Book Reviews of One Hundred Years of Solitude

This book was interesting. Garcia Marquez has a very distinctive voice and I liked the allusions to Latin American literature, the magical realism and how Garcia Marquez so eloquently puts the meaning of life into his novel. That being said, it was also a little long winded, despite the course of the novel being over 150 years and his naming system was very confusing. I realize his point that the family was running in continuous cycles that they couldn't break out of, but I had a really hard time keeping the men straight and when I have to refer to a chart it ruins the magic for me. However if you are looking for a book that you can chew over and can provide interesting points, not a beach read, but a piece of art, than 100 Years of Solitude is an amazing book.

I read it for a book club and even though I was too fond of the book a lot of people actually liked it. It uses a lot of fantasy elements and symbolism. The book spans over 4 generations and the similarities in so many of their names makes the book a little confusing but the family map in the beginning of the novel really helps out. It is a little bizzare but it does make for an interesting fantasy read.

Very captivating story, but I got confused by all the Aureliano's, Jose's and Arcadio's.

Very different, interesting...though a difficult read. I was glad they had a family tree in the front since most of the men in the book shared the same names. Fantasy-type story of a family in Mexico, with characters that live over 150 years, live tied to trees, and survive firing squads. Not the book if you're looking for an easy, quick read.

Honestly, I couldn't finish this book. It was very hard to follow, but maybe someone else can enjoy it!

Magical realism at its finest!

If read slowly and with great attention, this will be one of the best books you've ever read. If you are in the mood for a fast and fun book, put this one down and choose something else. This book will not be enjoyed if read one or two pages here, one or two pages there. It requires time and dedication, but the pay-off is great. When things get slow in the middle, find encouragement that the last 50 pages are worth the wait.

This was a great book. I just finished it and it really stays with you. At first, I was a little hesistant to read it becuase it has such a big reputation. However, that reputation is well deserved. It's a classic that everyone should read. Plus, it is not a difficult read at all.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.

I did not want this to end!

Oprah liked it...

Intriguing reading

Excellent book.

A book that made me think, feel and wonder.....this should be required reading in schools.

I just could not get interested in this book.

An excellent read!

While the book was interesting to read, it was very confusing due to a lot of the characters having similar names and too many being talked about at the same time. I wish that I had read this as part of a class, I think that I would've gotten a lot more out of it! I guess reading along with Cliffnotes or something would be helpful just to keep everything straight.

At first I couldn't get into it. I read a couple hundred pages and then stopped.. confused by so many names like the book of Genesis. However, some friends urged me to continue reading and I am so happy they did. This has become one of my favorite books and Garcia Marquez has definitely become one of my favorite authors. I've grown to enjoy his outlandish stories told in such a matter-of-fact tone. This book is all about the big picture (and is quite possibly enjoyed more in hindsight)... filled with stories of muted, yet colorful lives.

I was bitterly disappointed by this book. I thought it was going to enlighten me on the nature of loneliness or solitude. I read about 100 pages and didn't really see any rhyme or reason to anything that happened. I think magical realism is totally over my head and aside from that, there didn't seem to be much of a story. Maybe I am not smart enough to understand a book like this? Sure the sentences were beautiful, but it seemed like sentence salad to me.

This is probably my favorite book that I have read. I love it. Read it.

I got about 100 pages in and quit the book. There was little of interest to me. I saw little character development, little imaginative imagery, and little to maintain my interest. It read more like a town history than literature.

Marquez has written a fascinating tale about generations of the same family while marrying, loving, murdering and dying, about war and about fantastic surreal happenings - all happening in a surreal village in South America. I would suggest, however, to keep the names of the characters straight as it can get confusing (there is a chart in the front of my edition)! This book reminds me of Paul Coehlo and if you liked THE ALHEMIST this will be up your alley. This is the first Marquez book I have read and I will definitely be reading more.

hard to get into at first, then once you get into the people, it was ok...

This is a story about the rise and fall and birth and death of a town. It is told, through the eyes and history of one family. It is inventive, sad, amusing and the characters are quite unforgettable. It has been said, about this book, that is should be "required reading for the entire human race."

It is a savage description of all that is meaningful and meaningless in life.

This is a story about the rise and fall and birth and death of a town. It is told, through the eyes and history of one family. It is inventive, sad, amusing and the characters are quite unforgettable. It has been said, about this book, that is should be "required reading for the entire human race."

It is a savage description of all that is meaningful and meaningless in life.

AnG Oprah's Book Club Selection from author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Loved this book - excellent writer, engaging characters and story line.

deep, inspiring

Everyone I know who has read this glows and glows about it, but I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea... It took me weeks to get through it, and I usually finish a book in 2-3 days tops.

Listed as one of Oprah's book club selections. Excellent read, the characters really come to life!

A wild, fascinating tall tale that begins with one of the most memorable first lines. This wasn't an easy book to read. The are too many characters with the same name.

It is typical of Gabriel García Márquez that it will be many pages before his narrative circles back to the ice, and many chapters before the hero of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Buendía, stands before the firing squad. In between, he recounts such wonders as an entire town struck with insomnia, a woman who ascends to heaven while hanging laundry, and a suicide that defies the laws of physics

didn't read it, others loved it

I found this book tough going, and was not as enthusiastic as Oprah Was. The following, however, is a review from Amazon.com

Amazon.com
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
It is typical of Gabriel García Márquez that it will be many pages before his narrative circles back to the ice, and many chapters before the hero of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Buendía, stands before the firing squad. In between, he recounts such wonders as an entire town struck with insomnia, a woman who ascends to heaven while hanging laundry, and a suicide that defies the laws of physics:

A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.
"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted.
The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. Then there are the women--the two Úrsulas, a handful of Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar--who struggle to remain grounded even as their menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives are lost, yet the effect is literary pentimento, with sorrow's outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García Márquez's magical realism. Consider, for example, the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, whom José Arcadio Buendía has killed in a fight. So lonely is the man's shade that it haunts Buendía's house, searching anxiously for water with which to clean its wound. Buendía's wife, Úrsula, is so moved that "the next time she saw the dead man uncovering the pots on the stove she understood what he was looking for, and from then on she placed water jugs all about the house."

With One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez introduced Latin American literature to a world-wide readership. Translated into more than two dozen languages, his brilliant novel of love and loss in Macondo stands at the apex of 20th-century literature.

I honestly had a very difficult time getting into this book. If Oprah says it is a must read, then you must give it a try!

Wonderful selection by Opera

Hard for me to get through. Interesting.

This is a beautiful story about a family and a town, from their beginnings to their ends.

It's Gabriel Garcia Marquez, enough said!

This is one of my favorite books of all time!

Nobel Prize Winning novel about the rise and fall, birth and death of a fictituous family. Complicated and compelling.

Nobel prize winner. Finest work of the author

difficult read

I've read this book at least 4 times. I usually do not care AT ALL for Oprah's picks, which is why I was very surprised when she chose this book.

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of the buendia family.

Oprah Book Club Pick. A story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family.

Slow to start but couldn't put it down by the end.

I ust couldn't get into it.I read like 200 pages and then gave up,Maybe if I would have hung in there It would have gotten more interesting

Different edition...so it has a different cover. As for the book, I loved it...so much so that I have now read everything else he has written. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century...he is. This is a masterpiece.

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