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

Rating:
Summary: Melquiades' Masterpiece
Review: This book chronicles the evolution of the Buendias, a Spanish family. As the book goes on, we're exposed to Marquez's own sense of magical realism as he describes both the significant and trivial events in the lives of the Buendias.

At times, this book seems to be going in every direction at the same time. It is difficult to remember the different characters and their relationships to one another. However, the beauty of this book lies in its language and its explanations for human action. Marquez attempts to paint hundreds of little pictures that ultimately sum together to describe all humans to some extent.

His characters unrealistically engage in a type of symbolism to show different aspects of their inner workings. For example, Amaranta Ursula keeps her husband, Gaston, on a leash. This is Marquez trying to show us a side of Amaranta's personality and soul without coming right out and telling us. The book is full of examples such as these. If you are enchanted by clever symbolism done up in a magical realism form, you will enjoy this book.

Ultimately, the ending really ties everything together SO perfectly. My mind was desperate for clarity by the end, and Marquez more than impressed me. The theme of this book is the human relationship to time. Marquez sums this book up best when he concludes, "Melquiades (who I believe is supposed to be Marquez) had not put events in the order of man's conventional time, but had concentrated a century of daily episodes in such a way that they coexisted in one instant." - overall, an awesomely poignant work.