Originally published in the 1960′s in the Spanish language with the title Cien Anos del Soledad, Marquez recounts the rise and fall of the mythic town of Macondo, and with it, the line of Buendia family. The story follows Jose Arcadio Buendia, the patriarch of the Buendia clan and his wife into the swamps to build a town and a family, and their struggle to keep the town going while avoiding the tendency of their familys children to be born with pigs tails. Periodic visits by bands of gypsys early in the story incite creativity and madness in the towns forefather. The madness continues to consume the family one by one, and we follow all the different tastes of solitude that plague the Buendias, down to the last Aureliano, who becomes the first -and last- to decipher the parchments of the immortal gypsy Melquiades.
Early on in the story, it becomes clear that the fabric of the story is of the whimsical sort. However, Marquez tells the wild tale in a completely natural voice, as though the book merely told the story of why the sky is blue. Initially this style of writing threw me for a bit of a loop, but once I got used to it, I came to see that the writing style absolutely makes this story.
The unfortunate point of the book is the familys penchant for recycling names. At first I wondered why Jose Arcadio Buendia was always called by his full name, but as the story wore on I discovered that it was to keep the reader from going insane trying to track all the Jose Arcadios and Aurelianos (of which there end up being roughly 20)! Even with the trick of using different combinations of first, middle and last names and nicknames, I still found myself wondering which who was what at times. All this aside, I found the book a very interesting and amusing read. Ive seen this book listed as one of the 1001 books to read before you die and Id have to say I agree with that judgement.
Early on in the story, it becomes clear that the fabric of the story is of the whimsical sort. However, Marquez tells the wild tale in a completely natural voice, as though the book merely told the story of why the sky is blue. Initially this style of writing threw me for a bit of a loop, but once I got used to it, I came to see that the writing style absolutely makes this story.
The unfortunate point of the book is the familys penchant for recycling names. At first I wondered why Jose Arcadio Buendia was always called by his full name, but as the story wore on I discovered that it was to keep the reader from going insane trying to track all the Jose Arcadios and Aurelianos (of which there end up being roughly 20)! Even with the trick of using different combinations of first, middle and last names and nicknames, I still found myself wondering which who was what at times. All this aside, I found the book a very interesting and amusing read. Ive seen this book listed as one of the 1001 books to read before you die and Id have to say I agree with that judgement.
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