Acton reviewed One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Review of 'One hundred years of solitude' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
**I just got an update from Bookcrossing on the whereabouts of this book, and it's been so long (8 years) that I got a real kick out of it. So, here's what I wrote in 2004 about a book I don't remember much about, unfortunately....
I've always been curious about this book, because my parents had a copy of it when I was a child, and the title made no sense to me. I'm very glad that I finally read it! This paperback has the groovy cover shown at the left:)
My take on this book:
This book chronicles the birth and death of the town of Macondo, and the Buendia family, in particular. It reads like an unusual folktale, many parts I found to be sad, but there are also comic moments. The story illustrates some common themes about life: events do happen over and over, people keep making …
**I just got an update from Bookcrossing on the whereabouts of this book, and it's been so long (8 years) that I got a real kick out of it. So, here's what I wrote in 2004 about a book I don't remember much about, unfortunately....
I've always been curious about this book, because my parents had a copy of it when I was a child, and the title made no sense to me. I'm very glad that I finally read it! This paperback has the groovy cover shown at the left:)
My take on this book:
This book chronicles the birth and death of the town of Macondo, and the Buendia family, in particular. It reads like an unusual folktale, many parts I found to be sad, but there are also comic moments. The story illustrates some common themes about life: events do happen over and over, people keep making the same mistakes, and everyone feels alone, at least at times. The special thing about Garcia Marquez's tale is the way he's able to connect the members of the Buendia family and their lives so intricately, while zeroing in on their individual solitude. The repetition of the names is deliberately confusing, I suspect the better to point out how related and alike they are--and, of course, it's just funny. Up close, the characters tend to be comic, but overall, the plot is sad. And, by the way, the sequence of events is not linear, more but circular (as the character Ursula points out).