One Hundred Years of Solitude in Overdue Podcast

Sep 20, 2012 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: own

An epic that follows the Buendia clan for several generations and the rise of their beloved Macondo, which they helped found, and eventually it's ruination. Overall a really enjoyable and thoughtful book with random twists that keep you wondering what will come next, but yes even I tired of the family by the end was secretly hoping for an unfortunate cataclysm that would wipe them out along with Macondo. It's not that I actually turned against the book so much as the inhabitants of the story, I ...more

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Oct 26, 2014 R rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-reads

I finally finished, and I have no one but myself to blame. In all truthfulness, I surprised that it took me this long to finish because it just doesn't seem like a long book compared to what I have read. However, this is certainly a new type of genre for me and I have to say that I'm impressed by the magical realism displayed throughout the entire novel.

In Marquez's story, he gives the fictional story of a town called Macondo which is founded by a family by the name of the Buendia. The story the I finally finished, and I have no one but myself to blame. In all truthfulness, I surprised that it took me this long to finish because it just doesn't seem like a long book compared to what I have read. However, this is certainly a new type of genre for me and I have to say that I'm impressed by the magical realism displayed throughout the entire novel.

In Marquez's story, he gives the fictional story of a town called Macondo which is founded by a family by the name of the Buendia. The story then progresses throughout the generations of the Buendias and the history of Macondo as a metaphor for the history and political upheaval of Columbia as we know it. It's a fascinating story that took me an amazingly long time to get through but I have to say that I'm glad I read it after all.

I suppose my real and only problem with the one was that I would get confused and caught up in the mutiple Jose Arcadio Buendias and the multiple Aurelianos; after the seventeen Aurelianos born from Colonel Jose Arcadio (I think?) I kind of gave up and let the novel progress as slowly as possible in an attempt to jumpstart my memory. Yet I quite liked how the names which the same, especially towards the end. Admittedly, because of the grand cast of characters, I became confused with who they were, their life story and even their familial relations to the other characters in the novel. For sure I was only able to discern the women in the family; Ursula, Amaranta, Rebeca, Remedios the Beauty, and Fernanda. Of course there are more, but because their name were the least to repeat, I found them easier to recall.

This one is endlessly fascinating with tons of nooks and crannies of interesting facts and wondrous anecdotes here and there. I especially like how Marquez was able to weave this town from one with a glorious, utopic beginning, to one that was blown away by the wind in the end of the last Buendia's days. It can be a confusing read, but for sure I'd highly recommend anyone to give it a try. ...more

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Jun 25, 2017 Jeni rated it liked it · review of another edition

This one wavers between three and four stars for me, as it's beautifully written and has interesting, likable characters, but it's hard to follow, mostly because this family insists on using the same names over and over again. But overall, I liked it.

The first 50 pages of this actually reminded me more of Don Quixote than Marquez, but then the author's voice came through. And shit got real when the wars started up, but he handled those just as well as he did the generational and romantic stuff. ...more

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