Sep 26, 2012

Book Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 Title: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Release Date: The edition I have was first published February 21st 2006
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Pages: 417 (paperback)
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career.
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.
Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.
THE COVER
I love the cover for this edition. Actually, I google-d the covers of Harper Perennial Modern Classics and loved all of them, lol.

(Now to paste the review I wrote right after reading this.)
So I finally finished this lengthy baby.

My only expectation when I began reading this book was that, like other classics, it would be difficult to understand. But it wasn't. The writing was very simple despite the long paragraphs which sometimes spanned a few pages.

Unlike most of the people who have read this, I didn't find the magical realism aspects weird. I would've if Marquez claimed that this story happened in real life, but no, this is fiction. Unrealistic things should be expected in fiction. Also, the unending list of men named Jose Arcadio and Aureliano really irked me at first, but after a while I just found it really funny XD

This book's details surely won't stick with me for a long time (I just finished it, like, less than six hours ago and I already can't remember some minor parts) but I really loved this.

Especially the ending ♥
 

RATING: 4/5
(photo and summary from Goodreads.com)

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