welcome to...ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AUGUSTUDE!

while logically i know that is far from my best month / title pun, and is also actually among the worst, and in point of fact that's even worse than it sounds because my puns have never been good...

i like it. and that's that.

we are back for another exciting round of Project Long Classics, in which elle and i find it within our cowardly hearts to brave long books from old times only by dividing them up into teeny-tiny chunks for four entire weeks.

if it works, it works.

i have been putting off reading this for a long time, and i am still very scared, but i do have this joke to get off: one hundred years of solitude? sounds like quarantine, am i right?

buh dum ch!

okay. i'm ready to get started.

we're also reading this for our book club -
join the discussion here
follow on instagram here

let's go.

DAY 1: PAGES 1-15
it's august 3, i won't lie to you. i could never. my nose would grow. pinocchio was based on a true story from the future about a human woman who writes book reviews.

okay, i'm procrastinating. i'm scared and i have to read 50 pages today!!! sue me!

all right. couple of things: this is beautiful; i have a used copy, acquired at an unknown time but probably 5+ years ago, and it smells good as hell; i'm not catching up today.


DAY 2: PAGES 16-30
okay. honesty hour: it's day 7, and i'm 15 pages into this book. folks...i am SLUMPED. (also i've been busy and i have trouble prioritizing these projects NOTORIOUSLY when i'm busy, but who cares about that part.)

anyway, i've decided i'm ignoring it in order to indulge in my favorite way to spend a sunday: bringing 5-10 books in bed with me and alternating chapters all day, absolutely refusing to so much as make eye contact with another human being. so hopefully we catch up!


DAY 3: PAGES 31-45
okay...dare i say...i'm starting to have fun with this.

i'm definitely liking it more than a good number of the collected stories, i'll say that much.


DAY 4: PAGES 46-60
so far this is giving very much no plot just vibes, and i can't say i'm not into it. and it's a collected stories crossover episode!


DAY 5: PAGES 61-75
the drama!!! sheesh. although you have to respect a classic that just comes right out and admits that nothing in life is more interesting or important than love and sex.

most old books are always pretending it's something boring, like politics, or accounting, or blood feuds.


DAY 6: PAGES 76-90
maybe it's just me, but personally if i were selecting a wife out of everybody i knew, i'd probably pick someone who wasn't still literally wetting the bed. genuinely. not metaphorically.

but that's just my pref.


DAY 7: PAGES 91-105
caught up!!! in our third consecutive hour of reading!!! alternating with 6 other books!!! is there nothing a project cannot do!!!

there is just...so much going on here.


DAY 8: PAGES 106-120
pretty badass behavior happening here...i love it when women


DAY 9: PAGES 121-135 i took major advantage of the included family tree today, i'll say that. hoo boy.


DAY 10: PAGES 136-150
this is like. Intense to read. it never gets natural or easy in the way that most books do, even really old timey ones of major significance.

but it is so damn good.


DAY 11: PAGES 151-165
a lot of these fellas up to no damn good...


DAY 12: PAGES 166-180
did anyone else notice that i accidentally started numbering the days in decreasing order. (now fixed.)

how did that happen?! am i being pranked?? if someone hacked my account, please go to my messages and see how funny it is when men send desperate DMs to faceless book reviewers. i don't wanna be alone in the humor anymore.

anyway. amaranta pulls.


DAY 13: PAGES 181-195
another weekend, another two days i accidentally took off from reading in their entirety.

this is the first time that my 15 page intervals have actually lined up with a chapter. this is the height of luxury!!


DAY 14: PAGES 196-210
this is such a fever-dream way to read a fever-dream book - cut up into senseless little chunks like this. it's already such a discombobulated and nonlinear read, and absolutely refusing to acknowledge chapters or page breaks of any kind is insane!

but fun.


DAY 15: PAGES 211-225
all the women in this book slay...they are very sexualized but also very badass. it's very fun to read about.

caught up!


DAY 16: PAGES 226-240
HOW is ursula still alive. we're on, like, our 8th aureliano.


DAY 17: PAGES 241-255
imagine being so hot it kills literally any man who doesn't leave you alone...

goals.


DAY 18: PAGES 256-270
make that like. 25 aurelianos.

back to 8 again.


DAY 19: PAGES 271-285
URSULA!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU DON'T GO!!!!!!!

i know you're like 200 years old and i just took you for granted like 3 days ago. but still.


DAY 20: PAGES 286-300
since my mourning cry for ursula, multiple people have died but she is not among them?? what a rollercoaster of emotions.

there is a girl whose name is truly Meme in this and she is just as wonderful as her name would indicate. anyway generally the women in this remain discernible and one of a kind and interesting through this whole crazy book, while the men continue to bore me and be absolutely impossible to keep straight.


