Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #723382 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Synopsis
Tells the story of the Buendia family, set against the background of the evolution and eventual decadence of a small South American town.

Customer Reviews

Sowa's review of the best novel of the past 50 years
If readers want to read one novel that is the likely choice as Novel of the 20th Century (ludicrous thought as that seems), I strongly recommend ``One Hundred Years of Solitude'' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Great fiction removes our usual methods of perceiving the world, bringing us a revised code of insight, understanding and comprehension. This novel has that transformative quality. The English translation from the original Spanish by Gregory Rabassa is also, in its own right, a classic of its kind. What readers want _ human insight, distilled reflection on the patterns of history, careful language _ are delivered in a magical, powerful way in this book. I have to add, personally, that this novel can be offputting at first. It took me 70 pages before the hook in my brain was completely set. From that point on, I was addicted to Marquez's prose. I'm about to read the book for the third time this spring.

I can't imagine how any book could be better
This book encompasses almost every theme of every book that I have ever read, and is amazingly original too. It feels almost as if you're witnessing someone else's dream, and Gabo somehow suspends your disbelief to such a degree that I, for one, accepted unquestioningly the parade of incredible events described- it is very hallucinatory. A reductive view could see the book as a lefty history of Latin America, and by extension, humanity, but it is so much more than that. My first copy of this book fell apart through excessive use. I think that says it all really...

The book of estrangement
The book is a fine example of Latin American literature, which differs so significantly from the European postulates. "Fantastic novel", following the definition by K. Muller, "One hundred years of solitude" opens a door into the world of fantasmogorical life, where all the European values loose their significance.