One Hundred Years of Solitude

Rating:
Summary: Great for Attentive Readers
Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude is a very interesting book and a brief synopsis of its plot would involve sex, violence, death, war, and adventure--all topics that usually hold a reader's attention. Unfortunately, it is also a very difficult book to read because of the confusion caused by repetitive names, the reality mixed with fable style of the narrative, and the pace of the novel which jumps around constantly. This poses a problem for someone like myself who often likes to read on the bus or just for a few minutes before I go to sleep--I could not get in a ryhthm and would forget important details so the book did not always make sense. When I had time to concentrate it was beautifully written, intense, and interesting, so I would highly recommend it for someone with the time to really delve into and read it in long stretches. For people who like to read great literature but don't have much time to devote to this book, I would recommend you come back to this one later when you can devote yourself to it.

Rating:
Summary: my favorite author
Review: I just love this author. Ihave read everything he has written, in english at least, and this and 'Of love and other demons' has got to be my all-time favorite books anywhere. do read it, it hooks you right form the start and never lets go. i realy laughted out loud and cried horribley throughout the course of this book. i just have no words to express how wonderful this book really is, you'll just have to read it yourself.

Rating:
Summary: The magical realism top novel
Review: This book is, by far, García Marquez's and magical realism showpiece. It takes you through a journey that swings between being far-fetched and absolutely real and passionated. Sometimes you're going to be confused, sometimes you're going to feel dizzy, but the thing that will always remain is that belly titillation that something great and marvellous is happening, 'cause every single detail, every single event in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is moving, weird, and most of all, simple. Dive into one of the most important latinamerica (and maybe worldwide) writers of the twentieth century. One piece of advice, though: try to find somewhere in the internet the Buendía Family Genealogical Tree, or try to figure it out while you are reading. This because sometimes it may get a little confusing, due to the male characters' names (they are all named Arcadios, Jose Arcadios and/or Aurelianos).

Rating:
Summary: My favorite, favorite book
Review: I actually bought this book in an airport several years ago without even knowing what it was. (All I'd heard was the title and that it was worth reading). I didn't put it down until I was finished. It is such an imaginative book and so beautifully written. (Rabassa does a fabulous job of translating). I really recommend that you read it in the original Spanish, but if you don't understand it, this is almost as good.

Rating:
Summary: Magical Blend
Review: Gabriel Garcia Marquez weaves a story of a hundred years of love, lust, tumult and downfall in this chronicle of the rise and fall of the Buendia family and the settlement of Macondo. His lyrical prose makes family curses, fortune-tellers, magic carpets and levitation as real and alive as civil wars, passionate and reckless men and women, and banana company plantations. Foolhardy and powerful men, their wives, and mistresses match the tempestousness of the times as they contribute to the fated doom of the family. Marquez creates an atmosphere of languid fatality where old men and women do and undo their chores in an unending spiral till death relives them from their solitude.
The translation by Gregory Rabassa preserves the musical qualities of the original langugage.
Certainly among the finest novels of the 20th Century.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the Wait!
Review: My husband gave me this book our first Christmas together. He told me it was his favorite book ever, and hoped I enjoyed it as much as he did. I many times opened the book and read the first line, "...as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia..." and thought, oh no, a war book, I can't bear it. Well now after 10 years of marriage and 3 kids I've taken the time to get past the first paragraph and can't believe I didn't previously give this masterpiece a chance. This is a brilliantly written work about so much more than a soldier, it's about love, hate, and all of the emotions in between in all human relationship. I found the characters to all be well-defined and diverse so that any person reading this book could identify with any one of the many characters. The magic-reality aspect is particularly well-done for an audience outside of Latin America to accept, not necessarily easy for many Latin American books to achieve. In short, give this book a chance to change your perspective; you'll find it is worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books to read
Review: I read this book In spanish for my AP Spanish class when I was a junior in high school and now that I am a college junior I still think it is one of the best books that I ever read. It is an incredible book filled with magic and Marquez is a genious indeed. I highly recommend for anyone to read Love in the times of Cholera because that is one of the best romantic and magical novels ever.

Rating:
Summary: epic voyage
Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those few novels that is magical, beautiful and can capture the very kernel of mind to wake you up from the reality of Latin American world. The writer questions the propriety of the superstructure of the governance of mankind and the whole lot of theories and principles which are supposed to deliver the mankind from the drudgeries and miseries but which do not.To read this novel is to experience darkness and the failure of mankind.

Rating:
Summary: No better snapshot of latin american history!!!
Review: This book really portrais the history of early 20th century latin american countries. The miths, costumes, belives that make a bunch of different countries, the same people. Wonderfully written, the flow of the stories that interact keep you inmersed in a whole microcosm that will make you feel part of the time and place.

Rating:
Summary: The profound words of Marquez!
Review: This is one of the best pieces of literature ever written. In my opinion, Marquez's work is right up the alley of D. Foster Wallace and Gustave Flaubert. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells the story of the Buendia family -- a family who has struggled the sometimes mundane and unjust world they live in for many generations. The descriptions are lurid and gruesome -- the suicide details, battles with insomnia, etc. -- a story told without reservations. However, One Hundred Years of Solitude is also a poignant and touching novel about the memorable Buendia family. This is a true and profound piece of literature written by a brilliant writer. This gem should be read more than once.