Well, it took me some months but I finally plowed through ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel García Márquez, the novel which won the Columbian author the Nobel Prize. Touted as one of the greatest reads of the twentieth century, I feel so-so about it. It has to be said that there is some absolutely beautiful uses of imagery and language, and for that reason alone it perhaps is worth several weeks of attention, but I think I could have benefitted from a ‘literary perspective’ - that is, some guidance as too what importance the book has from a variety of perspectives, like the book studies one did when going through high school or university.
However, I’m glad I read it, the plot is driving enough to keep the individual going. The novel centres around the history of the ‘fictional’ town of Macondo located somewhere in northern South America (most probably modern day Columbia), and is told through the lives of successive generations of the Buendia family, whose struggles and triumphs reflect the struggles and triumphs of, presumably, the Columbian people. Sometimes it can be hard to say - I myself have little knowledge of the history of Columbia and its people, so I can’t really comment on whether it is a giant metaphor for their history.
In a nutshell, the strengths of the book can be defined by its absolutely beautiful use of language, and Márquez’s depiction of the ordinary and extra-ordinary (for instance, one character is astonished by ice) and vice versa (no one blinks an eye when a Buendia simply ‘ascends into heaven’). One weakness, rather an annoyance, is the constant repetition of similar names for different characters, occasionally I found it hard to figure out who the author was referring too, though I’m sure there is a point behind the deliberate repetition of names (history repeating itself?).
All in all, 3 stars.
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