Excellent translation of Marquez's masterpiece

books:


	• One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.) Gabriel Garcia Marquez Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Themes and concepts

I felt this book captured the decay of memories and the human mind with immense efficiency and accuracy. The story of the Buendia family that lasts for 7 generations or so portrays death, wealth, happiness in some regard; however always followed by some disaster, and lastly loss of face and time. One main concept remains the common theme that money does not buy happiness. For example Aureliano Segundo's wealth is extensive, yet he does not find happiness in his wealth or with Fernanda, but rather with his concubine.

I really like the magical aspect of this book in the beginning. Magic allowed my imagination to theorize inventions, possibly irrational ones, just as Jose Acardio Buendia the founder of Macondo imagined bizarre concepts. For me the book lacked substantial plot in the middle once Colonel Aureliano came back and awaited natural death in his silver fish work room and after the tragedy of his sons, yet pick up again once the "conservative" and oppressive Mr. Brown and his banana industry.

The underlying concept I believe to be most important is that the past defines you. It never leaves you, just as Prudencio Aguliar(sp?) followed Jose Acardio Buendia even after he died. The past usually haunted each character; emphasizing and erupting a flame of solitude to encompass each of them forever. Whether their solitude remained their inability to love, or the physical decrepitude over time, or even the family values they were brought up on. However portrayed, peaceful or haunting, solitude as a result of the past defined the characters and the book.

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Excellent translation of Marquez's masterpiece

This translation of Marquez's quintessential work does great justice to his remarkable prose. The clarity and depth of Hundred Years' symbolism and the excellent development of the Buendia characters send the reader back to an austere but complicated time - a time of exploration, political upheaval, and social transition. One criticism of this translation is the absence of footnotes to specific historical, cultural, or social elements of life in Colombia in the past two centuries.

"Taciturn, silent, insensible to the new breath of vitality that was shaking the house, Colonel Aureliano Buendia could understand only that the secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude" (p. 199).

Overall, a great read!

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A book for all people.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is said to be a work so wonderful, It should be required reading for the entire human race, and I must say I completely agree. The novel follows the progression of the Buenida family and Macondo, the town that grows along with the people in it. As I read I felt as if I was with the family and was experiencing the same things the town was going through. Garcia Marquez's magical realism and writing style make this novel one of a kind.
My favorite thing through out the novel was the magical realism that was always evident. I think this gives the novel its own special touch. I also enjoyed Garcia Marquez's writing style and method. Seen in this novel, as in many other works of Latin American literature is the ever present circle of fate that exists within the lives of every one. If you don't respect and learn from history, it will come back and to get you, repeat itself, and normally have negative consequences.
On thing I noticed throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude were the similarities between this novel and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Both follow generations of a family as they grow and change. They touch on the political situations of the time adding an interesting connection to reality.
Overall, I feel that this novel is one of the best I have read so far. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a life changing novel.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women -- brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul -- this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

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