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One Hundred Years of Solitude
 
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One Hundred Years of Solitude (Paperback)

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (2 Aug 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 014103243X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141032436
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,574 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Garcia Marquez, Gabriel
    #53 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century

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Product Description

Review

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 )


Product Description

‘Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía 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 José Arcadio Buendía and his strong-willed wife, Úrsula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquíades excites Aureliano Buendía’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 Buendía 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 García Márquez'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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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

One Hundred Years of Solitude
85% buy the item featured on this page:
One Hundred Years of Solitude 3.6 out of 5 stars (19)
£6.57
Love in the Time of Cholera
6% buy
Love in the Time of Cholera 3.9 out of 5 stars (62)
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being
4% buy
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 4.5 out of 5 stars (41)
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One Hundred Years of Solitude (Penguin Modern Classics)
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One Hundred Years of Solitude (Penguin Modern Classics) 4.2 out of 5 stars (19)
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Looking Glass Trip Through History, 16 Feb 2009
By Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This is not your typical novel. It's difficult, confusing, strongly metaphorical, and far more concerned with history and message than any deep look at its characters. At the same time, it is sometimes lyrical, beautiful, inventive, and given to unexpected trips to the magical, just when it seems bogged down in a very harsh reality.

It's the story of the town of Macondo and the family that help found the town, stretched over the hundred years of the title. It's clear, when you step back from the details of this work, that the entire work is a metaphor for what happened to Columbia, from its early run-in with the Spanish invaders through the exploitive actions of companies out to rip the riches from the country with no regard for the human cost of their endeavors, and on into to the modern day world of political corruption backed by barely sheathed threats of force.

The family that the book follows is unique in many ways, peopled by characters both incredibly strong and driven by obsessions, and yet insular, separated from the real world by their own internal fantasies. Here we find the rebel hero and the dominating matron side by side with ghosts, the Wandering Jew, and highly mysterious gypsies. However, all of these characters are seen from a distance, even though we are privy to their internal thoughts and ideas, and it is difficult to get emotionally involved with any of them. Not helping in this regard is the extreme similarity of names through various generations of the family, and frequent references to the genealogical chart at the beginning of the book are necessary to try and keep everything straight.

Stylistically, be prepared for page long sentences and sudden multi-page discourses not immediately connected to current happenings. Often this prose is quite beautiful, and at times very effective in painting pictures of some very horrible occurrences in ways that can sear into your brain. Also be fully prepared for the flights of magical realism, when you go from the mundane of everyday to things clearly impossible in ordinary life, items which often highlight by contrast the depth and trivialness of the ordinary.

If you are looking for a straightforward story with normal people, this is not the place to look. If instead you are looking for something very much out of the ordinary, and willing to work to find the core of what's happening, this work can be quite rewarding. It's doubtful if a single reading of this work will expose all of its potential, there is too much buried meaning, symbolism, and metaphor here that needs careful inspection to yield its full treasure. Its themes are not uplifting; futility, the constant of man's inhumanity to others is stark, the repetitiveness of the actions and character types from one generation to the next leads one down the path of asking what purpose does anything have, and the pervasiveness of each individual's necessary isolation from others keeps a dark cloud over the entire work. This is a somber work, with its gold carefully buried, and the reader must be a diligent prospector.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An acquired taste, 3 May 2009
By Barney McGrew "Charlie" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel but I can see why some people wouldn't like it as it is often meandering and occasionally pretentious. However, I'm sure that if you're a fan of Magic Realism you will love it.

Macondo is a mythical South American town, founded, almost by accident, by Jose Arcadio Buendia, and populated primarily by his descendants. This is the story of one hundred years in the life of Macondo and its inhabitants - the story of the town's birth, development and death. Civil war and natural calamities plague this vital place whose populace fights to renew itself and survive. This is a huge narrative fiction that explores the history of a people caught up in the history of a place. And Marquez captures the range of human emotions and the reasons for experiencing them in this generational tale.

As a fan of Japanese Magic Realism master Haruki Murakami, I was naturally drawn to Marquez's slightly surreal and nebulous prose. His use of language and his ability to weave an intricate yet accessible story is superb, and this is a captivating read from start to finish.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars One Hundred Years of Solitude, 27 Nov 2008
By Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
The best way to describe 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' is as an adult fairy tale. What with flying carpets and people living for over 100 years, to name but two of the fantastical elements of this story, you need to suspend disbelief to get the most from this poetic and rich story. Based around the various generations of the Buendia family this book explores the various lives and exploits of each family member. It has a mixture of events that make for interesting stories in their own right and give the book the feel of a short story collection with the same characters and a loose over arching theme to tie it all together. It took me some time to get used to the style, but once I did I found it to be an engrossing and rewarding read. Well worth a look if you like evocative language and vivid imagery and due to the fantasy elements it reminded me of Salman Rishdies 'Satanic Verses' and if you liked that then this is well worth a try. A strong 4 star book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best
He is the best writer. And this is his best book.
This is why I said that when god writes the rest are only, as much, saints. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Ana Delia Rodríguez

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a real struggle
I am so happy to see that not everyone loves this book. I am almost finished and though I am a real reader I have the feeling that I have to take some reading holidays before... Read more
Published 1 month ago by PAM van Gorp

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book ever written
This book was truly amazing. It's not my normal style, but persevere though a few pages and you will be really grateful. Every sentence tells a whole story. Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. Watt

5.0 out of 5 stars Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude
This bizarre kaleidoscope of mankind chronicles some hundred years and six generations of the Buendías family. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. M. Konegen

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as great as people make out..
"Required reading for the Human race" read the New York Times review on the back cover of this book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by H. Saroya

1.0 out of 5 stars One hundred years of pretentiousness..
I couldn't stand this book; I thought it was pretentious and it felt absolutely endless; I thought that I was never going to reach the end of it.
Published 6 months ago by Becky Sharpe

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding
To say that the fantastic tale of the Buendías of Macondo is a profound examination of human behaviour, flaws and experience is more than a little pedestrian, but, then again,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by A. W. Macfarlane

5.0 out of 5 stars Just incredible!
I can't describe how shocked i am that so many people didn't understand 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', and then gave bad reviews, because i can honestly say this book was, hands... Read more
Published 10 months ago by L. Stampton

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling, magical story telling
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a couldron of perfectly articulated magic, history and story . Garcia subtle yet intense tale offers nothing short of true narrative originality.
Published 10 months ago by rosypetals

1.0 out of 5 stars 100 hours of ennui.....


This review is on around the first half of the book which is as far as I could afford to commit to this bland, uninspiring read. Read more
Published 11 months ago by DW

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