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One Hundred Years Of Solitude Oprah #3

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About this Book

Trade Paperback

5.11 x 8.11 x 1.11 IN

January 7, 2004

HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS


0060740450
9780060740450

From the Publisher

One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel García Márquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, andpurity that are the mark of a master.

Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

About the Author

Gabriel García Márquez was born in 1928 in the town of Aracatca, Colombia. Latin America's preeminent man of letters, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He began his writing career as a journalist and is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Gabriel Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

Bookclub Guide

Introduction

The mythic village of Macondo lies in northern Colombia, somewhere in the great swamps between the mountains and the coast. Founded by Jose Arcadio Buendia, his wife Ursula, and nineteen other families, "It was a truly happy village where no one was over thirty years of age and where no one had died." At least initially. One Hundred Years of Solitude chronicles, through the course of a century, life in Macondo and the lives of six Buendia generations -- from Jose Arcadio and Ursula, through their son, Colonel Aureliano Buendia (who commands numerous revolutions and fathers eighteen additional Aurelianos), through three additional Jose Arcadios, through Remedios the Beauty and Renata Remedios, to the final Aureliano, child of an incestuous union. As babies are born and the world's "great inventions" are introduced into Macondo, the village grows and becomes more and more subject to the workings of the outside world, to its politics and progress, and to history itself. And the Buendias and their fellow Macondons advance in years, experience, and wealth ... until madness, corruption, and death enter their homes. From the gypsies who visit Macondo during its earliest years to the gringos who build the banana plantation, from the "enormous Spanish galleon" discovered far from the sea to the arrival of the railroad, electricity, and the telephone, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic novel weaves a magical tapestry of the everyday and the fantastic, the humdrum and the miraculous, life and death, tragedy and comedy -- a tapestry in which the noble, the ridiculous, the beautiful, and the tawdry all contribute to an astounding vision of human life and death, a full measure of humankind's inescapable potential and reality.

Discussion Topics

  1. What kinds of solitude occur in the novel (for example, solitude of pride, grief, power, love, or death), and with whom are they associated? What circumstances produce them? What similarities and differences are there among the various kinds of solitude?

  2. What are the purposes and effects of the story's fantastic and magical elements? How does the fantastic operate in the characters' everyday lives and personalities? How is the magical interwoven with elements drawn from history, myth, and politics?

  3. Why does Garcia Marquez make repeated use of the "Many years later" formula? In what ways does this establish a continuity among past, present, and future? What expectations does it provoke? How do linear time and cyclical time function in the novel?

  4. To what extent is Macondo's founding, long isolation, and increasing links with the outside world an exodus from guilt and corruption to new life and innocence and, then, a reverse journey from innocence to decadence?

  5. What varieties of love occur in the novel? Does any kind of love transcend or transform the ravages of everyday life, politics and warfare, history, and time itself?

  6. What is the progression of visitors and newcomers to Macondo, beginning with the gypsies? How does each new individual and group affect the Buendias, the town, and the story?

  7. What is the importance of the various inventions, gadgets, and technological wonders introduced into Macondo over the years? Is the sequence in which they are introduced significant?

  8. What is Melquiades's role and that of his innovations, explorations, and parchments? What is the significance of the "fact" that Melquiades "really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude"? Who else returns, and why?

  9. When and how do politics enter the life of Macondo? With what short-term and long-term consequences? Do the social-political aspects of life in Macondo over the years parallel actual events and trends?

  10. What types of women (from Ursula and Pilar to Meme and Amaranta Ursula) and what types of men (from Jose Arcadio to Aureliano Babilonia) are distinguishable? What characteristics do the men share? What characteristics do the women share?

  11. What dreams, prophecies, and premonitions occur in the novel? With which specific characters and events are they associated, and what is their purpose?

  12. When, how, and in what guises does death enter Macondo? With what consequences?

  13. On the first page we are told that "The world was so recent that many things lacked names." What is the importance of names and of naming (of people, things, and events) in the novel?

  14. How do geography and topography -- mountains, swamps, river, sea, etc. -- affect Macondo's history, its citizens' lives, and the novel's progression?

  15. What aspects of the Buendia family dynamics are specific to Macondo? Which are reflective of family life everywhere and at any time? How do they relate to your experience and understanding of family life?

  16. How does Garcia Marquez handle the issue and incidence of incest and its association with violence beginning with Jose Arcadio and Ursula's marriage and the shooting of Prudencio Aguilar? Is the sixth-generation incest of Aureliano Babilonia and Amaranta Ursula inevitable?

Edition Details

Oprah's Classic Book Club #3

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From the Critics

"The first piece of literature that should be required reading for the entire human race….Mr. García Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life."
- William Kennedy,New York Times Book Review

"Fecund, savage, irresistible...in all their loves, madness, and wars, their alliances, compromises, dreams and deaths...The characters rear up large and rippling with life against the green pressure of nature itself."
- Paul West, Book World

"More lucidity, wit, wisdom, and poetry than is expected from 100 years of novelists, let alone one man."
- Washington Post Book World

"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. It takes up not long after Genesis left off and carries through to the air age, reporting on everything that happened in between with more lucidity, wit, wisdom, and poetry that is expected from 100 years of novelists, let alone one man...Mr. Garc a M rquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life."
- William Kennedy, New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life."
- New York Times Book Review

From The Community

Who's Listing it as a Top TenWhat's this?