DAY 21: PAGES 301-315
folks, we're behind again.

because even when my weekends are extremely lazy (read: indoors and conducted in solitude, as is my wont), and even when my weeks consist of little to no reading, something in my soul says that i should take at LEAST one saturday or sunday off entirely.

i can't help it.


DAY 22: PAGES 316-330
there are like 200 characters in this book and 196 of them have been publicly executed.


DAY 23: PAGES 331-345
ursula somehow still alive and kicking. i love when magical realism is just like..."it rained for four years straight and this woman is like 180 years old."


DAY 24: PAGES 346-360
under 100 pages to go and i feel confident stating there will never be a plot! and for that reason i have to stan.

i cannot keep these men straight for even one second and yet i could summarize each female character in a paragraph by first name alone. it's the misandrist in me. also the fact that every man has one of two names. but still.


DAY 25: PAGES 361-375
aaaand it's an almost-no-paragraph-breaks day. of course. on a morning when my entire operating system feels like it's been replaced by a rube goldberg machine, which i just almost called a lou gehrig's machine.

did i say morning? it's 12:48 p.m.

onward and upward. anyway. intense chapter!


DAY 26: PAGES 376-390
how does a book with no plot conclude? not sure. seems like a lot of death but that's also par for the course for the most part.


DAY 27: PAGES 391-405
goddamn this is one cursed family.


DAY 28: PAGES 406-420
seems pretty late to be introducing new major characters but what do i know! this book plays by its own rules.


DAY 29: PAGES 421-435
the penultimate day! and we've reached the Sweeping Statements About Love And Decline And Meaning section. i'll miss reading this book but i'm so excited to see how it concludes.


DAY 30: PAGES 436-448
whoa.


OVERALL
this book is wild, lovely, and weird, conveying in a completely unique way themes about family and time and suffering and love. i can't decide whether reading it in arbitrary doses over a month is the best or worst way to do so, but i had a good time!
rating: 3.5

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this book, and how much I adore the writing of Colombian author, Gabriel García Márquez.
His style, el realismo mágico (magical realism), transcends the frugal prose that mildews the pages of so many joyless books.
Salman Rushdie was, and still is, heavily influenced by Márquez. He described him as "The greatest of us all."
Louis de Bernières was similarly inspired by the great man.

I first read this book more than twenty years ago, and it has remained part of my authorial psyche ever since.
As with Rushdie's work, you can literally point a pin at any sentence in this book to reveal an imaginative genius that most of us could never aspire to. A newcomer to Márquez's work might be alarmed to see barely a paragraph break to each page. Don't worry, deep breath, you'll get used to it.

I reread this fantastically demented, wonderfully brilliant book last week, only for my wife to shoot me quizzical looks as I had a Harry Met Salvatora bookgasm while pouting at his dazzling prose, purring at his human imagery and ohhhh, licking my lips at his sumptuous outlandishness. Trigger warning: Those who are easily offended should give it a swerve; magical events do rub shoulders with some very disturbing realities.

There is one line on the book's back cover, penned by The Times newspaper, that sums up this masterpiece perfectly:
"Sweeping, chaotic brilliance, often more poetry than prose ... one vast and musical saga."

So there you have it, a book so momentous that I will revisit it a few more times in my lifetime before I eventually pop my clogs.

De los mejores libros que he leído en mi vida.

لا يكفيها نوبل فقط فهى من أعظم الاعمال الادبيه فى التاريخ

" آول آلسلآله مربوط إلى شجره وآخرهمـ يأكله آلنمل "

آولآ مش دى آلروآية آللى تـآخذ منهـآ مجموعة من آلمقتبسآت عشـآن تنشرهـآ على الفيس بوك وتشآركهـآ مع آصدقـآئكـ ! ومش آلنوع من آلروآيات التي تتعلق بها لقربها ومسهـآ آلمشآعر آختبرتهـآ يومـآ أو تجربة شخصية خضتهـآ !
لا هى الانبهار ! الانبهار بالقدرة المذهلة على خلق العالم المجنون ده ! آلكـآتب خلق حياةً بأكملها هنا وليس "قصة" فقط على غير المعتاد في أغلب الأعمال الروائية

خوسيه آركـآديو بوينديا مؤسس ماكوندو ومليكاديس والرقائق بتاعتة !

عن قريه بدأت معزولة عن العالمـ بفعل آلطبيعة وآنتهت معزولة عنه بفعل آلمصيـر آلمأساوي لأفرآدهآ عبر مائة عـآمـ آو تزيد مـن آلحرب وآلحب آلحلال وآلمحرمـ وآلجنس ومن آللعنـة آللى توآرثتهـآ سلآلة خوسيه اركاديو بوينديا مؤسس آلقرية وآلجد الأكبر لمئات من آلشخصيـآت آلمتشآبهـه أسماء وجموحا وشهوة ولعنة !

