Rating: 
Summary: is anything better
Review: I was reading some of the reviews for this book and could not believe my own eyes. Why did these savages cared or dared to review Marquez. One hundred years of solitute is not only the 5 best novels of the last century but also the probably one of the classics which will stand the test of time and will be read by people even after 200 years. it is funny that Oprah had to bring it to some people's notice to make it a best seller. If you have not read this book then you have not got a taste of real literature. try to read it in spanish too.
Rating:
Summary: my cosmotheory have changed!!!
Review: There is no words that can show the way that i feel since i have read this book...In my heart that book will alwayw be the best thing a human ever wrote!when i finish the book the tears was instopeble and i am not the type of a men who cryes often!My deepest sympathy for the author Gamriel Garcia Marcuez i prey for him to step over cancer!I am Greek and i have get with this book the real taste of the pain that feel a Latinoamerican!I hope that region of the earth will find peace and democracy in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: My review of 100 years of Solitude
Review: 100 years of Solitude is a confusing book to read It is enjoyable nonetheless. It is hard to keep track of what each character is doing, because there are so many characters with the same name. Gabriel Garcia Marquez paints a vivid picture of a fictional setting called Macondo where the people speak Spanish. The founder of Macondo is Jose Arcadio Buendia. He is an adventurous person but he gets crazy and impulsive with anything new. These traits seem to pass on to all of his descendants with the same name. The people of Macondo endure a civil war and a widespread plague where no one can sleep. They also have to adjust to living with the white man.
I liked about how each character is changed by the events happening around them. Aureliano Buendia is a great example of this. He is a happy, intelligent, compassionate person at the beginning of the novel. However after experiencing defeat in a prolonged civil war, he loses his capacity to appreciate life and his loved ones. Each woman in this novel has her own individual quirk that makes them unique. Ursula is the matriarch of the Buendia family who holds the family together despite being blind. Pilar Ternera is the fortune teller who predicts the future using cards. Rebecca is a reclusive character who eats dirt from the ground when she is depressed. 100 years of Solitude is an ok book but it's just a little hard to follow because of all the many characters.
Rating: 
Summary: I was NOT ready for this book
Review: I owned this book for nearly a decade before I actually read it, and I still wasn't ready for it when I did. I was hugely disappointed with "One Hundred Years of Solitude." It was my first experience with the genre known as "Magical Realism," and it just didn't seem to me to work as either magical or realist. My expectations were probably colored by the fact that I grew up reading books that fit solidly into the Fantasy genre, as well as "realistic" books like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." This is not your "Harry Potter" or "A Wrinkle in Time" kind of magic. Not at all. If you have never read Magical Realism before, be prepared to be knocked off your feet and, at times, very confused. It's also quite possible that you, like I, will be disappointed. My best advice for enjoying this book, if you should choose to read it, is to approach it with a very open mind, and throw all of your expectations out the window. I know many people who loved loved loved this book. I sincerely hope that you can enjoy it more than I did. It's been seven years since I read "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and I'm still trying to get over the disappointment of the experience.
Rating:
Summary: In response to "Should I risk it?" below:
Review: "But the fact that it's on Oprah's list and that Amazon thinks the word "years" is spelled with an apostrophe are enough to put me off.
Moving on." Quite frankly, both of these are idiotic reasons to pass up one of the greatest pieces of literature ever put to paper. To other readers considering this book, all I can say is... it's a heart-stopping experience. You can read plot and theme details in other reviews, so I won't waste space here re-hashing that information. It's a profound and beautiful book, an amazing and an entertaining read as well.
Don't waste time. Buy it now, or go to your library and check it out. Read it. I can't tell you enough what an incredible book this is.
Rating: 
Summary: seriously overrated
Review: .... While _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ isn't garbage, it doesn't deserve all the hoopla it has received. I found all the outrageously unrealistic happenings and crazy activities of the characters very amusing (the reason I gave it the second star). Unfortunately this tactic got stale less than half-way through the book. The major downside to this writing style is that the characters lack credibility so it becomes difficult to see them as real people or sympathize. It boils down to your typical post-modern piece of "literature": nihilistic contempt for moral norms, gratuitous sex (including incest), characters who largely lack any regard for the welfare of their progeny, and what is fashionably called 'beauty': a mathematically symmetric plot not unlike a dog chasing its own tale---and just as meaningless. The book was worth a few chuckles, but I'm glad I didn't pay money for my copy. If you like fantastic stories from Latin America, I recommend reading the *short* stories of Jorge Luis Borges: each is crafted like a jewel; whereas _Solitude_ is just flaccid and tiresome.
Rating:
Summary: Colorful narrative for our senses.
Review: I must admit, I couldn't believe Oprah chose this book in her book club. I work part-time at a bookstore and have recommended this book for years to naive readers that wanted to broaden their horizons. What can I say about Mr. Marquez - one of my favorite novelists of all time - but appreciate his genious for wonderfully descriptive and colorful narrative that borders on the surreal with reality. Although one hundred years is my second favorite by Marquez, "Love in the time of cholera" is my favorite, no other writer in recent history has made me cry and laugh hysterically over a narrative. Reading one of his sentences is like, how shall I say, viewing a painting by an impressionistic great. It conjures colorful visions that are dreamlike on the surface but is so real in emotion underneath. In tradition with the history of supernatural that permeates throughout latin american history and storytelling, this novel is full of spirits, the unexpected and the impossible. I've told many Oprah worshippers to take their time and be imaginative at the bookstore. It's great to see people being exposed to great art, even if does require someone like Oprah to be a catalyst. For those who love this book, give Love in the time of Cholera a try, it's one my personal favorites and definitely THE choice from Mr. Marquez. Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: If you only read two books in your entire life...
Review: You don't win a Nobel prize for writing crap. This is one of the greatest works of literature ever written. If you can read it in Spanish AND English you'll get the most out of it but that is not necessary. One reviewer wrote, "You come away from this book, as if from a dream, your mind on fire." Another reviewer wrote, "If you only read two books in your lifetime, read this and the Bible." Take these excellent reviews to heart. Marquez, with this work of unbelievable genious, has joined that rarified group who are Nobel prize winners for literature. Please do something wonderful for yourself and read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in spite of Oprah.
Review: (...) I'm equally put off by this great novel's appearance in Oprah's cadre of mass market bestsellers, leisure reading, and fodder for housewives desperate for an escape, but consider this: Nobel winners rarely receive their prize for writing shlock. Unless you're fairly literate, the book will be a plod through a molasses-filled wading pool for you. Read it only if you appreciate richly-textured, image-saturated prose - moving beyond belief - compelling vignettes and characters of immense complexity and intensity. This is my favorite piece of fiction in all the vast world of literature, and I so regret my inability to read it in its original language. I even own a first edition, purchased after a bit of a hunt. Are your shelves filled with Danielle Steele novels? Go away, you'll hate this. If on the other hand you want to weep for joy at the utter magic a single writer's imagination is capable of, this is your next read. But take your time. I didn't read it until I was ready, and I thank my lucky stars every day that I was so, at last.
Rating:
Summary: Should I risk it?
Review: The New York Times review makes it very tempting to invest my time in this book. But the fact that it's on Oprah's list and that Amazon thinks the word "years" is spelled with an apostrophe are enough to put me off. Moving on.
| 
