Book info

• Title One Hundred Years of Solitude
• Author Gabriel García Márquez
• Year 1967
• Genre Fantasy

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and of Macondo, the town they have built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Macondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and its miracles. A microcosm of Columbian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book, and only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy and comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.

Thoughts

I enjoyed this book far more than the previous Gabriel Marquez I read, but even so, it still wasn’t quite my cup of tea. Tracking the story was hard work but fun, so many generations trying to keep a brand new village in tact. I really couldn’t keep on top of the characters, partly because there were so many of them but mostly because they all had very similar names.

I did enjoy the mystical nature of the writing, and moments where the characters were discovering things that we, as modern readers, take for granted. The early scenes with gypsies bringing wondrous items to the villagers were a lot of fun.

So I can’t say it was a great book for my tastes, but I’m glad to have experienced it.

Rating: 3 / 5