من آكـتر آلشخصـآت آللى آتعلقت بيهـآ آلكولونيل آوريليانيو بوينديا !

من آلروآيـآت آلقليله آللى زعلت لمـآ خلصتهـآ ! ومستحيل آنسـآهـآ !

Es gibt viele gute Gründe, Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit zu lesen. Es ist eines der wichtigsten Bücher des 20. Jahrhunderts, der Autor, Gabriel García Márquez, erhielt den Nobelpreis für Literatur, das Buch ist eines der Hauptwerke des Magischen Realismus, welcher durch südamerikanische Autor*innen geprägt wurde... und doch waren es nicht meine Gründe, das Buch endlich zur Hand zu nehmen. Mir reichte ein einfacher Satz:

n  Viele Jahre später, vor dem Erschießungskommando, sollte Oberst Aureliano Buendía sich an jenen fernen Nachmittag erinnern, als sein Vater ihn mitnahm, das Eis kennenzulernen.n

Mit diesem Satz beginnt Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit. Mit diesem Satz weckte Márquez eine Neugier in mir, die ich sofort stillen musste. Erschießungskommando, Eis kennenlernen, Oberst Aureliano Buendía – ich musste einfach wissen, was es damit auf sich hat. Und so begab ich mich auf eine Reise, tauchte in die Welt Macondos ab und war sechs Lesetage vollkommen gefesselt von einer Geschichte, die mich einfach nicht loslassen wollte.

Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit ist nicht nur immens gut geschrieben, als Leser*in merkt man sofort, dass Márquez wirklich etwas zu erzählen hatte. (S)eine Familiengeschichte, die Geschichte Kolumbiens, die Geschichte Südamerikas. Viele seiner Romane wurden später millionenfach verkauft, doch keiner hat die literarische Landkarte derart verändert wie diese Familiensaga der Buendías in Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit, dieser Allegorie der Geschichte Kolumbiens.

Gleich zu Anfang des Buches schildert Márquez die Absonderlichkeiten des Dorfes Macondo und seiner Bewohner*innen:

n  Seit den Tagen der Gründung baute José Arcadio Buendía Fallen und Käfige. In kurzer Zeit füllte er nicht nur sein eigenes Haus, sondern auch alle anderen des Dorfes mit Turpialen, Kanarienvögeln, Meisen und Rotkehlchen. Das Konzert so vieler verschiedener Vögel wurde jedoch so betäubend, daß Úrsula sich die Ohren mit Bienenwachs zustopfen mußte, um nicht den Sinn für die Wirklichkeit zu verlieren.n

Ich zitiere diese Stelle, weil sie mir emblematisch für den ganzen Roman erscheint. Als Lesende*r, die*der zum ersten Mal in Márquez' schräge Welt abtaucht, fühlt mich sich genauso wie Úrsula in ihren ersten Tagen in Macondo: so als würde einem jeglicher Realitätssinn entzogen. Es ist ein schwindelerregendes Gefühl.

Der Text ist so mit der südamerikanischen Kultur und Landschaft verwoben, dass man sich als westliche*r Lesende*r auf diesen einlassen muss; der Text erklärt sich nicht von selbst, vieles sollte man zwar hinnehmen, anderes hingegen sollte man nochmal ordentlich (nach-)recherchieren. Wovon ich abraten würde, ist, eigene Standards und Moralvorstellungen auf den Text anwenden zu wollen. Das kann nur schief gehen. Márquez präsentiert viel Fremdes, Ungewöhnliches, teils sogar Abartiges... es entsteht ein einzigartiges Tableau interessanter Charaktere und unerklärlicher Ereignisse, ein Meisterwerk, welches einen in schwindelerregende Höhen reißt, wenn man es lässt.

Doch worum geht es genau? "Am Ufer eines Flusses mit kristallklarem Wasser, das dahineilt durch ein Bett aus geschliffenen Steinen, weiß und riesig wie prähistorische Eier", befindet sich das imaginäre Dorf Macondo. Es wird gegründet und beherrscht von der Familie Buendía. Márquez erzählt die Geschichte dieser Familie über sieben Generationen im Familienkontext und Kontext der Einzelschicksale hinweg – über einen Zeitraum von hundert Jahren. Dabei geht es um Höhepunkte und Katastrophen, um Aberglauben und Liberalismus, um Liebschaften und Missgunst, um goldene Fische und Emigrationsträume in Brüssel und schließlich auch um brutal ermordete Arbeiter im Streik und Nationallegenden. Beeindruckend ist, wie es Márquez gelingt, ganze Epochen charakteristisch durch das Buendía-Kaleidoskop in einem imaginären Raum zu betrachten und zu verdichten, der Raum und Zeit erhellt, indem er sie verengt. Dadurch lässt sich der Roman wie eine Geschichte en miniature zur Geschichte Lateinamerikas lesen.

