Sign in with Facebook
Meg Sherman's Reviews > One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by
by
I guarantee that 95% of you will hate this book, and at least 70% of you will hate it enough to not finish it, but I loved it. Guess I was just in the mood for it. Here's how it breaks down:
AMAZING THINGS: I can literally feel new wrinkles spreading across the surface of my brain when I read this guy. He's so wicked smart that there's no chance he's completely sane. His adjectives and descriptions are 100% PERFECT, and yet entirely nonsensical. After reading three chapters, it starts making sense... and that's when you realize you're probably crazy, too. And you are. We all are.
The magical realism style of the book is DELICIOUS. Sure, it's an epic tragedy following a long line of familial insanity, but that doesn't stop the people from eating dirt, coming back from the dead, spreading a plague of contagious insomnia, or enjoying a nice thunderstorm of yellow flowers. It's all presented in such a natural light that you think, "Of course. Of course he grows aquatic plants in his false teeth. Now why wouldn't he?"
This guy is the epitome of unique. Give me a single sentence, ANY SENTENCE the man has ever written, and I will recognize it. Nobody writes like him. (Also, his sentences average about 1,438 words each, so pretty much it's either him or Faulkner)
REASONS WHY MOST OF YOU WILL HATE THIS BOOK: I have to engage every ounce of my mental ability just to understand what the *@ is going on! Most people who read for relaxation and entertainment will want to send Marquez hate mail.
Also, there are approximately 20 main characters and about 4 names that they all share. I realize that's probably realistic in Hispanic cultures of the era, but SERIOUSLY, by the time you get to the sixth character named Aureliano, you'll have to draw yourself a diagram. Not even the classic Russians suffer from as much name-confusion as this guy.
On an uber-disturbing note, Marquez has once again (as he did in Love in the Time of Cholera) written a grown man having sex with a girl as young as 9... which is pretty much #1 on my list of "Things That Make You Go EWW!!!" He makes Lolita look like Polyanna on the virtue chart! (Note to authors: You give ONE of your characters a unique, but disgusting characteristic and it's good writing. Give it to more than one, and we start thinking we're reading your psychological profile, ya creep!)
If you feel like pushing your brain to its max, read it. The man did win the Nobel after all, it's amazing. But get ready to work harder to understand something than you ever have before in your life. And may God be with you.
FAVORITE QUOTES: (coincidentally also the shortest ones in the book)
She had the rare virtue of never existing completely except at the opportune moment.
He soon acquired the forlorn look that one sees in vegetarians.
Children inherit their parents' madness.
He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.
The air was so damp that fish could have come in through the doors and swum out the windows.
He was unable to bear in his soul the crushing weight of so much past.
It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.
A person doesn't die when he should but when he can.
AMAZING THINGS: I can literally feel new wrinkles spreading across the surface of my brain when I read this guy. He's so wicked smart that there's no chance he's completely sane. His adjectives and descriptions are 100% PERFECT, and yet entirely nonsensical. After reading three chapters, it starts making sense... and that's when you realize you're probably crazy, too. And you are. We all are.
The magical realism style of the book is DELICIOUS. Sure, it's an epic tragedy following a long line of familial insanity, but that doesn't stop the people from eating dirt, coming back from the dead, spreading a plague of contagious insomnia, or enjoying a nice thunderstorm of yellow flowers. It's all presented in such a natural light that you think, "Of course. Of course he grows aquatic plants in his false teeth. Now why wouldn't he?"
This guy is the epitome of unique. Give me a single sentence, ANY SENTENCE the man has ever written, and I will recognize it. Nobody writes like him. (Also, his sentences average about 1,438 words each, so pretty much it's either him or Faulkner)
REASONS WHY MOST OF YOU WILL HATE THIS BOOK: I have to engage every ounce of my mental ability just to understand what the *@ is going on! Most people who read for relaxation and entertainment will want to send Marquez hate mail.
Also, there are approximately 20 main characters and about 4 names that they all share. I realize that's probably realistic in Hispanic cultures of the era, but SERIOUSLY, by the time you get to the sixth character named Aureliano, you'll have to draw yourself a diagram. Not even the classic Russians suffer from as much name-confusion as this guy.
