One Hundred Years of Solitude

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Summary: The First Hundred Pages of "Solitude."
Review: I have ony read the first 100 pages of this book and the adjective "engrossing" is but an understatement. From the moment the family patriarch becomes obsessed with the magnets and alchemy equipment of the gypsies to the marriage of Rebeca, this literary trip has so far been an odysseey which leaves most everybody's family trees for wanting. Aside from the title theme of desolation is the less obvious but equally salient theme of discovery and its relationship to the science/magic dichotomy (I guess that this is the essence of this so-called "magical realism" phenomenon). Rarely has this subject matter been tackled with such perceptiveness and aesthetic. Though I have only read the beginning, I find myself wishing that the book were even longer than it already is. Thank you, Gabriel Garcia Marquez!

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Summary: One of the BEST BOOKS ever written!!
Review: In September 1992, I was still undecided for who I was going to vote in the Presidential race. Then, one evening I watched an interview with (at the time) presidential candidate Mr. Clinton. In the interview he mentioned this book as one of his favorite's books. That was the tie-braker for me. Anybody that appreciates the magical story of Macondo and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's work that much is allright by me!! This is my absolute favorite book ever!!. I grew up in a small fishermen village in Puerto Rico and reading this book taught me to appreciate the character of a town for its uniqueness and that no matter how obscure a life might seem, every life has a story to tell from where a lesson can be learn. I was overwhelmed by the incredible mix of magic and reality in the descriptions of the characters and of the town of Macondo. Recently, I read the book again, this time in English. I was mistified just the same!

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Summary: A book no one should die without reading
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. As soon as you reach the last page you are crying for more, and more.The way the characters express themselves, the atmosphere created, the managing of time. It's truly incredible. This book will be up there with shakespare and his friends.

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Summary: Best novel I have ever read.
Review: The other reviews describe it in parts, but this was the best novel I have ever read. Love in the time of cholera was good by him too, but this was the best. I think the actor tom hanks must have liked it too, because in one of his films he is seen reading it before he goes to bed (turner and hooch???). Anyway... READ THIS ONE !!!

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Summary: An incredibly poetic book
Review: This is one of my all time favorite books!. It is not common to see an author who can express very subtle feelings and sensations in such simple and creative images. You should read it in spanish, because there are some metaphors and images that deserve to be read in their original language. Prepare yourself to be guided by Melquiadez to an exciting trip through the timeless pueblo of Mancondo and to experience once more the often forgotten pleasure of reading .

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Summary: The great(est) American novel.
Review: If you consider America the landmass on both sides of the equator betwixt the Atlantic and Pacific -- then American literature is truly enriched by everything that's written between Baffin Island and Cape Horn. As a young student in high school in American lit we read Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Fitzgerald -- great reading to be sure -- but only one slice of the expansive American experience. It wasn't until college and when I read Garcia Marquez's 100 Years -- that the American novel took on a new and wonderful meaning. A work vibrant and unique, with undertones of the old world, but one still wholly and distinctly a creation of this side of the world. 100 Years is as impressive as Moby Dick, Gatsby, Huck Finn -- and a novel of uncommon beauty, vision, and style

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Summary: He was. Garcia Marquez was...
Review: How anyone can do this to me? How anyone can disturb me so , so hard? The ghost are inside my head, and macondo is inside my mind. Garcia Marquez has done it, and right now i am still here, holding
"100 years of solitude" in my hands, just waiting for them, waiting for their souls, waiting for the ice..

Rating:
Summary: Excelent, well-written.
Review: this book is gripping to the very end.I fully enjoyed,it is exciting and a bit confusing at times. Marquez out did himself with this literal masterpiece. The story is superb. enjoy it, I certainly did

Rating:
Summary: A Magical Book
Review: The absolute best book I've ever read. After I experienced it for the first time I realized that here was a writer that was saying all the things I've always felt but in a funnier and truer way than I could ever imagine. The first time I read it I was struck by the humor of the characters and situations. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is so adept at making the most tragic situations laughable I didn't notice the sadness of the characters. But the second time I did see the loneliness, yes, the solitude. I think that's why Gabo is so good. Unlike most writers he doesn't just show the realistic side of life, or the depressing side, or even the funny side. He shows it all. And since he brings magic, death, humor, love, and everything else to his work he creates not just a "good book" but a whole world that sometimes seems more real than our own.

Rating:
Summary: Not so much baffling as boring
Review: As one who spent some years working on drilling rigs in Colombian jungles, in fact, was married in Bogota in 1949, who has also dipped into the original "Cien anos de soledad," I regret not to share the general enthusiasm for Garcia Marquez's novel. This does not owe to some curmudgeonly perversity nor was I put off by the supposed difficulties of the book (Joyce and Proust were great discoveries of my youth); rather I found the story not especially entertaining. Neither was I enlightened. Try as I might, I kept putting the book aside and reaching for something more readable, Nero Wolfe perhaps or even the TV remote.The construct of the story, a too-complex tapestry, rambling and often wordy to no purpose, seemed especially designed to flag my attention. So the book has remained half read. Nonetheless I rate the book a strong Seven because I feel I'm probably wrong on this one. Too many friends whose opinions I admire differ with me. And I take into account the fact that I'm the only one I know who has never liked San Francisco.