Die Literaturtheoretikerin Mechthild Strausfeld teilt die Romanstruktur in ein paralleles geschichtliches Stufenverhältnis ein:

(1) Entdeckung, Eroberung, Kolonialzeit (1492–1830)
(2) Republik: Beginn der Bürgerkriege (1830–1902)
(3) Beginn des Imperialismus: Bananen etc. (1899–1930)
(4) Aktualität – Neoimperialismus (1930–Gegenwart)

Die Parallelverweise zum Roman:

(1) Gründung Macondos durch die Familie Buendía
(2) Auftauchen des Landrichters und Verlauf der Bürgerkriege
(3) Die Bananenfabrik und die blutige Niederschlagung eines Streiks
(4) Agonie, Verfall und Zerstörung des Dorfes

(1) Der Stammvater der Buendías, José Arcadio Buendía, zieht, da er einen Mord begangen hat und vor dem Geist des von ihm Ermordeten flüchtet, mit seiner Frau Úrsula Iguarán sowie einigen anderen Familien durch den Dschungel, auf der Suche nach einem geeigneten Ort zur Gründung eines Dorfes. Nach der Gründung Macondos taucht eine Gruppe Sinti*zze und Rom*nja auf, zu denen auch Melquíades gehört, die den Dorfbewohner immer wieder neue wissenschaftliche Entdeckungen, wie Magnete und Teleskope, näher bringen. Melquíades pflegt eine enge Freundschaft mit José Arcadio, der sich immer mehr zurückzieht und davon besessen ist, die Geheimnisse des Universums zu erforschen, die ihm präsentiert werden. Schließlich wird er wahnsinnig, spricht nur noch Latein und wird von seiner Familie viele Jahre lang bis zu seinem Tod an einen Kastanienbaum gefesselt.

(2) Jahre später besiegelt das Auftauchen eines Landrichters die Eingliederung Macondos ins System staatlicher Verwaltung und Gewalt des neuen unabhängigen Kolumbiens, vor dem seine abgelegene Topographie die Bewohner*innen ja gerade bewahren sollte. In der Stadt wird eine manipulierte Wahl zwischen der konservativen und der liberalen Partei abgehalten, was Aureliano Buendía dazu veranlasst, in einen Bürgerkrieg gegen die konservative Regierung einzutreten. Er wird zu einer Ikone unter den Revolutionsführern, kämpft viele Jahre lang und überlebt mehrere Attentate, wird aber schließlich des Krieges überdrüssig und unterzeichnet einen Friedensvertrag mit den Konservativen. Desillusioniert kehrt er nach Macondo zurück und verbringt den Rest seines Lebens damit, in seiner Werkstatt kleine Goldfische herzustellen.

(3) Die Eisenbahn kommt nach Macondo und bringt neue Technologien und viele ausländische Siedler mit sich. Ein amerikanisches Obstunternehmen gründet außerhalb der Stadt eine Bananenplantage und errichtet auf der anderen Seite des Flusses ein eigenes, getrenntes Dorf. Dies läutet eine Zeit des Wohlstands ein, die in einer Tragödie endet, als die kolumbianische Armee Tausende von streikenden Plantagenarbeitern massakriert - ein Vorfall, der auf dem Bananenmassaker von 1928 basiert. José Arcadio Segundo, der einzige Überlebende des Massakers, findet keine Beweise für das Massaker, und die überlebenden Stadtbewohner leugnen oder weigern sich zu glauben, dass es geschehen ist.

(4) Am Ende des Romans ist Macondo heruntergekommen und fast verlassen. Die einzigen verbliebenen Buendías sind Amaranta Úrsula und ihr Neffe Aureliano, dessen Herkunft von seiner Großmutter Fernanda verheimlicht wird. Aureliano und Amaranta Úrsula beginnen unwissentlich eine inzestuöse Beziehung. Sie bekommen ein Kind, das den Schwanz eines Schweins trägt, womit sich die lebenslange Angst der längst verstorbenen Matriarchin Úrsula erfüllt. Amaranta Úrsula stirbt bei der Geburt, das Kind wird von Ameisen aufgefressen und hinterlässt Aureliano Babilonia als letztes Mitglied der Familie. Dieser entziffert die verschlüsselten Schriften des Melquíades, die sich als eine Chronik und Prophezeiung der Geschichte Macondos herausstellen; sie endet mit der Zerstörung des Dorfes, bei der auch Aureliano Babilonia zu Tode kommt – just in dem Moment, als er davon in Melquíades' Prophezeiung liest.

