yes he tells it flat, but Mr Wind-Up Bird is disturbed by the intrusions of the dream-world into his reality, and compelled to seek their source by passing through the boundary between worlds. But in Marquez there are no different realities; magic co-exists with the everyday, and his plots are never enquiries into the sources of that magic. That's the whole point of the term 'magic realism' - that it treats of magic as just another component of reality. Let's not forget, there has always been magic in literature. What book will this so-called genre claim next - the Bible?

2. It's been used to typecast the literature of an entire continent. Even now, it's possible and probably quite common for certain readers to buy, say, The Savage Detectives based on the presumption that it'll (a) be magical, (b) detail, in picturesque terms, a 'primitive' society, and (c) be set in the jungle. In Australian terms, it's the equivalent of writing about the desert to impress the grants board, and given that the population of South America is roughly 85% urbanised as compared to Australia's 90%, it's just about as absurd. Nor is magic realism the only style of literature to have come out of Latin America. Roberto Arlt, Clarice Lispector, Felisberto Hernandez, Juan Carlos Onetti - all are urban; none are epic, romantic or magical; all are considered canonical in their own cultures. Think of the abiding stereotype of the rural Latin American macho - does the popular conception of magic realism challenge it even slightly? I don't think so.

3. It's an oxymoron. Surely magic naturalism is more accurate. Which brings me to...

4. I dislike the term 'realism'. What does it mean? James Wood talks about it a lot in How Fiction Works, yet every time he mentions it I have less idea of its meaning. It's nebulous; when Wood talks I'm tempted to think it means the whole of prose fiction, or at least the whole of it after Flaubert. And though he takes great pains to define most if not all of his other terms, this one he leaves alone, as if we should understand it implicity. But I don't - I don't understand it at all. Not if magic realism is a species of it. Nor Wood's 'hysterical realism'. Thomas Pynchon realism - of any variety? I just don't see it.

And One Hundred Years of Solitude? It's decent, from what I remember. I used to think I loved it, though that was 20 years ago and I was swayed by the gushing recommendations of my parents. I re-read it maybe 5 years later and liked it, but mostly it hasn't stuck with me. So let's say it's good, but so is a lot of other Latin American writing - and not just the so-called magic realism.
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Jul 05, 2009 K.D. Oliveros rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Tata J

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books

Shelves: 1001-core, 501, favorites

After extremely enjoying the famous works of Hemingway (Old Man and The Sea), Neruda (Love Poems), Coetzee (The Life and Times of Michael K) and Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath), I told myself I have to read some works of the other Nobel Prize of Literature awardees and I was not disappointed picking ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by this Columbian author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This work introduced to literature the "magical realism" style in story telling. Fantasy was incorporated to reality in tell...more After extremely enjoying the famous works of Hemingway (Old Man and The Sea), Neruda (Love Poems), Coetzee (The Life and Times of Michael K) and Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath), I told myself I have to read some works of the other Nobel Prize of Literature awardees and I was not disappointed picking ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by this Columbian author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This work introduced to literature the "magical realism" style in story telling. Fantasy was incorporated to reality in telling the story of the seven generations of the Buendia clan. It is a thick book (450 pps) but I finished this in just 6 days. Thanks partly to Pasig Day - July 2, 2009 but also to the beautiful prose of G. G. Marquez. There is never a dull moment as there are always something to look forward to every time you turn the page. The characters are also well developed and even if there are 7 generations told in the 500 plus pages, the characters in the first generation still influence the way the last generations lived their lives which at some point made me wonder if they were still alive. Ursula, the matriach lived up to 130 years and she shrunk and shrunk and ended up blind and "like a raisin" when she died but she was still influencing the lives of Aureliano, Amaranta Ursula, etc. Even the ghost of Melquides was still talking to Aureliano the way he talked to Colonel Aureliano Buendia and Aureliano Segundo.

I finished this while visiting my hometown Quezon and I could not help imagining myself like when G. G. Marquez visited his hometown in Columbia after several years of staying in Mexico. During that visit, he was able to talk to his grandmother who was fond of telling fantasy stories with a poker face (as if the story was true). G. G. Marquez got the idea from that visit for him to devote 18 months of uninterrupted writing of this novel. Well, I am not writing any novel but when one stayed for several years in the city and one day goes back to the province and talk to some old people there, one will surely hear many old stories - fantasy, tragedies, supernatural, gossips, etc.

One highlight that I struck me most is the power of the past generations of our family to us. There are tales, practices or even prejudices that we now have in our family that were just passed on to us. This novel made me aware of some of those.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez really deserved his Nobel. There seems not to be anybody like him. (less)

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May 02, 2008 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My father-in-law loves this book so much that he gave me a copy for Christmas two years in a row. My father had already given me a copy years before. Lots of people I respect rave about this book; how it is a classic, a timeless work of genius, a brilliant critique of capitalism, etc. etc. I really want to share their enthusiasm; I want to be a member of the tribe that has read and loved this book, but I am ashamed to admit that I have never been able to finish it.

I have tried to get through it...more My father-in-law loves this book so much that he gave me a copy for Christmas two years in a row. My father had already given me a copy years before. Lots of people I respect rave about this book; how it is a classic, a timeless work of genius, a brilliant critique of capitalism, etc. etc. I really want to share their enthusiasm; I want to be a member of the tribe that has read and loved this book, but I am ashamed to admit that I have never been able to finish it.

I have tried to get through it several times. I have charted the family trees of the characters in order to keep track of the four-syllable names and incestuous couplings - but I get bored and frustrated with the meandering plot and give up half-way through every time. I keep thinking that maybe the end of the book, the part I've never been able to get to, is really great.

There are certain things I do really like about the book, which is why I still gave it three stars, the writing is beautiful, but I think the book, as a whole, is overrated - either that, or I'm missing something, the last part of the book perhaps, that inspires the kind of passionate enthusiasm that people tend to have about the book and it's author.

I've thought a lot about it on my stroller walks lately and I have come to the following conclusion: It's just not my genre. I prefer non-fiction and memoirs to fiction. The "magical realism" of García Márquez is too far out there for me - too fictional. I have enjoyed reading the commentary about the book far more than I have ever enjoyed the book. I have especially liked reading commentary about the book's allegorical meanings; readers who have linked this bizare work of fiction with fact, anchored the fictional town of Macondo to the places of García Márquez' childhood and the socio-political history of Columbia.

Someone once told me that there are two types of people: those who believe there are two types of people and those who do not. I am a knitter. Knitters are often lumped into two groups: process knitters or project knitters. Project knitters knit to produce wearable functional garments. Process knitters knit just for the experience of knitting. I am a process knitter, but a product reader. I like to knit but I'm not really concerned with the finished product. I like to read, but my focus is what I get out of a book more than the experience of reading it. I like to learn something either about a real place, real person, or gain some insight about myself. I like my fiction to be realistic. "Magical realism" is not for me. Every time I read this book I ask myself, "Where is this going? What is the point," where, if I were a process reader, perhaps I'd be able to let all of that go and appreciate the lyrical nature of the book's beautiful writing.

The cast of characters is too large. I think keeping track of all of them is a major distraction from the story. The plot is too abstract for me to grasp - and as much as I can appreciate the lyrical beauty of the language, I have never been able to get into this book. (less)

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Jun 06, 2007 Eleanor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

A book that covers the passage of time as if it were a wheel that would spin on into infinity were it not for the wear of the axle, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of the rise and fall of the Buendia family and their village Macondo. It tells the tender truths and lies of a family from the life of each member by blood and marriage, the passage of time told by the relationships of members who scarcely realize the depth to which their daily actions resonate back to generations before. H...more

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