One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Book Reviews of One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)
Book Review: Magical Realism versus Fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
What is it that gives One Hundred Years of Solitude its critical acclaim, where many high mimetic fantasies go unrecognized? This book kept me delightfully shocked and appalled with its depravity and bleakness, but what makes it more `literary' and likely to be studied in a high school English class then the charming tale of a wizard going off to defeat his arch-enemy? Is fantasy silly and childish? Because the Buendia family is reminiscent of a never-ending chain of eight-year-olds playing in a sandbox and fighting like savages over whatever their hearts desire. Harry Potter is more mature than Jose Arcadio. This is the story of the lost boys never growing up, but in this story their bodies mature and they have adult desires that they gratify however they can.
Is realism just more literary than magic? What about the striking contrast between the verisimilitude of Maconda and the sudden appearance of magical phenomena? One Hundred Years of Solitude is deliberate, artistic and crafty, but it is also ridiculous, over-the-top and at times childish. It really speaks to the human condition that this kind of debauchery is what we value over an imaginative epic of good versus evil.
By the way, One Hundred Years of Solitude was a great read. It deserves every bit of positive critical acclaim it has received. It's incredibly engrossing and just taps into the darkness in humanity that we love to watch from afar.
Book Review: A book for all people.
Summary: 5 Stars
One Hundred Years of Solitude is said to be a work so wonderful, It should be required reading for the entire human race, and I must say I completely agree. The novel follows the progression of the Buenida family and Macondo, the town that grows along with the people in it. As I read I felt as if I was with the family and was experiencing the same things the town was going through. Garcia Marquez's magical realism and writing style make this novel one of a kind.
My favorite thing through out the novel was the magical realism that was always evident. I think this gives the novel its own special touch. I also enjoyed Garcia Marquez's writing style and method. Seen in this novel, as in many other works of Latin American literature is the ever present circle of fate that exists within the lives of every one. If you don't respect and learn from history, it will come back and to get you, repeat itself, and normally have negative consequences.
On thing I noticed throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude were the similarities between this novel and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Both follow generations of a family as they grow and change. They touch on the political situations of the time adding an interesting connection to reality.
Overall, I feel that this novel is one of the best I have read so far. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a life changing novel.
Book Review: Beutiful Stuff...Read it
Summary: 4 Stars
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a beautifully written book filled with memorable characters and packed with raw emotion and truth. Why not give it five stars then? Well, it was a rough decision. From a writing perspective, this is top notch stuff, no questions asked.
Some people have called the book boring, which is not true. Most of the characters and their stories are highly entertaining. The problem I encountered was that once a certain character dies, or his/her story stops being the primary focus, it takes a while for the reader to get involved in the next character that the book chooses to focus on. There were certain characters I liked more than others, and I found myself really taken out of the book once they were relegated to secondary characters and I had to adjust to a whole new set of characters and subplots.
Also, I never found myself confused by the similar names family members. Rather, I had a harder time keeping up with the numerous characters who only appear for two chapters and then die or just go off somewhere.
On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. Not one of my all-time favorite, but a beautiful book that really brough out emotion in me, especially towards the end, with that jaw-droppingly beautiful final sentence that ties together the overriding theme of the entire book.
Book Review: A novel to read, and not to learn
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book during a summer break because a close friend recommended it to me. "You may want to keep a chart," he warned, referring to the daunting number of recurring names in the novel. Well, I didn't keep a chart, but I quickly realized it's easy to confuse specific characters with one another. It seems those who dislike this book are often people who read it for a class, where memory of precise details of plot and sequence is more important.
One could argue that the confusion of names is an intended effect, and says something about the relationship between the characters, family, or maybe humankind in general. But regardless of all that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and not at all for the details of the plot. Rather, I enjoyed the novel for Garcia-Marquez's writing style and his incredible ability to create entertaining, intense, and provocative scenes and stories, which are cleverly interwoven to produce the novel's whole. I found I lost myself in all the small stories throughout the read, yet after I finished the book the connection between all of the scenes and characters and stories left me with an array of impressions that came together in an intense and beautiful way. So basically, the novel was an enjoyable and thought-provoking experience, even if I mixed up a name here and there.
Book Review: perfection between two covers
Summary: 5 Stars
as i began reading this, i was surprised by the writing style. it is written in heavy prose, with very little dialogue. it looks daunting then, when you open up the book to any page and you see full paragraphs, as if it were one massive essay. i suppose it makes sense, considering that roughly one hundred years is being covered in less than 500 pages. its as if everything is written as a story being told.
it is in fact a story of recollection, one that unfolds magically through the words of marquez in the city of macondo and the buendia family. the writing is mystical and poetic, with some of the most beautiful language, particularly in the last 30 pages or so. i had a difficult time finding my way into the story, but now that i'm done, i'm so glad i read it.
one of the quotes on the back of the book stuck with me throughout the reading: "Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." ~William Kennedy, New York Times
i don't think it could be put any better.
covering every facet of both the complexity and simplicity of love and solitude, i found myself reading and re-reading certain parts, finding the weight of the words in my own context. it was perfect.