n  Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.n

Ein beherrschendes Thema in Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit ist die unausweichliche Wiederholung von Geschichte. Die Protagonisten werden von ihrer Vergangenheit und der Komplexität der Zeit beherrscht. Da sie ihre Vergangenheit verdrängen und vergessen, werden sie schließlich bestraft. Márquez zeigt auf, welche Kraft in der Erinnerung steckt, wieviel wir von der Vergangenheit lernen könnten, wenn wir nur gewillt wären. Er zeigt auch den Verfall, der unausweichlich wird, wenn sich Geschichte stets im Kreis dreht.

n  "What did you expect," murmured José Arcadio Segundo. "Time passes."
"That's how it goes," Úrsula said, "But not so much."
"When she said it, she realized that she had given the same reply that Colonel Aureliano Buendía had given in his death cell, and once again she shuddered with the evidence that time was not passing, as she had just admitted, but that it was turning in a circle."n

Es wurde oft konstatiert, dass dieser Roman einer der Texte ist, den die "lateinamerikanische Kultur geschaffen hat, um sich selbst zu verstehen." Márquez nutzt das Fantastische, um der Realität Ausdruck zu verleihen. Mythos und Geschichte überlappen sich in seinem Werk. Vielen kolumbianischen Nationalmythen wird durch die Geschichte der Buendías Leben einverleibt. Wichtige historische Ereignisse, die Márquez in seine Geschichte webt, sind bspw. die Eingliederung der Sinti*zze und Rom*nja, die liberale politische Reform einer kolonialen Lebensweise, die Errichtung einer Eisenbahn in einem gebirgigen Land, der Tausend-Tage-Krieg (Guerra de los Mil Días, 1899-1902), die unternehmerische Hegemonie der United Fruit Company und das militärische Massaker an streikenden Arbeitern.

Realität und Mythos/Magie verschwimmen. Dies mag westlichen Leser*innen kurios erscheinen. Für Márquez war es das Normalste der Welt. Er sagte einst: "Tatsächlich ist diese magische Welt, von der so viel gesprochen und über die von den Kritikern so viel geschrieben wird, unser Alltagsleben, das Leben, an das wir uns gewöhnt haben. Ich bin in einem Haus von Großmüttern und Tanten aufgewachsen, in einem Haus von Frauen, wo man inmitten dieser zweiten Natur lebte, dieser zweiten Wirklichkeit hinter der Wirklichkeit, hinter der es möglicherweise noch weitere unbekannte Wirklichkeiten gibt. Ich betrachte mich als einen reinen Realisten, der alltägliche Ereignisse katalogisiert, die später fantastisch erscheinen."

n  Lost in the solitude of his immense power, he began to lose direction.n

Das vielleicht wichtigste Thema des Buches ist das der Einsamkeit. Macondo wurde in einem abgelegenen Teil des kolumbianischen Regenwaldes gegründet. Die Einsamkeit des Dorfes steht stellvertretend für die Kolonialzeit in der lateinamerikanischen Geschichte, in der Außenposten und Kolonien im Grunde genommen nicht miteinander verbunden waren. Vom Rest der Welt isoliert, werden die Buendías immer einsamer und egoistischer. Da jedes Familienmitglied nur für sich selbst lebt, werden die Buendías zu Repräsentanten der aristokratischen, landbesitzenden Elite, die Lateinamerika beherrschte.

Irgendjemand hat einmal gesagt, mit dem Kolumbianer Gabriel García Márquez sei Lateinamerika neu entdeckt worden. Das ist natürlich übertrieben und gilt höchstens für die nicht Spanisch sprechende Welt. Aber es ist dann auch nicht ganz falsch. Die Nobelpreis-Jury hat den lateinamerikanischen Kontinent nicht mit Ehren überschüttet. Gabriel García Márquez bekam den Preis 1982, Pablo Neruda 1981. Ein Gigant wie Jorge Luis Borges konnte lange auf den Nobelpreis warten. Márquez überwand die Grenzen, die literarische Kontinente trennen.

Mit Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit habe auch ich mich endlich auf eine literarische Reise nach Südamerika begeben. Natürlich las ich zuvor von südamerikanischen Autor*innen, Machado de Assis und Allende fallen mir als Erstes ein, doch keine*r fesselte und beeindruckte mich so wie Márquez. Dieser eröffnete mir eine neue, faszinierende Welt, in die ich von nun an öfters abtauchen werde. Und natürlich werde ich auch Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit noch mehr als einmal in meinem Leben lesen. Das Buch hält noch so viele Rätsel, unverstandene Momente und Freuden bereit, to quote literary icon Cassandra Howard: "I have never ever been happier." ;)

"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."

And so begins our journey into Macondo, as García Márquez's words walk us through seven generations of the Buendia family, where time has come to a standstill, and the fate of every character seems to be written with an ink of tragedy.

