Customer Reviews

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club)

5 star:		(156)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I first read this book about 10 years ago in a neighborhood book club I belonged to. Of the group of about 10 people, 8 hated it and only 2 loved it. No one was indifferent.

Just because I gave this book a 5-star rating doesn't mean I think everyone will like it. In my experience most will not. That's because the book is hazy and doesn't make sense. I often found myself flipping back 100 pages to figure out how the current character was related to the other previous characters. Sometimes I would find that the current character was the same character that had died or disappeared 100 pages previously.

If you don't know already this book is the fictionalized story of generations of a family and the latin-american town in which they live. It was one of the first books to be written in a style that is called "magic-realism". That means that the book doesn't have to make sense.

This book is one of the top books I have ever read because it is the history of the world and everyone in it. I found myself over and over identifying with a character or recognizing someone I knew in a character. And as far as the "magic-realism", I find that that is exactly the way life really is. I found that this book applies to everyone and its themes and characters are universal. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is just a latin-american genre book. Nor should you think it is a dense, philosophical novel. The stories and sub-plots are captivating and interesting.

In short, this book is weird and wonderful. Give it a shot and you might be surprised as I was.

This is not an easy to read book; if you are looking for light reading, this is not it. Also, this is not a book to read quickly; it takes a lot of reflection to try to grasp the meaning (and often times you don't) of the wonderous stories.

Having said that, this is a wonderful book. Garcia Marquez tells the story of a family and a town, Macondo. The things that happen there are surreal; strange murders, sleeping disorders, scientists, soldiers, all revolve around the mansion of the Buendia family in Macondo. The tales introduce the reader to 20th century Latin American literature, with tales of love, sadness, desperation, hurt, and loss.

This is Garcia Marquez's most famous work, and arguably his best. It is a book to be savored slowly, page by page, contemplated and reflected upon. If you are looking for a page turner or light reading, feel free to skip this book. It is made for a very specific type of reader, one that will take the time to decypher the meaning of the stories and uncover the artistic content hidden just below the surface of the page.

I agree with others that this is a difficult read. I was honestly enjoying the book after the first couple of chapters, however. The writing is excellent, the story and its many twists intriguing. It all fell apart for me about halfway through when I realized I was no longer able to distinguish the characters and keep up with who was child of whom and who had died and how, etc. -- all critical to the continuing understanding of the story line. The author's choice to give the vast cast of characters very similar names was mind boggling. After a point, I simply could not -- without a fair amount of note-taking and diagramming I was not willing to do --keep up with all of the Aurelianos and Arcadios. Hats off to those who could finish it. I, unfortunately, could not.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Reading and finishing ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a challenge and a chore. I found myself falling asleep at times, at others I wanted to chuck the book. But as I found myself reading more and more of this classic book, I wanted to finish it and wanted to be able to give an honest critique about one of the most important novels written in the 20th century.

Why was this book a chore to read? Because Marquez chose to write this novel in the rambling style imitating his grandmother, who would tell him stories when he was a child. There are paragraphs that go on forever, and in fact, there is one sentence that went on for two pages. When I got past that 2-page sentence, I almost laughed out loud. Wow!

Next thought comes to mind - was this book worth reading? Yes! The problem with this book is that one cannot just read the first 100 pages and decide "this is awful". Without getting to the end, one will not have the true satisfaction of what the book encompasses, will not understand what the book was about. When I got to that last page, I put the book down and realized I had just finished an epic novel by an author that obviously deserved the Nobel Prize for Literature. The book was indeed pure genius.

To sum it up, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE is an epic story in the birth, life and death of the small fictional town of Macondo in a South American country. It parallels several generations of Buendias. One of many themes that passed through the family was the fear of one of the descendants would be born with the tail of a pig. Incest is one of the themes that runs rampant throughout the book, one of the many funny elements that kept me reading. (Not to give it away, there is one child that is born with a tail. I'll leave it to the reader to find out!).

Another theme I saw that was obvious by the time I ended the book was reality versus magic realism. While the earlier portions of the history of Macondo was rooted in magic brought to the town by the Gypsies, as one reads further into the story, one encounters realities of war, life and death, and other happenings that this town held as important. A major turning point was the start of the Banana Company and the arrival of the white man. And in turn the people of the town had to deal with unions, and workers benefits. What was so shocking was the cover up of an event that came about from a strike. The fact that the townspeople could believe in the lies the Banana company would say to cover up this event was shocking, yes the townspeople easily believed in flying magic carpets and other mystical happenings. It is true that people will believe what they want to believe, and not necessarily what is the truth.

