One Hundred Years of Solitude question

At first, but I just let my mind go with the flow and it all made sense. I loved this book so much! Definitely one that I want to revisit!

I'd imagine the names are deliberately confusing and that it doesn't particularly matter which person is being referred to - as has been pointed out, they make the same mistakes as their predecessors.

I think it also points to how hugely influential family and upbringing can be, across generations, and how everyone carries a part of their ancestors. I mean that not in a magical, spiritual sense, but in so much as children learn habits from their parents that they then pass on (a trend sadly highlighted, but not exclusive to, by many neglect/abuse cases).

Even the industrial revolution doesn't change the cycle, it just changes the circumstances in which the same themes play themselves out: love, religion, death, war.

A Buendia by any other name...

Referred to the family tree graphic also. The characters, I think, were supposed to amalgamate, which is why the heredity and names were structured as they were; an original and effective device.

I managed to keep track of everyone, because I have the sort of memory for this kind of thing, but when we read this for my APLit class in high school, even my teacher couldn't keep track of who was who half the time.

I grew up in a big extended family so, in some ways, the chaos seemed natural and very much organic to the rhythm and tone of the piece. I love his family trees! I love everything about his writing choices. He takes chances. And his choices always pan out for me.

At first it ws confusing.....bt now i know them all.....this book is very interesting!!

I'm not convinced the author was able to keep all of the names in order himself.
I must admit to being bemused by this book. All of the comments here also make me wonder whether I was reading a different book from everyone else. I didn't loath this book but I did not enjoy it in any way. If this is his greatest work I would hate to have to read anything else by him.

The trick is to read it really quickly. I read this on vacation and finished it within a week. Each character is unique to the point that their traits are what you recognize before where exactly they fall on the family tree. An added bonus of reading it quickly is that it is easier to spot the similarities and differences between the generations which only makes it that much more haunting in the end.

Well, the motif of forgetfulness in Macondo is consistent with this confusion of names. . .remember the insomnia plague that robs inhabitants of the ability to remember the names of things? A "collective semantic amnesia," one critic calls it. Like chanting the same word again and again induces trance and thus allows a new form or dimension of consciousness, the swamp of proper nouns, the repetitions and muddlings, all helped unmoor the reader from preconceptions and allow a new perception. Brilliant, brilliant novel. Not for a casual reader! This is a demanding book, no?

OnceI started getting confused with the names,I stared writing a family tree of my own.That really helped!

I actually ended up just "surfing" the names, the way I surfed through Ulysses.

Not disrespectfully. Just riding the waves of words.

Shelley
http://dustbowlstory.wordpress.com

Yes! Great book, but i had to check the family tree every 10 pages. But i think that's the charm if the book.

This was beyond my power and ability!
No,,of course not!

I still remember how it seemed to take 100 years to read this book. Yeah, the names were too much. Every man seemed to be named Jose, and I couldn't tell WHICH Jose or generation being referred to.

The women had more of a variety of names. Even though I kept referring to the family tree, it didn't help much. Too many people with the same or similar name. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable for me, not hard work.

I almost gave up on the book, but I wanted to see why it's considered one of the greatest books of the 20th Century.

Absolutely, i had a big trouble with the names, but when i was at the half of the book I decided that I only had to enjoy the names and the story. Of course when i finished to read I downloaded the tree flow chart.

lord yes ! i have to really flip to the family tree flow chart again and again to just know who is who , so many generations talked of!

tip: photocopy the family tree at the front. laminate it and use it as a bookmark - no more turning back to the front!

The names were quite confusing. The family tree flow chart really helped.

It was confusing that they all had the same two names! I'd have given anything to a generation of Bob, Sam and Bubba.

Yes I was confused by the names in the beginning (which I found frustrating) but as I read further I was able to discern more readily without aid. I actually picked up and put down this book a few times before I was able to buckle down and read it. I think I had it for nearly a year before I actually read it cover to cover in one go, and now it is one of my all time favorites. It takes a certain mood and a bit of resolve to get through the beginning but it is worth it. This is a beautiful work of literature.

I found myself referring to the family tree graphic at the beginning of the book quite frequently.