Gabriel García Márquez is a truly gifted storyteller, and his ability to find metaphors, to make fables out of the most mundane events in life with the charm of Scheherazade allows him a rare distinction of being one of the pioneers of magical realism.

n  Themes and Symbolismn

The book has a plot sewn together with metaphors and rhetoric representing the story of Latin America as a whole.

Insomnia plague

Rebeca brings a mysterious insomnia plague to Macondo, causing loss of memory and sleep. The people of Macondo entertained themselves by telling each other the same nonsensical stories in repetition and everything in households having to be labeled, representing a metaphor for the story of Latin America being a repetition of its past and its cure at the hands of the sage represented its return to history, moving out of isolation.

Incest

The Buendias are shown to have a tendency towards incest, while their family always suffers from the fear of punishment in the form of the birth of a monstrous child with a pig's tail.

Gender roles

Throughout the novel, the men instigate chaos while the women strive to maintain order, sometimes in vain. García Márquez calls this a representation of the Latin American machismo.

The Glass City

The glass city is an image that comes to José Arcadio Buendía in a dream. It is the reason for the location of the founding of Macondo, but it is also a symbol of the fate of Macondo.

Colors

Yellow and gold are two significant colors in Macondo's history. In Macondo, gold represents solitude and bad luck. When José Arcadio Buendía discovers the formula for turning metals into gold and shows his son the result of his experiment, he says it looks like dog shit.

"Yellow is lucky but gold isn’t, nor the color gold. I identify gold with shit. I’ve been rejecting shit since I was a child, so a psychoanalyst told me."

- Gabriel García Márquez in The Fragrance of the Guava by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza

The Banana Massacre

The Banana massacre was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred between December 5 and 6, 1928 in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta, Colombia. The strike began on November 12, 1928, when the workers ceased to perform labor if the company did not reach an agreement with them to grant them dignified working conditions. A fictional version of the massacre is depicted in the novel.

The Flood

The story has a biblical period of rain and flood, quite similar to the tale of Noah.

Borges

Some of the themes in the novel are obviously inspired by the works of Jorge Luis Borges. The Garden of Forking Paths, The Library of Babel and many more Borges stories have similar themes of inevitable and inescapable repetition in fictitious realms.

Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude: "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."

This long phrase is so full of life and humor that although I mentioned Márquez yesterday, I couldn't help but mention it again. First off, to start off the novel with a firing squad on the subject of the sentence, time is thrown into a loop which winds and weaves its way through generations of Buendías throughout the novel. The magic of discovering ice is also one of the fine touches that Márquez is so known for: taking the ordinary and turning into something spectacular. The fact that the character and his father are both mentioned here foreshadows the complex and rambling family tree that the reader will get intimately familiar with (and confused by) throughout the book. I read this one in high school (kind of a jab at the anti-Columbian attitude of Cuban Miami by my forward thinking AP English teacher - the best professor or teacher that I ever had) and have probably re-read it about eight or nine times, each being more enjoyable than the last.

I have since read all of Mario Vargas Llosa's work who is probably the most comparable South American writer of the same period and have to say that I was seduced by his writing quite a bit. One Hundred Years still stands out as a monumental piece of literature, and if you enjoy it, I would suggest trying The War at the End of the World by MVL as well.

Then he made one last effort to search in his heart for the place where his affection had rotted away, and he could not find it.
One Hundred Years of Solitude ~~ Gabriel García Márquez


One Hundred Years of Solitude has been on my Must Read List for quite some time. So many of my friends here are passionate about this book ~~ several consider it their favorite book. My amazing friend, Srdjan says, nothing I say will ever be able to explain how complex, rich, heartbreaking, fascinating and blissful every aspect of this book is. While Sumit says OOH! It's so good. Everyone should read this book. Lastly, there is my friend Matthew, who says, Unforgettable. A book I will remember until I die, without a doubt. A new favourite and a new book I will scream at the top of my lungs, you haven't read One Hundred Years of Solitude? And then beg and beg them to, until they do. All three of these amazing friends & readers begged, & I listened ~~ boy am I glad I listened ...

One Hundred Years of Solitude is unlike anything I have ever read before. It is magical realism on DMT ~~ potent stuff that is.



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.

Brilliant first line ~~ and it only gets better ...

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo in Columbia. The story opens with the family patriarch, Arcadio Buendía, facing the firing squad for crimes against the Government. The narrative then takes the reader back to the founding of Macondo by the Buendía family. Initially Macondo is isolated from the outside world, apart from an annual visit by a band of gypsies, who show the townspeople technology such as magnets, telescopes, and ice. Melquíades, the gypsy king, becomes a recurring figure in the novel & the key to its final resolution. When Macondo becomes involved in the affairs of the wider world its troubles begin. A rigged election inspires Aureliano Buendía to join the rebellion against the Conservative government.