The members of the Buendias family were all larger than life. The Jose Arcadios and the Aureliano's were the two main male characters, each generation being named for someone in the previous one. Remedios and Amaranta were the common female names, all of them in their own right standing out as someone that was special and unique. Ursula and Jose Arcadios Buendias were the matriarch and patriarch of the family. Ghosts abound; magic is an every day occurrence. The novel is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's most famous novel and helped give credit to the genre known as Magic Realism (other good examples are HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabelle Allende and THE SECOND DEATH OF UNICA AVEYANO by Ernesto Mestre-Reed).

This reader gives ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE a five star rating. It is not recommend to those who will not have the patience to read a rambling style of narrative. It is difficult, and often times frustrating. As seen by the many negative reviews on Amazon, mostly by Post-Oprah publication readers, please note that this book is not for everyone. But for those who can appreciate fine world literature, this if for you.

This is an absolutely amazing book. The most outstanding and unique thing about it is the style--it's like the figurative speech and literary imagery that all writers use have suddenly become physically incarnate. When Marquez wants to make a point about a dead character's lingering presence, he doesn't just write some simile about the ghost of the family's patriarch, but has that ghost sit under a tree, visible to all, for years. You can read into all of the magic that occurs, or you can just appreciate it as a good story. If you want realistic fiction, this isn't for you, but for anyone with a taste for whimsy and even absurdity it's great. There's a sense of wonder and joy in the writing, even when the subject matter isn't very cheerful. It's refreshing, especially since it seems like so much modern English literature is jaded and depressing.

This isn't a light book by any means, and maybe its scope is what makes people prefer Love in the Time of Cholera, which is a more narrow story. Personally, I was drawn in from the first page, and found the storytelling style engaging and interestingly nonlinear. It was exciting too--I was breathless when the civil war began. Yes, the names repeat a lot, but that serves a purpose, and as for the other repetitions, I couldn't help smiling every time the Arabs traded macaws. Homer repeated himself a lot too.

To conclude, I'll just say that before reading this, I didn't have a favorite book. Now I do.

I loved this book although I admit that I was confused a lot while reading it. I choose it for my book club and purchased an audio tape - I think I got it from amazon.com - that really helped me make sense of it. Everybody in my club hated it-several were forced to read it in college and didn't want to read it again. I was captivated by the magical realism and the idea of the perpetual cycle of life. I'm surprised Oprah selected it - it is really difficult. I also read Love in the Time of Cholera and thought it was much easier to read. Marquez is an author everyone who loves reading should attempt. If you can just stop insisting on instant gratification and keep on reading even it it doesn't make sense and even if you can't keep track of all the characters-just keep on reading and let the story get into your blood. It truly is magical.

I am dismayed to see that some people have given such a negative review to this novel, I think in great part it is because they don't understand or appreciate the intricacy of the novel. This is by no means an easy read, but after all you don't look for greatness in airport novels...

If you are a serious reader interested in finding one of the best book ever written then look no further. Marquez manages to create a whole new world in his novel, one that will live on and stand the test of time.

The other recommendation I can make is that if you know Spanish then try to read it in its original language, one of the greatest things about Marquez is his mastery of the language. Every sentence feels like a delightful adventure.

If there is only one book you will ever read in your life, then this should be it, pure and simple.

Forgive me if I've missed the point of this book completely, but I feel it is undeserving of the praise. As a fan of "Love in the Time of Cholera", I was sadly disappointed by this book. Adorers are right in saying this book is a difficult read; I agree with this sentiment, but for different reasons. Read on.

My main objection is that the story and the characters in the book don't live or breathe. What I mean is that character actions or propelling story events occur almost spontaneously with no real motivation or sense. The reason behind this is that the majority of the story is told in Marquez's (lyrical) exposition. We're given a hodgepodge of character chatter throughout the story, but the brunt of the novel is description. The problem with this is that Marquez rules the town with an iron fist: random characters arrive and are dead within a span of a page, 'magical' events happen based on Marquez's whim and lacking in cohesion with the other events of the story, motivation for character actions is GIVEN by Marquez in exposition (rather than having the actions flow naturally from our understanding of the characters), etc. So basically, we're reading Marquez's musings on a 'magical' town and its inhabitants. You feel no real compassion towards the main characters because Marquez is simply describing whats going on and telling you exactly how a character feels or acts. Supposedly, this is magical realism at its best. But I found myself rather detached from the proceedings and thought this technique was intensely frustrating.

