It’s easy to get lost in the confusion of similar names of characters of the Buendia family over generation when they all start living lives reminiscing another generation. It’s good that they added a family tree to revisit whenever the reader gets confused.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is fascinating. Not only because of the magical realism at play but how realistically believable the events are structured by placing chunks of real-world evolution of our society over decades. From simpler times with no governments to influx of gypsies showing magical inventions to the start of capitalism, the book is a humangous journey with the founding family of the place called Mocondo. The Buendia family, has their own set ways which has a tendency of repeating incidences with every generation. A huge credit to this goes to the names: Arcadio and Aureliano, Remedios and Amaranta. And other possible combination that come out of it.
There’s just no suspense in the stories. Before you read about a character, you already know when and how they’re going to die. The build up, of each character, is always good but without culminating into anything towards the end. Gone, just like that. And there’s a series of it. Just when you thought you’re starting to get attached to a character, they’re gone. All that’s left with each is the solitude they bring along before they meet their eventual end.
The absurdity is magical. The reiteration of the cyclical fate that every generation will phase is prophetic and the reader vaguely understands that and yet the book keeps you interested in the mundane. You question the mundane and believe the magic. That’s the beauty of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
It’s not a page turner that’ll keep you addicted but would tingle your senses when you take little breaks in-between. And perhaps that’s needed and where this book becomes critical. It helps you draw parallels with world developments and society’s progress. No wonder this doesn’t feel aged at all.
From among a lot of things I liked, what fascinated me the most was how the author would take you through a setting. Like, describing the room like a strapped-on camera with just one view port sequentially describing everything on its path.
One hundred years of solitude is a book you can pick up from in-between, read a few pages and still enjoy.