Rating: 
Summary: More who read it hate it than love it, but I loved it.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Oprah!
Review: I cannot put into words how amazed I was by this book when I first read it several years ago. It is full of the subtle characterizations and plot nuances that make magical realism such a pleasure to read. Like Borges did so well in Ficciones, Garcia Marquez provides readers with believable characters in detailed settings adding just a touch of the supernatural. I applaud Oprah for choosing a different type of classic and giving magical realism to a new generation of readers. A word of caution: Ignore the negative reviews. Other reviewers (the negative ones) have talked about the confusing character names, the length, etc. as reason to give this book 1 or 2 stars. Read the book, concentrating on the narrative and description. Don't get bogged down in the denseness of the prose. Reading this book, along with all other books for that matter, should be a treat, not a chore.
The 1 and 2 star reviewers should just go back to reading those books that offer you a way to pass the time without actually using your mind.
Rating:
Summary: A century classics, with beautiful writing
Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death, and vicissitudes of the town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. Detached and matter-of-fact, the narrative serenely unveils the happenings around the Buendia house and its prolific generations, filled with unforgettable characters. For some readers the novel might flow somewhat uneventfully and convey a breath of aridness - don't give up because after about a hundred pages or so Garcia Marquez has delineated a clairvoyant tapestry of human emotions, all types of solitude, love, and bitterness that accentuate struggles of townspeople and members of the Buendia family to the fullest actuality. Reading the book, it seems, at times, as if I'm travelling through still photographs. Life of the Macondians, as well as the Buendias, one after another generation, as it always was, fixed in its frame, just there at just that time. In a big picture, Macondo had been a prosperous place and well on its way until it was disordered, corrupted, and suppressed by the banana company, whose engineers brought on the deluge as a pretext to avoid promises made to the local workers. At the core of the novel are those who were caught up in the upheaval that unfortunately turned into a massacre killing 3000 people. The novel is beautifully written, with the author's attending to the minutest details and nuances. A recurring theme is that solitude had made (in many of the characters, men and women) a selection of their memory and had burned the dimming piles of nostalgic waste that life had accumulated in their heart, and thus had purified, magnified, and eternalized the others. People relapsed into intransigent solitude though they all live within a huge family under the same roof. As family members advanced in their years, they made detailed recapitulation (or brought to realization) of life in the house and completely changed the opinion they had held of their descendants and siblings. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a complicated analysis of human emotions and struggles through the decadence of a mythical town and its pillar family. The book evokes such clairvoyance as it scrupulously examines the most insignificant happenings and truths in a family that members of which did not see. The novel exposes to the full human flaws: incapability of love, gall of bitterness, invincible cowardice, irrational fear, and sinful pride (which led to the fall of one of the major characters, Colonel Aureliano Buendia). Final words of advice: have a notebook and genealogy chart of the Buendia family ready and do not hesitate to backtrek when names of the characters become confusing. Savor and ruminate the dreamy narrative that plunges deeper and sidles closer to core of human emotions. Also recommended:
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez 2004 (25) © MY
Rating:
Summary: Strange and wonderful
Review: This book is a plethora of difficult and beautiful passages, music really. Most people's problem with it is that they're trying to hard to get every little bit from the novel. Rather, I think it's better to let the words wash over you--a sort of "go with the flow" if you will. It's necessary to trust the author and believe he knows what he's doing. Granted, this is one of the more unusual pieces of literature on the market, but readers will find that they get out of a work what they put into it energy-wise. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by Jackson T. MCcrae and THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER
Rating:
Summary: Great family saga
Review: This book is in interesting look at several generations of one family. It has humor, romance, sex, drama, and action all in one. There are many characters, but Garcia manages to let the reader get to know all of them. Great book.
Rating:
Summary: Mini-masterpiece of poetic imagery and great storytelling
Review: First published in Argentina in 1967, this novel has captivated millions of readers through the years. I'm glad to say that now I've joined their ranks. I've never seen magic realism, the essence of Latin American fiction, done so well. The story drew me in and held me fast for its full 458 pages. All this was done without one wasted word or one moment when my interest lapsed. The book is pure fiction in every sense of the word. Right from the beginning I knew that things couldn't have happened the way they did. But I was so enchanted with the author's use of poetic imagery and storytelling ability, that I found it hard to put the book down. And when I did, the images lingered, forcing me to think about them well beyond the scope of the story. This is the tale of the rise and fall of a mythical town somewhere in South America founded by the Jose Arcadio Buendia family. It follows the town and its people for 100 years and I was glad there was a family tree printed at the front of the book because many of the characters had the same, or similar names. We meet gypsies and soldiers and circus performers. We see a beautiful woman disappear into the sky. We see blood from a suicide travel miles down a street. We see copulation both within and outside of marriage. We meet a woman who chooses a lifetime of virginity. We see hard work and self-indulgence. There's a rainstorm that lasts four years. And an illness that keeps people awake for months. There's the impact of the railroad and a banana plantation. There is a war that rages for years and years. There is death by firing squad or senility. Some of the people live as long as 120 years or more. There's a lot of sadness. And the conclusion is brutal. Yet, so much of it the book is so comic that I laughed out loud at times. Always, however, there is the central theme of solitude. Every character, in one way or another, lives in his or her own isolation. And, believe it or not, it all seems real. I loved this book. It was a delicious refuge to take me out of my ordinary world and let me experience this mini-masterpiece. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Don't resist the whirlpool
Review: With his mythical town and his mythical family saga, with his web of crazy and colorful characters following their crazy pursuits, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has confused many readers -- and enchanted many many more. I advise not to resist the whirlpool of Marquez's seductive writing, and just go with it. If you check out In The Ghost Country, you'll find another beautifully written book that has divided readers along literary lines.
Rating:
Summary: The language, not the plot
Review: I do sympathise with people who found this book long and difficult. I am fifteen, I read this when I was fourteen, and this, to date, is one of my favourite books from one of my favourite novelists.
This book if for people who truly love writing and language rather than 'thrilling' plots. It is written beautifully. The words are rich and the images are dream-like. The town Macondo, is a dream. You need to read it for the words. For the links. For the images and for the characters. The magic is part of it. It is what makes Macondo Macondo and is what makes Marquez Marquez. I can't understand how people can hate it.
You read a sentence, you stop, and you savour it.
Rating: 
Summary: More entertaining than Oprah
Review: To get a sense of this novel, think of a cross between "Dallas" or "Dynasty", and "The Simpsons", only set in a mountainous Colombian village, and imbued with hokey magical realism.
Rating: 
Summary: Detailed and compelling
Review: Probably one of the most detailed books ever written, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is remarkable in not only its construction and premise, but its execution and plan. Yes, this is a difficult book to get through, or rather "get into." There is a plethora of similar names and more than a few bizarre scenes which verge on unbelievable, but consider the context for this book; the writer; the style; the time an setting. Parts of this novel are simply magical, while others, seemingly mundane, later transform themselves into revelations. The only other writers who come close to Marquez in this sense are Faulkner and McCrae. This is a rare treat, but unfortunately, one that most people won't be able to fully appreciate. Forget TV, the Internet, and today's problems and read this book for what it is--a great piece of literature that holds up even years after its initial release. Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood
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