'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.' Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where Jose Arcadio Buendia and his strong-willed wife, Ursula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquiades excites Aureliano Buendia's father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands. Through plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendia household push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds...This new edition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's most celebrated novel is published to coincide with celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of this Nobel Prize winning author in 2007.
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No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing (Sunday Telegraph )
It's the most magical book I have ever read... I think [Márquez] has influenced the world (Caroline Herrera )
The book that sort of saved my life (Emma Thompson )
It's so much fun to read, unexpected and beautiful (Darryl Hannah )
The greatest novel in any language of the last 50 years (Salman Rushdie )
Should be required reading for the entire human race (New York Times )
It's the most magical book I have ever read... I think [Márquez] has influenced the world (Caroline Herrera )
The book that sort of saved my life (Emma Thompson )
It's so much fun to read, unexpected and beautiful (Darryl Hannah )
The greatest novel in any language of the last 50 years (Salman Rushdie )
Should be required reading for the entire human race (New York Times )
About the Author
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927- ) was born in Aracataca, Colombia. His most recent book, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, is his first new novel to be published in a decade and is available in paperback from Penguin from August 2007. He is the author of several novels and collections of short stories, including Leaf Storm (1955); One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967); The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975); Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981) and The General in His Labyrinth (1989). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.
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Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Alex Magpie
Format:Paperback
This has to be the book that best encapsulates the true meaning of the magical realism school of literature. Although Marquez's world is steeped in strange, mythical images and happenings the "realness" of its people and issues makes the surreal seem logical in a way that should not work- but it does. The mixture of reality and surrealism feels dream-like in scope.
OHYOS is the kind of story that has to be read more than once to get the full amount of understanding from it- details from the beginning are important at the end. This may be especially be true if, like me, find the dense, rich language difficult to get into for a few chapters. The writing is so rich, in fact, that a huge amount of action can take place in the space of a few pages. This can be a hindrance at first but when you start to enjoy Marquez's words then you realise how beautiful a novel can be.
There is also much meaning behind the story line. The evolvement of the family shows a move from traditional to modern in the wider world although the time the novel is set is never shown (or needed to be).
There is much sadness in OHYOS to match the magic and dreaminess. If you like happy endings and glosses over deaths than this might not be suitable reading for you. For everyone else though I would highly recommend OHYOS- it is well worth the effort needed to place yourself in Marquez's world.
OHYOS is the kind of story that has to be read more than once to get the full amount of understanding from it- details from the beginning are important at the end. This may be especially be true if, like me, find the dense, rich language difficult to get into for a few chapters. The writing is so rich, in fact, that a huge amount of action can take place in the space of a few pages. This can be a hindrance at first but when you start to enjoy Marquez's words then you realise how beautiful a novel can be.
There is also much meaning behind the story line. The evolvement of the family shows a move from traditional to modern in the wider world although the time the novel is set is never shown (or needed to be).
There is much sadness in OHYOS to match the magic and dreaminess. If you like happy endings and glosses over deaths than this might not be suitable reading for you. For everyone else though I would highly recommend OHYOS- it is well worth the effort needed to place yourself in Marquez's world.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By C. Bailey
Format:Paperback
Honestly I was half-way through this book and was prepared at that moment to consign it to the pile of worthy books I have started but never finished. But a long train journey found me with no other literature and hours stretching beyond me, so out it came and suddenly, unexpectedly I found it finished before me.
For the first half of the book I had been mystified by the swirling mess of characters and the magical realism elements that at first annoyed me. But as I passed the half way mark and the modern world encroached on Moncado the atmosphere of magic faded, the creeping hand of death and dissolution becoming stronger as the Buendia family passed away.
It was the moment of realisation of this change that made me persevere with the book to the end. Suddenly the tone of the first half made sense as if history was a more magical place than more recent times. Indeed the past in the book is something that leaves an almost physical mark on a place so that even as the vagaries of modernity are introduced, they are inevitably rejected by nature just as it seems Macondo will eventually be reclaimed by the jungle.
The sheer scope of some of the writing is what make it attractive. I am by no means condoning the poor quality of the characterisation, and the entirely pretentious tone. But sometimes, just often enough, a piece of writing in the text is so concise and so beautifully weighted that you can almost forgive GGM.
So for heaven's sake, if you are struggling with this book, don't dismiss it as worthless. It's by no means perfect, but consider its structure as a collection of sublime moments surrounded by the less than brilliant, much like life it seems.
For the first half of the book I had been mystified by the swirling mess of characters and the magical realism elements that at first annoyed me. But as I passed the half way mark and the modern world encroached on Moncado the atmosphere of magic faded, the creeping hand of death and dissolution becoming stronger as the Buendia family passed away.
It was the moment of realisation of this change that made me persevere with the book to the end. Suddenly the tone of the first half made sense as if history was a more magical place than more recent times. Indeed the past in the book is something that leaves an almost physical mark on a place so that even as the vagaries of modernity are introduced, they are inevitably rejected by nature just as it seems Macondo will eventually be reclaimed by the jungle.
The sheer scope of some of the writing is what make it attractive. I am by no means condoning the poor quality of the characterisation, and the entirely pretentious tone. But sometimes, just often enough, a piece of writing in the text is so concise and so beautifully weighted that you can almost forgive GGM.
So for heaven's sake, if you are struggling with this book, don't dismiss it as worthless. It's by no means perfect, but consider its structure as a collection of sublime moments surrounded by the less than brilliant, much like life it seems.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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)
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3.0 out of 5 stars
The sour bananas of magical realism
Good grief, I thought, how can my fellow Amazon reviewers be so dim? How could they so utterly not get what an amazing piece of work is One Hundred Years of Solitude? Read more
Published 3 days ago by Caroline Galwey
5.0 out of 5 stars
money well spent
great read! May have to read a second time in order to comprehend exactly what was going on in the text.
Published 25 days ago by Kathryn Linda Tumilty
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent
arrived earlier than expected, was a pleasant surprise
looking forward to getting stuck into such an internationally acclaimed piece of literature
looking forward to getting stuck into such an internationally acclaimed piece of literature
Published 1 month ago by Emily K
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Great, book needed for uni studies, good for those who are interested in colonialism and magic realism. I needed this for my creative writing part of my English Degree.
Published 1 month ago by Sharfa Sorwar
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ok
Didn't have the right cover as the add had, the quality of the book was not the best either i
Published 2 months ago by David Johansson
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a dirge
The blurb really appealed to me and it sounded like the type of book I could enjoy. Like many I nearly binned it after the first couple of chapters but persisted. Read more
Published 3 months ago by neilmaxx
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful piece of literature that I think everyone should read!
One of my favourite books of all time. A beautiful and tragic exploration of the cyclical relationships between family, community and power through history all set in the sometimes... Read more
Published 3 months ago by VP
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do some homework on Columbia before reading
I really admire this book. I didn't particularly enjoy reading it, although I wanted to start reading it again as soon as I'd finished. Strange? Read more
Published 3 months ago by Friend of Dorothy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product
Gabriel Garcia Marquez knows better than anybody how to mesmerise the readers... This novel takes you into a different dimension, where you can experience the atmosphere of the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Anastasia
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant read!
Book was dispatched on time and in excellent condition.
Great read, and a Garcia Marquez classic. Would recommend strongly even as a collectible.
Great read, and a Garcia Marquez classic. Would recommend strongly even as a collectible.
Published 3 months ago by book-worm
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