One Hundred Years of Solitude
CDN$ 8.86
Yawn - I thoroughly enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera. I expected to feel the same about One Hundred Years of Solitude -- I didn t. It dragged. And dragged. And dragged. I found it very hard to get into and struggled to stay awake through most of it. Sorely disappopinted.
Inventive and Enjoyable Landmark in Modern Literature - One Hundred Years of Solitude is a compelling if challenging read. It overflows with creativity, history, magic, and characters with the same names. Yes, there are many Jose Arcadios, even more Aurelianos and more than one Amaranta in the same family, often at the same time. But, once one makes use of the character genealogy at the beginning it is not to hard to keep track of the respective characters.What makes 100 years such a compelling read is its incredible blending of the fantastical with realism. Marquez blends detailed accounts of absolutely impossible events with equally detailed accounts of completely plausible or historically known events with such equanimity of importance as to make them indistinguishable to the plot. And it works. Works better than anything written before or since that has had the label Magic Realism attached to it.The reason that this novel is so successful is threefold. First, his characters are completely charismatic, as is his writing, you will find yourself with an undeniable affection for the story from the end of the first chapter on, I guarantee it. Second, the aspects of the story brushed with magic, fully half of the novel, are perfectly done, magical happenings emerging out of everyday circumstances and being reabsorbed into everyday life fluidly and seamlessly. Third, the cutting realism of the story, accurate down to the detail balances the whimsical. A novel not to be missed, with a great ending and a wealth of well crafted circumstances written in prose that makes the heart wrenching as compelling as the beautiful, and makes the hundred year history of the Buendia family of Macondo one of the most rewarding reads available.