Rating:  Summary: Great book for those who enjoy thoughtful fiction Review: Great book. I recommend it for anybody. A very deep sensual and at the same time a bit mystical novel. The book is written in a very original style that leaves an impression of listenning to the story in reverse, as if it was taken from somebody's memory. Makes you draw parallels with your own family and your own life. Definitely worth reading!
Rating:  Summary: Fantastic Review: Absolutely amazing book, among the best I've ever read. Sensual, magical, extraordinary story about one hundred years in the life of one family. Has been compared in impact to the Bible and I agree.
Rating:  Summary: 100 years of slow reading Review: This highly overrated book indicates the havoc that overweight talk show hosts can wreak upon the literary world. Garcia's most juvenile and frustrating book is now being yammered about by book clubs the world over who suddenly think they know about South American authors.The book is overly long and repetitive; themes are repeated ad nauseum. Characters (some of whom have the same name) are one dimensional and unbelievable. By the time you reach the halfway point in the book you are praying for something different to happen. Then Garcia introduces a new character, has him act just like all the others, and die within 3 pages. It's amazing how quickly he mows down his creations, as if he is as tired of them as I was. In the end there are no surprises, and you feel exhausted from the repetition. Underwhelming, and nowhere near as good as "Love in the Time of Cholera". Give it a miss and try "Blindness" instead.
Rating:  Summary: One hundred spastic pages Review: I tried really to follow the story...the names are all the same,I kept constantly referring to the family tree to figure out who was who...it's more science fiction than believable...insominia disease of the entire village?!, Just too difficult for me to enjoy. I hated it and only got as far as 158 pages before I gave up.
Rating:  Summary: Difficult to get through - but worth it.. Review: Garcia Marquez' work is often lost in translation, as I felt after reading 'News of a Kidnapping.' Yet this difficult read goes evedn further, causing a normally fast reader to take an unusually long amount of time to finish reading it. The repetitive names of characters that transcend generations and are all sleeping with one another, add to the confusion, and the reader reaches a point where the several Aurelianos and Jose Arcadios all start seeming like one another. But here in lies the magic of this brilliant piece of literature. The author's power to weave a poetic and magnificent story is incredible. The real yet magical, brutal yet romantic, hilarious but tragic nuances of this book only reinforce an understanding of the characters, and what the suffer through the pages of this book. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a book that leaves a reader pondering the very nature of humanity, family relationships, hopes, desires, ambitions, political beliefs and even the very course of nature. It is dense to get through, but the confusion and concentration it requires only adds to the brilliance of this piece.
Rating:  Summary: Difficult but worth it Review: Like many people, I had trouble getting into this book, but after the first couple of chapters I managed to fall into the pace that Marquez sets and enjoy things. While I do agree with another reviewer that the similarity of names was confusing, I'm not sure that is so important to the overall message the book has. As with many books that deal with a saga (think Conroy's "Price of Tides" or McCRae's "Bark of the Dogwood") there's a lot of ground to cover, and tying everything together is not always easy. Still, I think that if you give this book time and finish it, you'll feel rewarded.
Rating:  Summary: Could not put it down Review: Marisa Jackman, A reviewer, I am a reader of Non -Fiction, especially anything related to courageous real life stories and this book, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE fits the bill. It is honest,at times captivating and very difficult to put down until you have finished reading it. I can understand why this was an Oprah pick as it is so poignant in detail. This book ranks up there with NIGHTMARES ECHO,RUNNING WITH SCISSORS,and MY FRACTURED LIFE. All amazing and well written memoirs in thier own rights.
Rating:  Summary: The book you will never forget Review: This is my personal favorite. Even after 33 years of its translated publication, I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the shelves of the local supermarket with sparkling "Oprah" label on it. That did not affect my love towards the magical realism or the poetic writings of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The genealogy at the first page might appear out of place for the uninitiated; but later on, getting confused about the names of characters, you will come back to the page like the dead Prudencio Aguilar searching for water in Ursula's kitchen. Lot of images will stay in your mind for years to come: The Gypsy Melquiades writing the scripts in the daguerreotype laboratory, Rebecca in her rocking chair while her canvas bag making cloc-cloc-cloc sound with her parent's bones inside, Colonel Aureliano Buendia organizing the never-ending uprisings far away from the swamps of Macondo, Jose' Arcadio Buendia in the palm shelter tied to the chestnut tree in the rain with green froth from the mouth, (...) The best of all is the death of Jose' Arcadio, his blood trickling through the streets of Macondo, negotiating all the uneven terraces and streets to Ursula's kitchen where she was ready to crack thirty six eggs to make bread and further, to end in an unsuccessful "marinated" burial. The writing is just wizardry; mixing the potions of wit, realism and the absurdities of life to narrate the story of the little known natives of Macondo, the land alienated from the rest of the civilization in the swamp. If you did not read this novel, It is a shame!
Rating:  Summary: At page 250 I'm still struggling and am an avid reader! Review: I read constantly and although I've only read a few books that I feel warrant 5 stars, I am amazed that this best seller IS a best seller. Most of the characters have the same or very similar names. The family tree at the beginning of the book is no help since the men seem to sleep with the same women. If you want to read a latin magic themed book read Blindness. This book is difficult to get through, but has an absolutely amazing premise and once I got used to the narrative style, I couldn't put it down.
Rating:  Summary: Sheer Brilliance Review: This is a book that drew me inwards. I say "inwards" because this book felt introspective and intimate to me, and the ever tighter spirals of time and meaning did not disappoint even as they reached their bleak conclusion. An absolute triumph that rewards re-reading at relatively frequent intervals.
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