One of the world’s most famous novels, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, blends the natural with the supernatural in on one of the most magical reading experiences on earth.
‘Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice’
… father took him to discover ice’
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.
‘Dazzling’ The New York Times
As one of the pioneers of magic realism and perhaps the most prominent voice of Latin American literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has received international recognition for his novels, works of non-fiction and collections of short stories. Those published in translation by Penguin include Autumn of the Patriarch, Bon Voyage Mr.President, Collected Stories, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The General in his Labyrinth, Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, In the Evil Hour, Leaf Storm, Living to Tell the Tale, Love in the Time of Cholera, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, News of a Kidnapping, No-one Writes to the Colonel, Of Love and Other Demons, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor and Strange Pilgrims.
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I first read this book about ten years ago, and for some reason it didn’t stick. I could only recall one thing about it in detail: a trail of blood winding its way through a rustic Latin American town. Re-reading it now, I’m surprised more of it didn’t stand out for me, as the story is bristling with rich, poetic images.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of a family, but it’s also the story of a town, as the Beundias and Macondo are inextricably linked. From Macondo’s founding by the Beundia patriarch, José Arcadio, to its foretold destruction, the town holds the Beundia family at its turbulent center, and the fate of one feels reflected by the fate of the other.
The story is complex and roughly chronological, with regular lurches forward and backward in time. The structure creates a sense of disorientation, which increases with the introduction of each new generation, which inevitably takes the names of some or all of its predecessors. There’s some realism to this, as family names are common, but I can’t help but feel that it was also a deliberate choice by Marquez to underscore the cyclical, Sisyphean nature of the family’s struggle. In any case, the profusion of José Arcadios and Aurelianos can be a challenge at times, not least because the family’s prodigious longevity and propensity for becoming ghosts can mean that five or six generations are in the story at the same time.
As with all translated books, I hesitate to comment about the prose, since it comes to me filtered ,but in this case I can only say that it reads beautifully, with lush, loping sentences overflowing with imagery, reaching nearly half a page at times. Bursts of absurdist humour leaven the largely tragic story, which, alongside the vicissitudes of life and death in a hardscrabble rural village, covers such pivotal events as war, political upheaval, and the encroachment of colonialism.
All told, it’s a brilliant book, and one I’m surprised I didn’t connect with more strongly the last time.
I’ve read this more times than I will admit, but there is always something magically new. Every time, I literally (and i mean literally) get goosebumps at the opening paragraphs. Might even be time to start again.
BEST FICTION BOOK I EVER READ
A beautifully woven story of love, loss and everything in between by the master of magic realism. If there is a bucket list of books to read then this is at the top!
I wish I understood this kind of mysticism. I’m sure I would get much more out of this author’s books. Even so, I enjoyed it.
Beautifully written.
In 2020 I decided I would read at least one piece of great literature I hadn’t yet gotten around to per month. This month I picked One a Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – a magical realist saga telling the story of the Buendia family across the generations and decades. This book is absolutely stunning and the language is so vivid and beautiful. I’m so glad I finally got around to it!
This book was so compelling that when I, accidentally, left it at my office I stopped at a bookstore on my way home and purchased another copy.
One of the ten books I hope to survive the zombie apocalypse.
This is one of the most unusual family epics I have ever read. The author delves into the characters personalities and the stories of their lives in such a way that you feel as if you were there and might have known them. It was such a deeply written book that I honestly needed to read it twice. I finished the book and immediately started it over. PThis was partly due to the fact that so many characters had the same name, fathers, son’s and grandsons. No story has ever pulled me into it quite so completely as the story of this family’s lives.
A true classic. The characters resonate for years.
My favorite book of all times
One of the first “magical realism” bestsellers, and still the greatest.
My favorite novel of all time.
Unique… like going on a trip to a new place and meeting new people
A tough read but exceptional – worth the effort
Amazing! One of my favorite writers!
Magical realism at its finest. Wonderfully crafted story telling.
The most beautiful writing I’ve ever read, and it’s a translation! My favorite book of all time.
One of the great novels of all time. A masterful storyteller.