On an uber-disturbing note, Marquez has once again (as he did in Love in the Time of Cholera) written a grown man having sex with a girl as young as 9... which is pretty much #1 on my list of "Things That Make You Go EWW!!!" He makes Lolita look like Polyanna on the virtue chart! (Note to authors: You give ONE of your characters a unique, but disgusting characteristic and it's good writing. Give it to more than one, and we start thinking we're reading your psychological profile, ya creep!)
If you feel like pushing your brain to its max, read it. The man did win the Nobel after all, it's amazing. But get ready to work harder to understand something than you ever have before in your life. And may God be with you.
FAVORITE QUOTES: (coincidentally also the shortest ones in the book)
She had the rare virtue of never existing completely except at the opportune moment.
He soon acquired the forlorn look that one sees in vegetarians.
Children inherit their parents' madness.
He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.
The air was so damp that fish could have come in through the doors and swum out the windows.
He was unable to bear in his soul the crushing weight of so much past.
It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.
A person doesn't die when he should but when he can.
3675 likes · Like
�
flag
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
January 12, 2009
– Shelved
Started Reading
January 20, 2009
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 219 (219 new)
message 1:
by
Erich
(new)
-
added it
Jan 23, 2009 07:20AM
I actually bought this book a couple of months ago but haven't picked it up yet. Now after reading your review I am going to get right on it! Thanks for the great review!
reply
|
flag
This is the greatest masterpiece I've ever read, and I'm almost including the great Russians and French here. I wish I could teach it, but am able to teach at least one of his others, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, just so my students can see what he's like. Everyone in the world should read 100 Years.
Awesome review of one of my favorite books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.Did you read it in the english translation? The spanish version is breathtaking,more magical!
Benjamin wrote: "Awesome review of one of my favorite books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.Did you read it in the english translation? The spanish version is breathtaking,more magical!"I did indeed read the English. And I'm sure the Spanish is more magical - there is something so very Spanish about the way he writes... that deeply romantic sincerity that somehow still retains its beauty without slapping of cheesiness. Every time I try to translate Spanish love songs or poetry into English, I feel like the entire soul has been taken out of them. So I'm sure the original Spanish is much more magical, but alas - my Spanish is far too poor to comprehend Marquez. I barely survived the English. :) I'm so jealous you can read it in its original beauty!!!
I was told with game of thrones that once you get all the characters you would enjoy it but I think it's more than that, this is a lot of characters and a lot of beautiful words.
I know,...is like reading Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky in spanish,is never the same experience. A few years back I read "The Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway in spanish,and about two month ago I read it in english,wow,the beauty of Hemingway's writing in his original language is breathtaking! I'm lucky that I can read in spanish,english,and french. Maybe if I get the time I'll learn another language,maybe Russian or German!lol.
One of my favorite novels ever. Nice review!
Thanks, I am tempted to try again!
It was nice to read a different take on the book than mine. Thank you for including these beautiful lines from the book, too.
I completely agree to everything you said. I hope it's okay to add you up in my friends list.
Awesome review Meg I will look for your notes on books again, and again Thanks !
Oh my God, Meg, what a great review. Enough said!
agree with you, it's a book all about sex and solitude.
You convinced me not to read it. Thank you.
Great review! You said exactly what I was thinking, only far more concisely & eloquently. I didn't manage to finish it...
this book is a gift...your review has convinced me to unwrap it :)
wow I loved ur points of view . now I feel more like reading it again
OH,God.Finally I found a positive review on this book here.Negative reviews have more likes.People seem to unite around things that they hate rather than that they like.How come people can't see the BEAUTY? It is all over the book.In every fucking word.It was amazing.Good review,by the way.
Funny you should mention his sanity. He was recently stricken with dementia. He's quite old now. This book was amazing for me too.
Wow, no manejo mucho el inglés, pero de lo que entendí.. Sin palabras... Hoy falleció éste novel colombiano
:(
I adore this review. This book is on my reading list, a friend asked me to read it because she hated it. Goodness only knows what I will think of it, given her "recommendation" to read it.
my second time reading it, it is one of the bests, you can relate to any character, and you can feel any kind of emotions, a masterpiece PERIOD.
