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Wednesday, September 13, 2023

602. One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred of Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1967
Around 420 pages



















He's arrived! The prince who was promised! I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the man is coming into this blog HOT.

I love my multigenerational stories, and this is probably the finest example of the form in literature. The Buendia family is pretty much cursed from their inception, due to in large part to their own actions. Our OG patriarch Jose Arcadio established the magical city of Macondo after visualizing its creation in a dream. Macondo is mostly cut off from the world, but the government of the newly independent Colombia eventually creep in and affect our favorite unlucky clan.

When you have such a mastermind at crafting descriptions and setting, you might think the action would stall. But Garcia Marquez keeps it moving with a fascinating plot, rooted in real history, like the Banana Massacre. This is the quintessential magic realism read, and it's easy to see its influence on future works. 

If we ever do get this on film, can Lin-Manual Miranda adapt it into a musical?

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

As famous as this novel is, there has not been a movie adaptation as Garcia Marquez never sold the rights.

Translated into 46 languages.

UP NEXT: The Cubs and Other Stories by Mario Vargas Llosa

1 comment:

Diana said...

This book sounds amazing and I had to again pause the reading of your blog to request it from the library.