The Buendia family saga is complicated. The large cast of characters grow up, or not, fall in love, or not, then die, or not, to be succeeded steadily by the next generation with their own challenges & successes & failures. As complex as this book was, thru the march time, I had no trouble engaging with the characters. They leapt off the page for me. This was a fun world to inhabit.

Random Question ~~ Was Gabriel Garcia Marquez sane? I seriously wonder ... how could he be? This book embodies what it means to be not of this world.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is so beautifully depicted that you become completely entangled in the absurdities of this magical world of the Buendía family.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is a hard read; the characters are complex with mostly the same names. But stick with this. I promise you this will be an amazing reading experience.



One Hundred Years of Solitude explores the preconception of realities among each character. Garcia Marquez dives deep into each character's personalities and consciousness & their reactions to the world around them.

He goes on to illustrate the mysterious importance of reading & language. Each action here is initiated with learning through reading. There are multiple languages introduced to each of the characters, especially when it leads most to the solitude of translating the mysterious papers of Melquadies.

One Hundred Years of Solitude blends time in a cyclical manner. As the past & future always find their way into the present. Associating the longing for the future in our early days & longing for the past once the future we long for arrives. Many intense romances blur the boundaries between true love & obsession & sanity & insanity.



One Hundred Years of Solitude is filled with reflections of Latin American history, cultural magic, absurdities that feel real, and a roller coaster of emotions.

We follow a most unpredictable & treasured family, the Buendías, for over one hundred years; you’ll enter the locked rooms of those eating paint off the walls. You’ll hear absurdities & innocent ramblings. You’ll learn how years of solitude making, unmaking, then making again led to the unmaking of a family, or did they? You’ll learn to love & hate each of these multifaceted creatures. You’ll learn to pay attention to the wishes & omens of the cards. You’ll learn that when it rains, it pours. You’ll learn that we long for the future, and once the future comes, we long for the past, filtered by nostalgia.

And yet, thru all the muck & mire the Buendías family endures, they hold onto hope. One Hundred Years of Solitude is filled with hope.

As I read One Hundred Years of Solitude, I felt myself sitting in a garden on a warm summer day, and I know that it is the Buendía’s garden. I’m at their home, with their family, & in the city of Macondo. The Buendías family became woven into my life. We had a shared humanity. Perhaps this is the most magical spell One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves.

n  WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS FOUL, ANGRY LANGUAGE. (WITH S**RS)n

n  I'm just

SO.

F**KING.

CONFUSED.n

WHAT THE FLIPPIN' HECK DID I JUST READ.

Honestly.

Alternative titles:
One Hundred Years of Reading You'll Never Get Back
One Hundred Years of Your LIFE You'll Never Get Back
Four Hundred and Twenty Two Pages of Monotony
Fifty Thousand Mentions of Two Names
A Cure for Insomnia

F**K THAT.

This is like ... you know how there's those jokes that go on and on and on and ON only to deliver a punch line that is so bad and unworthy that you just roll your eyes and groan?? THIS IS THAT.

I can't even deal with the fact that there are people in the world who LOVE this book.

Basically, it's about generation after generation after generation of the same family who all share the same name and it is F**KING CONFUSING. I know that's intentional and symbolic but it doesn't make this any less of n  a chore to readn. It's also just walls of text from start to finish that meander and bumble along making very little sense. There's no flow or logic and it's all clearly intentional but that really doesn't help its case in my mind.JUST BECAUSE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE DULL AND MONOTONOUS DOESN'T MEAN I'M GOING TO ENJOY READING THAT.

Add to that, n  the family is one heck of a f**ked up family and BATSH*T INSANEn and it's JUST A MESS.

It practically begins with incest and keeps it up the whole way through; there's prostitution and murder and insanity and just basically everything that is wrong with the world can be found in this most disturbing book. 'Magical realism'?? I mean, what the f**k does that even mean?? How the ... f**king REALISM??? WTF???? And normally I don't mind a bit of f**ked up to keep things interesting but how can any book possibly include this much murder and depravity and STILL BE BORING??

Honestly, I feel like I need to Google to properly understand why so much depravity was included and why it's considered to be such genius, because sure, the ending is a little clever but it's certainly not enough to make up for wading through over 400 pages of this utter trash.

I just don't get it.

Clearly my IQ is too low for this "Masterpiece of Literature"; this book is officially the most overrated classic I've ever read in my life.

I hated it so much I tried to make it a group read so I could share the pain and torture XD I AM A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING.


Conclusion:
I did not like this book very much.

Wow, here I am having finally (!) read a gem of all times: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez; and I´m feeling good :)

I have witnessed the transformational rise and fall of the newly founded village, Macondo, and the Buendía family. Captivated by the magical realism I moved between the past, the present and the future filled with myths and reality at the same time!