I was bed-ridden with baby #1 for a month in the hospital and I STILL COULD'NT DO IT. I want to read this. It's my fait non-accompli... Grrrr
My daughter and I saw this on The 25 Most Challenging Books You Will Ever Read... so we are taking the challenge. Your review helped me decide on this book :)
'I have to engage every ounce of my mental ability just to understand what the *@ is going on! Most people who read for relaxation and entertainment will want to send Marquez hate mail. ' - perfect summary. I loved this book when I was willing to put all my effort into deciphering it but I hated it when I just wanted a nice book to read to pass the time. Great review!
I felt the same. Need some brain effort. But it was worth.And yes, yes... new wrinkles in the brain.
RIP Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am such a big fan of his work. I remember reading 100 years of solitude for the first time as a teen probably 15 years ago. This book changed my live and I still read this novel probably once every three years. I find his work so extremely rich, so good for the soul. It's mentally challenging indeed but his beauty is undenialble. The use of his words in every sentence it's just perfection! So inspirational and magical but so real and human at the same time. Best book ever !
I wrote a complete review of how this book made me feel (which is pretty much a nostalgic and sad review), but you nailed it in a humorous way.Honestly: people who hated this book probably hated it more because of the translation rather than the story. If you read it in an Latin language (either Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese, which all have the same roots and many expressions that didn't change much overtime) you won't have a single problem falling in love with it. There simply are things that can't are not word-borne when the translation is done.
Wonderful review! You convinced me to add it to me "to-read" books.
Surely he must have received a good deal of hate mail. I actually felt like I was going crazy when I was half way through, but since I was half way I decided to finish it. I am now tempted to read it again, not for relaxation this time.
This is one of my all time favorites, I read it years ago and had post reading depression when it was over. I have recommended it to others and they were unable to get into it. I guess I read it at the right time in my life. Definetely in my top 10.
This was one of my mother's favorite books, so I had to read it, because she was the most well read persons I knew, which might be compared to the way "The Elephant", in this greatest of all books, ate, with the main character of this masterpiece, after the front door was closed, due to the flock of yellow butterflies that had taken over the front porch and tired to force themselves in, which would have been completely unwanted! I love the cra-cra confusion of his run on sentences and even enjoyed the struggle to stay with him as he examples the next event. Brilliantly written. Nothing like it.
I was one of the many that did not finish it.
This review makes me smile. Thank you for being one of the only people that really summarizes the essence of this novel. Although it took me forever to keep track of the characters, time, and plot of this novel, the way each sentence is written and his use of magical realism just� AHHHH! You should really look into his history/philosophy. Although I don’t agree with it, and most likely you won’t either, his own thoughts really tie into the novel and you can really see it!
Anyways thanks for a great review!
PS: LOVE THE QUOTES!!!
Bought this book when it just came out, so that's a few years ago. Used to be my favorite but I really need to re-read it. Thank you for your very nice review.
What a great review! It made me laugh with recognition at all the wonderfully crazy things to remember that were written in this book. Don't know if I look forlorn, as the quote says, but I am a vegetarian. :)
I found ur review very interesting. i am halfway through the book and ur review has instilled new interest in me to go on and finish reading the book.
I love to read reviews this good!! I just finished listening to this book on Audible and I hated it, just like you predicted those of us looking for entertainment would do. Your review convinces me to order a print version, so I can follow names, and try again.
I just read this book, and I loved it. glad you loved it too ^_^
I admire your review, it really sums up all the pleasure and frustration in reading Marquez. I don't have the strength of reading past the zoophile scenes at the moment but thanks to your review I will come back to it some day...when I'm in a better state of mind. Thank you!
For me this is a Matserpiece too!
Really like your comment. Resonate with me so much.
Don't forget Memories of My Melancholy Whores. That was the worst age gap. But nothing sexual happens until they're thirteen. I'm not saying that that makes it ok, just stating the facts.
So true. I kept going back to the family tree to ensure I don't mix the characters up. I also agree it is not a leisure reading book. It's was not an easy read.
So true. I kept going back to the family tree to ensure I don't mix the characters up. I also agree it is not a leisure reading book. It's was not an easy read.
Best review yet I've seen on this classic:-)
