From the Bookshelf of Should have read classics…

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

Start date: October 1, 2014

Finish date: October 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: This is the group read for October. It was second in the poll.
[close] This is the group read for October. It was second in the poll.

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What Members Thought

May 22, 2012 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

So, so much going on - I want to read it over and over to process it all. Interesting book, while also confusing in the repeated use of names and personalities from one generation to the next. Eventually, I realized the patterns meant something, I just wasn't sure what, exactly. It was quite enjoyable to read this while trying to figure out what he was trying to say. I really like how the book ended, finally giving the parchments, Melquiades, and the poetic and prophetic themes some relevance.

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Feb 03, 2014 Hermien rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, south-america, ebooks

I love the surrealism in South American literature. The writing was great but I kept thinking GGM was setting the scene for a major love story but realised after a while that was not going to happen.

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Aug 12, 2011 Peter rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: to-reread, world-literature, magical-realism, serious-literature, fiction-contemporary

Mmmm? (strokes Goatee and scratches chin) I really don't know what to make of this book.
A gypsy gift of alchemy and a prophetic dream about a city of mirrors inspire the establishment of a town miles from anywhere and so rural and primitive as to make rudimentary science and technology seem miraculous, it's beginning and end inextricably bound to the history and heredity of one family. The narrative coils and spirals around the internal life of that family and communities various interactions wi
Mmmm? (strokes Goatee and scratches chin) I really don't know what to make of this book.
A gypsy gift of alchemy and a prophetic dream about a city of mirrors inspire the establishment of a town miles from anywhere and so rural and primitive as to make rudimentary science and technology seem miraculous, it's beginning and end inextricably bound to the history and heredity of one family. The narrative coils and spirals around the internal life of that family and communities various interactions with the elements and/or the outside world, mostly in the form wars and economic developments and trade disputes. This could be to Bolivian history what The Tin Drum or Dog Years were to modern German history. If that is so, I didn't get it,... but then I know little to nothing about Bolivian history.
So, have I just experienced a work of art or been cheated out of the cover price? Is this an example of the emperor's new clothes, common sense hoodwinked by a pretence of something oh so clever? Whilst Senor Marquez undoubtedly has his own literary style this book may well be an example of style prevailing over substance? At his best he writes restless tragic-comedy, psychedelic like Dylan's 'Ballad of a Thin Man' or a Picasso, baroque streams-of-consciousness and fractal narratives unfolding and yet folding in upon themselves like computations of the Mandelbrot set, spiralling detail that embellishes the story lines and characters that 'grow with the flow'.
This book however just bamboozled and disorientated me before disappearing up it's own backside. It's a kaleidoscopic narrative that hints at allegory or satire of South American culture alluding at times, to something profound but more often dissolving into some shade of surreal nonsense. I enjoyed it and disliked it equally. Some passages were engaging whilst others caused my eyes to glaze over as they fizzled into nothing or shifted to the next Da-da character (the passages that is, not my eyes!). The effect is a disjointed mosaic from which the continuity or thread like the Ahab's whale only occasionally surfaces and, ultimately, the need for perseverance outweighed any enjoyment.
At first it was enchanting and funny, then it became frustrating (The family tree provided proves inadequate for orientation once you're into the 3rd generation), distasteful and disturbing (so much dark sexuality: recurrent incest and even bestiality), and ultimately disorientating and boring (I gave up trying to maintain a pretence as to which particular Aureliano I was reading about). Maybe I just missed something. Let's be generous and say that my ignorance of S. American cultural details precluded my ability to appreciate any satire/allegory herein contained. After all, some books improve with read count...but then others don't live up to their reputation. ...more

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