I was mentally in a completely different zone when reading this book!

In awe of Ursula´s strength and endurance over one hundred years, I felt the destinies of every character repeating themselves over and over again as they ultimately revolved around solitude.

Every word feels like a pearl in your hands that you try to string together to capture the plot, but you will find yourself collecting the pearls as they spread everywhere, whilst you admire each and every single one´s beauty!

Magical realism at its best and a source of inspiration for many authors around the globe!

Find me on instagram

صد سال تنهایی شاهکارِ افتضاحِ قرن: روی رینگ با گابو


تنها راه لذت بردن از این کتاب: مشتِ سوپر ماریو
اگه کلی وقت‌تان بیهوده صرف این رمان شده، مشت‌ها را گره کرده و به سبک ماریو وارگاس یوسا نشانه بگیرید و بادمجانی بکارید زیر چشم گابو


برنده نوبل قصه گویی بی‌روح: سنیور گابو
تواز مادربزرگت قصه گفتن رو یاد گرفتی!!! باورکردنی نیست!!! مادربزرگا داستان‌های بد را هم خوب تعریف می‌کردن. اما تو یه داستان خوب رو به گا دادی آقای گابو


تنها راه علاج: همان مشت‌ها
گابو رو باید همیشه تو رینگ نگه می‌داشتن...شاید از ترسِ ناک اوت شدن هم شده کمی بهتر قصه می‌گفت...شاید دیگر از کسل شدگی و خواب رفتن عضلات مغزمان حین خواندن رمانش رنج نمی‌بردیم


لباس جدید پادشاه

زبان سرخ سر سبز بر باد می‌دهد...می‌دانم...اما نترسید...گابو پادشاه نیست که سرتان را به جلاد بسپارد...کمی اروپا زندگی کرده...معنای آزادی بیان رو می‌فهمد...احساس‌تان را بیان کنید...حتی اگر همه مسخره‌تان کنند و بگویند مگه کوری نمی‌بینی پادشاه لباس به تن دارد!!! حتی اگر بزرگترین شاهکارهای تاریخ یعنی مرگ قسطی و سفر به انتهای شب را بخوانی...میدانم خداسلین است...اما فحش‌بارانش کنید اگر دوستش ندارید

زنده باد کاتالونیا: مرگ بر دیکتاتور فرانکو


صد سال تنهايی...كتابي است كه در همان روز های اول چاپ در دنيا سر و صدای زيادی كرد...خيلي زود نسخه هايش تمام شد...پشت سر هم تجديد چاپ شد...چند سال قبل پادشاه اسپانیا، با هزینه خود(یا پول ملت) آن را تجدید چاپ کرد...کاش میشد جلوی چنین کارهای مضحکی رو گرفت...پادشاه و چهره‌ی روشنفکرانه گرفتن خیلی مسخره اس

من ندیم توام نه ندیم بادمجان: شوخی با گابو

گابو جان هرچقدر که از کتابت خوشم نیومد از تو خوشم میاد...حالا که ریغ رحمتو سرکشیدی...و مرده‌ها عزیزتر میشن... به سراغ کتابت خواهم رفت...و بدون شوخی اگه اینبار خوشم بیاد...قول میدم روی رینگ بذارم چند مشت بکوبی زیر چشمام

ارادتمند تو آگر. سلام منو به سلین برسون

“There is always something left to love.”

The multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founded the town of Macondo, a fictitious town in the country of Colombia.

I have been hesitant about writing this review as I will never be able to do this book justice - it is simply that incredible. So, please bear with my fangirling and inability to put into words how truly magical, beautiful, breathtaking and heartbreaking One Hundred Years of Solitude is.

The movement of the story over one hundred years is mesmerising. New characters are constantly being introduced as the family expands, which can be overwhelming at times, but if you have a family tree and give the book the undivided attention it deserves, the pay off is worth it. This is not one to be picked up on a whim, you need to be in the mood to peel back the layers of the Buendía family.

And a multitude of layers there are! Crazy things are constantly happening - civil wars, uprisings, hauntings, a little familial incest... This is truly a book to reread and revisit many times, as there are such a vast amount of details and events that it is impossible to remember them all.

The writing itself is unbelievable. If I was one to highlight sections of books that I loved, this entire book would be bright pink (my fave highlighter shade)! This novel reminded me in many ways of East of Eden, another all-time favourite, in the sense that history constantly repeats itself - families are sometimes doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Yet I would not freely recommend it to everyone. You’ll either love it... or want to bang your head off a wall. I can’t predict which camp anyone would fall into, all I can say is give it a chance if it sounds like a book you’d enjoy!

Thanks for the amazing buddy read @cemetery.of.forgotten.books - I am now obsessed. 5 stars.