This title has appeared in 38 Top Ten lists. See the most recent lists below:

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This title has been mentioned in 1 blog. See the most recent post below:

3

Reviews from the Community32 Reviews

  • M. Gnzdio

    M. Gnzdio

    • 1 person found this helpful

    One Hundred Years of Solitude 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Hardcover)

    6 years ago

    This book rocks! If you skip everything else in modern literature, read this one. It's a masterpiece in the truest sense of the word. Man, and that chick who eats the earth really moves you... Chamber-pots and all... Read it, read it now! read more

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    • 2 people found this helpful

    A few things cleared up 3

    3 years ago

    The book is supposed to implement magical realism, where magical activities are accepted as a part of normal life. Therefore, if someone is levitating, it's viewed as normal as if they were walking into the room. This is a recurring theme in many Latin American novels. Also, the reason that multiple characters have the same name is to show continuity within the generations and to show how all these characters are linked over the chasm of time. You can also see this in Salman Rushdie's… read more

    This reviewer also recommends:
  • Hibiscus

    Hibiscus

    • 1 person found this helpful

    Beautiful. 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    4 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a rollercoaster ride. His characters don't just speak to you, they stand up and scream to you. You, despite yourself, care about the Buendias, the marriages, the deaths and the births. I think one of the most beautiful places in the book is when the Orginal Buendia is tended to by the same man he murdered such a long time ago. Marquez uses magical realism to create a family you can almost remember gossiping about. It's not an easy book… read more

  • stupefaction

    stupefaction

    Not worth the effort 1

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    9 months ago

    Though this novel effectively communicates the circular nature of time through the similarities of these family members as their line progresses, it was far too long-winded and seemed a bit overdone. Perhaps that's the fault of the translation, however I wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone.

  • Gabriel

    Gabriel

    One Hundred Years of Solitude 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    11 years ago

    A lot like Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera, in that it gathers power as it rolls along. The style is hypnotic. When I read Marquez, there is love in the world, at all times, everywhere. Marquez's world of love is not a selfish one, of course. The ending of this novel points to this fact. It utterly engulfed me with the long history of love and longing that characterizes the Buendia family's struggle in Latin America.

  • gracie

    gracie

    • 1 person found this helpful

    Entrancing and Complex 5

    This review is from: 100 Years Of Solitude Classic Ed (Trade Paperback)

    8 years ago

    This is one of the most beautiful, complex and important novels i have ever read. Extremely satisfying to the last compelling page. One can say that it acts as a bible for the modern atheist: full of lust, murder, and betrayal. It should be read by everyone.

  • SarahH

    SarahH

    Wonderful 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    2 years ago

    One of my favorite books ever!

  • Sohel

    Sohel

    An immortal novel with musical chime 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Hardcover)

    10 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude: made me fall in love with literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude: inspired me to dream and cry in solitary. One Hundred Years of Solitude: scraped away all the rigidity from my hardened soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude: showed me the world of dispair in multi-colored rainbow. One Hundred Years of Solitude is the best of the best and I will always cherish its musical chime in my heart as long as I live. I just wish that all the human souls are exposed to this… read more

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    • 1 person found this helpful

    Worth the Effort! 5

    3 years ago

    I agree with the other reviews that it is a hard book to get into. The names are very confusing , so thank God for the family tree at the begining of the book. Once you give in to and accept the unrealistic aspects of the story you will be able to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of this book. It's a book that reads like someone telling you a tall tale that you want to believe is true! It is one of the most challenging but most rewarding books I have read in long time and I read quite a few… read more

  • Nico

    Nico

    a pleasure 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    12 months ago

    I was captivated by this book for years I just kept coming back to it. This book brings politics and realities of South America to life. It contains some of the most glorious prose ever written. Marquez is truly the greatest writer I have ever had the pleasure to get lost with.

  • Belisarius

    Belisarius

    You HAVEN'T read this book??? 5

    This review is from: 100 Years Of Solitude Classic Ed (Trade Paperback)

    9 years ago

    Well if that is you, let me encourage you to do so now. If you read much at all, you will have come by dozens of books that are tediously classified as "greatest books of the 20th century". Well, leaving aside all hyperbole and exaggeration, this novel is perhaps the most sweeping epic to be written in years, and written with a style so unique from other modern writers that it is an absolute pleasure to read. Cautionary note: try to read it in as little time as possible, as the… read more

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    amazing 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    4 years ago

    Garcia Marquez' One hundred years of solitude is a fabulous book. At the beginning, one may find it somewhat difficult to remember all the characters (as most are all similarly named) yet once one gets into the book, one feels like part of the family. The book is full of magic and has one of the best, if not the, best ending ever.

