One Hundred Years of Solitude

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Truly this novel is a masterpiece. It tells the story of a family line condemned to live one hundred years of solitude. But this could be anyone, any family because maybe solitude is a human condition, which is what I came away from the novel with.

What a brilliant book. The loves and lives of this family are so exquisitely told, fusing magic into everyday life, and it is all tied together by the gypsy Melquiades. Such poetry, such vivid images stick in my imagination, such as the mechanic lover boy who is followed by a cloud of butterflies, and the beautiful woman who lives in a gothic horror house, and the most beautiful woman in the world who ascends to heaven like an angel, and the Colonel who starts wars because of pride, the little gold fishes, the father under an almond tree, babies with pigs tails, the passion and the lack of passion, you have to read this book to understand all of this, and I guarantee it will change your life.

Rating:
Summary: What can I say...
Review: The critics ran out of adjectives to describe this one. When I finished reading the last word in the last sentence on the last page, I understood what they were talking about.

This is NOT just a novel. It is a fairy tale. It is an epic. It is poetry. García Márquez is a modern day Vyasa. If you love books and haven't read this one yet, WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?!

Rating:
Summary: An escape from reality
Review: What a journey and what fun. You will regret when it is over.

Rating:
Summary: One man ...
Review: SPOILERS!!! Don't read on if you've not experienced the magic of this book. Draw your own conclusions; you're adults, no? That having been said:

Oh for heaven's sake ... OK, for all of you whiners out there who complain bitterly about the novel containing so many similarly named characters, try this: It's a story about ONE MAN, ok? One man's life, from the mystery of ice to through the fecundity of youth/middle age to the senility of the childish couple, offspring carried away by ants and then carried away themselves by a whirlwind.

It sure seems lonely out here.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, poetic blend of reality and fantasy
Review: I had just finished a forced reading of Frankenstein for A.P. English and was rather cynical about books in general when I picked up this book. Once I delved into it, I absolutely could not put it down. It truly is an epic tale. You don't really change scenes (pretty much the entirety of the book is set in Macondo, a kind of Mexican Eden) but so much goes on. There's a third person narrator for a large cast of characters, but every character is developed very well. One of the books main themes is the repetition of time in Macondo, and how easily the past and future can either rule ones life or slip away. There is a wonderful blend of fantasy and reality and how sometimes what is fantastic is more believable than what is real. I never wanted to leave this world I entered when I started to read. Just reading it was a very deep and satisfying experience. I highly recommend this book. A tip: When you are reading, keep and eye out for Meliqindes and his documents.