So basically, Marquez's style in this book can only be described as Faulkner with a dash of the brothers Grimm, sort of a fantasy stream of conciousness method of following the events of his magical town. Undoubtedly, this story is replete with some wonderful images and vague symbolism, and perhaps Marquez is successful in communicating these ideas to some of you, but this style of writing doesn't work for me or in this book, because instead of a character's mind, we're just getting Marquez's thoughts and feelings. You will feel like you're just reading a Macondo history book with a few quotes thrown in to break up the tedium. And while the book flows in the sense that it goes from the birth to death of the city, I felt bored reading because events and actions sprout and die with almost no rationale - that is until Marquez tells us exactly why it happened. Fun.

In the end, I believe this book will prove difficult because you're simply apathetic to the characters or the town and what will happen to them. For as well as Marquez writes, events, characters, actions and ideas are indeed lyrically brought to the page - the imagery is sincere and vivid - nothing and no one is memorable or interesting. Sure you may vaguely recall ghosts, ice, or maybe even why they tied the old man to a tree and left him there, but they'll just be a disjointed spattering of memories, with no real appreciation or understanding for the scope, scale or symbolism of this work in its entirety. And frankly, you won't care.

Please read "Love in the Time of Cholera" instead.

To write a negative review of a book widely regarded as a classic is a somewhat intimidating task. But let me try.

A statement of personal taste first. The label of "magic realism" is, to me, a positive lure, and is one of the reasons that I picked up this book. I have a great love of other writers, like Borges, who blur the lines of realism and fantasy and fable and metaphor. My favorite contemporary writer of all, Steven Millhauser, I would consider to be a "magic realist" even though I have not heard others use the term.

On an intellectual level, Garcia Marquez's book has an obvious cohesion. It appears to mimic the great religious texts of old, such as the Book of Genesis. The town of Macondo, as the world in Genesis, is provided with a founding myth. Various fantastical things take place, the realistic superficial world uneasily overlays a magic-based otherworld; boys are born with pigtails, others are born with unnatural large genitalia, gypsies roll into town bearing every manner of magical device.

And, as in Genesis, events pile upon events; just as in Genesis the reader is subjected to a never-ending series of "begats," in Marquez's book, one is treated to an indistinguishable and never-ending list of people named Aureliano (and several other similarly overused names.) This is intentional, to confuse the reader, to cause them to wonder which Aureliano is doing what, and to contemplate how this world is often stuck in repeating the same comedies and tragedies over and over.

Some things are uniquely Latin American in the tale; you can see in the book a certain fatalistic attitude towards the region's political troubles, the suggestion that there is little higher meaning in them, rather a culture that is doomed to repeat the same old stories until that world eventually dissolves.

But here's the problem: it's really boring reading, and it lacks the spark of other magic realism. Quite willfully, the author never brings any personalities to life; they exist as archetypes, one-dimensional figures, actors in an endlessly recurring play. So too with the "magic" events; there is really very little magic in them, at least insofar as they inspire any sense of same in the reader.

I finished the book having reached the conclusion that it should have been a short story, not a full-length novel. You get the sense later on that the author is simply going through the motions, having decided on his superstructure for the book, he executes it with little feeling of inspiration or concern for the emotive or sensory power of literature that attracts readers.

Which is to say, if you find reading Genesis boring, with its endless "begats," you will probably find this boring as well. It is a flat, mechanically generated place, an intellectual comment on the world rather than a compelling, enjoyable piece of literature.

Some of the other comments here suggest that most people will dislike the book, but few will love it, even as they give it high ratings. I believe that to be fair; I have friends who enjoy the book. I found it labored and the reading of it laborious.

The best way for me to describe this book is that it's a very long folklore tale. That seems to be the simplest
discription of Magical Realism. You can hear it in your head, being passed down between the generations. Each
chapter feels like it represents one story that is told at one sitting; they compound on each other to make this
wonderful story complete.
The fantastic elements of this story take on mythic qualities; explaining those things in the world that seem to be
unexplainable without the notion of some kind of spiritual intervention. The characters in the book, as well as the
reader, must have faith that these explanations are true or else the story is nothing but a passionate fable.
Be prepared when reading this book: GGM is a gifted writer. Every sentence is full of discription and
information that must be savored in order the grasp its complexity. Not one idea is out of place; every word is
deliberate. This translation is pain-stakingly good, as well.
It may take a while to get into this book - give it time. The end is well worth the effort. Also, keep a flag on the
Buendia Family Tree as the names and lineages will get a little confusing!