  • Sohel

    Sohel

    An immortal novel with musical chime 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Hardcover)

    10 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude: made me fall in love with literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude: inspired me to dream and cry in solitary. One Hundred Years of Solitude: scraped away all the rigidity from my hardened soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude: showed me the world of dispair in multi-colored rainbow. One Hundred Years of Solitude is the best of the best and I will always cherish its musical chime in my heart as long as I live. I just wish that all the human souls are exposed to this… read more

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    A very strange book 1

    3 years ago

    Although I have read quite a few books recomended by Oprah, I have to wonder if she really read this book. It was completely unrealistic, everyone had the same name, and it took wayyyyy to long to finish. The fact was I had to force myself to finish it. I do have to say it was beautifly written, and some interesting things happen. It just wasn't what I was expecting, and not the type of book I generally enjoy reading. It was almost sci -fi because such unrealistic things happen.

  • Peachy TO

    Peachy TO

    • Most Interesting

    Take heed and make use of the family tree provided. 4

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    16 months ago

    Although there were moments that I felt I was on a bad acid trip soaring on a magic carpet over Incest Island, I relished in this enchanting tale of the beginnings of a civilization infused with wonderous magical realism. Garcia is a truly gifted artist who turns poetry into an intricately woven tale of a blood line of legend. www.booksnakereviews.blogspot.com

  • Jeremy Edwards

    Jeremy Edwards

    Buy This Book NOW!!! 5

    This review is from: 100 Years Of Solitude Classic Ed (Trade Paperback)

    9 years ago

    An absolutely brilliant book. From start to finish, Garcia captures you in his tale. He masterfully conveys the cyclic pattern of human history, through his account of the Buendia family's story.

  • Jamie Siddons

    Jamie Siddons

    • Chapters Employee

    A seductive myth-history 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    4 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude follows a family and a town through several generations of life, death and upheaval. The overwhealming strength of the novel is Marquez' seductive writing, drawing the reader closer and closer. I could not escape the sensation that I was a child sitting at the foot of a wise and wizened elder who was telling the story of our past. It was important to me, crucial, that I listen carefully and trust everything that was said. A myth in the fullest sense of the word… read more

  • rima bird

    rima bird

    • 1 person found this helpful

    Absolutely not! 1

    3 years ago

    Well maybe I need help to read this book... I tried to, many times, just could not get through it. Up to this date am convinced the man must have been on drugs... if someone can tell me what is the big hype all about I would appreciate it...it gets thumbs down from me.

  • mc2105

    mc2105

    Quite interesting, yet kind of tiresome 3

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    2 years ago

    This book wasn't so bad after all.. The only thing is that at one point it seems like I had to push myself to read and keep reading.. because the story seems endlessly long and it seems as if never you will never finish the book. Sometimes it is hard to keep track of the events or the characters and it's quite easy to get confused, because their names are almost the same throughout the whole story and you might need to go back and read again in order to understand something.. I personally don't… read more

  • Lynn

    Lynn

    Not for everyone... 4

    This review is from: 100 Years Of Solitude Classic Ed (Trade Paperback)

    10 years ago

    This book was a selection of our book club, and although the majority found it to be tough reading, I personally really enjoyed it. The flowing, conversational style of writing gives the book a personality of its own, and the mystical fantasy elements, told in such a matter-of-fact tone, give the book a warm, humourous outlook. With dozens of characters passing in and out of the narrative over the course of 100 years, attention is required to follow the action; however, the entertaining… read more

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    Perfection 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    4 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those very rare novels that is written with such skill that you forget you are reading fiction, and start believing it is a history. The Buendia family that is the heart of this novel weaves its way throughout countless ages of humanity; magic makes way for science, before turning back again, as the history of the human species, replete with its loves and wars, the rebellions in both, and the truth of the human condition is explored with a poet's skill… read more

  • Monique

    Monique

    Fantastical ! 4

    5 years ago

    I started this book a half a dozen times and could never get past the first 50 pages. I couldn't have continued without Oprah's help! Oprah's website offers a synopsys that explains how to read the book. I never, in one hundred years, thought I would need directions on how to read a book! But finally I was able to put myself in the frame of mind required and now I may just read the book a second time! I loved the weirdness of the entire story and recommend it to anyone that's looking for… read more

  • Rodwell Brown

    Rodwell Brown

    • 5 people found this helpful

    On "One Hundred Years of Solitude," by Gabriel García Márquez 5

    This review is from: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Trade Paperback)

    2 years ago

    Magic, we are told, does not exist. It might seem to exist when we are children, but the belief in magic is discouraged as we navigate adolescence and forgotten in adulthood. Gabriel García Márquez, in his novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (1967,) has presented an opening to that forgotten magic - to that connection with the archetypal myth that is within each of us. The eccentricities and utter vastness of the Buendía family experience has a home in the collective mind of humanity. Their… read more

  • Juan De Lujo

    Juan De Lujo

    More than mythical 5

    This review is from: 100 Years Of Solitude Classic Ed (Trade Paperback)

    11 years ago

    One Hundred Years of Solitude is Colombia, Garcia Marquez's home country. It might better be titled 400 years of solitude as it passes through (allegorically of course) each of the major stages of Colombian history, leading up to the 1950s. Anyone who wants to understand the country and all its problems needs to read this, and then a basic history. The picture then becomes much more clear.

see all 32 reviews

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