Rating: 
Summary: Magical Realism
Review: I fortunately was introduced to "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in an abridged version on audio cassette. The tape came with a printed guide which explained magical realism. I have found that it is easier to deal with "difficult" books like these if they are on tape (Toni Morrison comes to mind.") To expect someone to understand a novel in the genre of "magical realism" with no explanation of what it is , in my mind is pointless and unfair. To then accuse them of not being serious readers is also unfair. I listened to the book and found it interesting but not compelling or illuminating.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful tale
Review: The best way for me to describe this book is that it's a very long folklore tale. That seems to be the simplest discription of Magical Realism. You can hear it in your head, being passed down between the generations. Each chapter feels like it represents one story that is told at one sitting; they compound on each other to make this wonderful story complete.
The fantastic elements of this story take on mythic qualities; explaining those things in the world that seem to be unexplainable without the notion of some kind of spiritual intervention. The characters in the book, as well as the reader, must have faith that these explanations are true or else the story is nothing but a passionate fable.
Be prepared when reading this book: GGM is a gifted writer. Every sentence is full of discription and information that must be savored in order the grasp its complexity. Not one idea is out of place; every word is deliberate. This translation is pain-stakingly good, as well.
It may take a while to get into this book - give it time. The end is well worth the effort. Also, keep a flag on the Buendia Family Tree as the names and lineages will get a little confusing!
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: This is a great book!
Now on Oprah's Bookclub list 2004!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Classic?
Review: I've heard almost everwhere about people saying this was the greatest book they have ever read, I often don't think much of peoples comments with statements like that and put them in a category under recommended reading. After reading this book however; I started a new category called "avoid at all costs." The book has high hopes comparing itself to the creation story and the first 5 books of the Bible, I don't beleive critics should even repeat this comparison because it is so off kilter. The story tells the plight of a south american family and its countless generations struggle with society and establishing norms. However, the book drags into a boring and overwritten lull, each page made me cry because I am in no ways a fast reader and it moved me to tears to realize that I had lost about 18 hours of my life over the course of three months, and you need that many breaks when you pick up a book like this. If there was anything good to come out of this was the realization that a number of books tell the same story a lot better for instance John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" and his other master work "The Grapes of Wrath." You treasure every page in those books.
Rating:
Summary: A Page-Turner in the Worst Sense
Review: I had high hopes for this book, since it's touted as a showcase of my favorite style of writing, magical realism. At its best, magical realism draws intangible ideas into the physical world in a way not easily done by everyday things. This book does not do that.Reading GGM's comments about the book, one can see how shallow his basis for the narrative really is. He wants to tell stories like his grandparents did, with no clear separation between fantasy and reality. Fair enough. Noble goal, though not Nobel-worthy. Unfortunately, telling-fantasy-like-it's-real does not magical realism make. The book comes off as a southern hemisphere Faulkner clone with a few supernatural events tossed in for stylistic effect. There's no getting around the fact that the same stuff happens over and over again, without interesting variation, throughout this leviathan of a book. Yes, GGM, we understand that time is a circle and that the family's doomed to repeat the same patterns in slightly different ways. This does not merit 422 pages. At page 100 I was hopeful a plot would develop; by page 200 it was clear that it would not. Major structural and premise flaws aside, though, GGM's just not a good stylist. I'm sure he's more elegant in the Spanish, but there's no redeeming "the fragrant and wormy guava grove of love that was dragging her to her death" in any language. This book would be an excellent fit for checkout lanes in grocery stores where very smart people shop, or for those who want to say they've read it. For those looking for quality books in the magical realist tradition, though, Borges' Collected Fictions, Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveler or even Eco's Island Of The Day Before will offer far more rewarding reading.
Rating:
Summary: a perspective on life
Review: This novel is one that allows you to reflect on our place in life, and how small we are in this world, yet how big we are in terms of how we can use our lives to impact others. Such an awe inspiring novel that is written with such vivid emotions and warmth, yet leaves you feeling very cold and alone in the end. Extremely moving, and fantastically written. I could not think of a more appropriate title to this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Exquisitely depressing
Review: This book should be on your list of must-read great books. It is a long and elaborate story of unrequited love, family, and loneliness. However wonderful, it is almost morbidly depressing so for your own mental health read it when you feel strong!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books i ever read
Review: this captivating book opened my eyes to Magical realism. it made the things that were unreal to reality to things that feel as though it really happened. This novel covers the birth and death of the citym, Macondo, through the eyes of Coloniel Buendia. It has been quite difficult for me to understand certain parts of the novel due to the continuous use of the same name for each generation. Certain events during the novel left me wondering what had happened. Overall, I would recommend this book to any individual who look forward to a eye-opening, magical journey.
Rating:
Summary: A novel that will stretch your brain
Review: This just may be the most influential novel of the past fifty years, imitated by hosts of other writers. For instance, I was just watching ANGELS IN AMERICA on HBO, and this play would have been inconceivable without Marquez's novel. Magical Realism has become part and parcel of world literature, and it has effected every corner of the world. It has been widely read in the Arab speaking world, in Japan, and during the days of the Soviet Union people used to pass around cassettes of someone reading a Russian translation. Truly a book that belongs not merely to Mexico (he is Columbian, but wrote the book while living in Mexico City) but to the world.
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Summary: Each alone in the sea of humanity
Review: In this century-long story of a rural Columbian town, Sr. Marquez tells of a family whose memorable members, amidst all the glory, prosperity and apparent happiness, in the end stand each alone in life. I think he tells us how our remorse, scars, pride, fear, resignation and forgetfulness lead us to live and die in solitude, even in the sea of humanity, and that such lives are, in the end, as if not having been lived at all, for they will not be remembered.
For all of the numerous people who populate the story, the character development is deep and wholly convincing of each joy and suffering, of which the ups and downs are considerable as the tale unfolds. The story is told with a mixture of honesty toward the brutality of Columbian national life, rich fables and superstitions of the locality, and Sr. Marquez's own twists of imagination that immensely enrich the experience. The underlining profound themes and the overarching sadness of the story is sprinkled with laugh-out-loud humors and brilliant observations of subtleties of life that reminded me of Milan Kundera, though the context is obviously a world apart.
This is one of those stories that, having read, one feels rather exhausted from the emotional upheavals, and needs some time to let it ferment a little. After a while it starts to emit an aroma that challenges one's conscience with the relevance of what was said. It's a story-telling at its best from a Columbian national treasure. And the English translation is superb in capturing the tone.
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