Product Description

This magical realist novel tells the history of the Buendias family, the founders of Macondo, a remote South American settlement. In the world of the novel there is a Spanish galleon beached in the jungle, a flying carpet, and an iguana in a woman's womb.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63845 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-03
• Original language: Spanish
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

follow the family tree
At first I though this was a boring book, getting mixed up and not making much sense. Then after about 100 pages I realised that the family tree at the start of the book wasn't there for nothing!! Follow the family tree and the story unfolds wonderfully. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but let's face it, writing isn't only about story telling but also about the use of language, idiom, metaphor and so on. Marquez excels. It's now Christmas and this book has won my favourite book of 2005 award. I'll definitely be looking out for more of Mr Marquez's books.

Francis Darmanin (MALTA)

the most perfect novel
After reading this novel i felt compelled to add to the already favourable reviews. I have read many books in many genres but 100 years of solitude is the first piece of literature that i have found to be perfect.

In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez creates a novel to show the nature of time. For this reason, there is no single main character in focus, nor does the novel follow a regular timeline. Instead the names of the characters are repeated and the flaws of each generation are magnified. As the generations grow, time speeds by and stagnates. The family is one drawn toward nostalgia and solitude, unable to feel love and charity. Because of this they are condemned to an ever decreasing circle where the passing of generations bring a concentration of loneliness.

Throughout the novel, Marquez creates the sense of eventual doom through his continued dispassionate tone. The ongoing wars, and the advent of modernity do not bring a solution. Time moves on, but progress is denied.

What makes this novel so spectacular is not only the equisite writing style but the sense of saga the reader feels. This is not only the story of one family, but an allegory to that of civilisation. The links to Genesis are plentiful, but also something of a Greek tragedy in the rise and fall of the family.

The characters are compelling with believable vices and fears and Marquez paints a vivid picture of the smells, sounds and sights of Macondo i found it impossible to put the book down.

I will ensure that every person i know has a copy of this book and am sure in years to come, it will be a book i have read over and over. Buy it, borrow it.... just read it!!!!

okay its confusing
okay i appreciate that this book is sometimes very confusing and it does ask a lot of the reader, jumping between stories, backwards and forwards in time, but its my favourite novel. In its defence I think it is a collage of many stories, all of which are very beautiful and very tragic, happening within one family, highlighting close relationships but also irreconcilable differences. You want everyone in the novel to communicate but there is hardly any dialogue. Its message seems to be that people are all the same because of this isolation this silence. And such real tragic love. I could rhapsodise forever on it. If you have a soul and real emotions, and an attention span greater than a goldfish read this, you will love it, if you have a soul and no attention span i pity you that you cannot enjoy this book.