I'm going to start this review by saying this: I absolutely hated
One Hundred Years of Solitude and have no idea why it's deemed a
"classic."
Shh, quiet down. Let me defend myself.
This was a book I had to read for my very first book club. Since it
was already sitting on my shelf, collecting dust in its unread
state, I thought it was great that the book club was reading it and
I could finally take it off my TBR list.
Well, I read it, but was not happy to do so.
The novel starts off fine, great writing by Marquez, mapping out a
magical scene. In fact, the first few pages are amazing to read. I
was happy reading them-reading about the gypsies coming to
Marcando, bringing normal everyday items that were deemed "magic."
It seemed like Marquez was mapping out the beginnings of what would
be a fantastic book.
Of course, the more I read it, the more I realized that this was a
book that would not be in my "favourite reads" list.
The entire book was confusing-is it to be read as realism? Fantasy?
Fantastical-realism? Characters would die, but wouldn't be dead;
the word "solitude" is used way too many times; offspring had the
same names which made being a reader confusing more than
once.
In fact, if I had to relate this book to one most recently
released, I would say it's similar to White Teeth, by Zadie Smith,
though I liked White Teeth a whole lot more. There's a story going
on, people are multiplying, there are things happening, but there's
nothing going on that is so huge that makes you keep turning the
page. You're introduced to a lot of characters that just go about
their days, doing nothing spectacular. It's just one long
narrative.
One long narrative that I could barely stay awake reading (likewise
for White Teeth, though at least with that one, I enjoyed the
reading and wanted to take in every word. This one? Not so much.).
If you're like me, you'll require something light and fluffy after
reading this one.
If you loved this book, then I commend you for gobbling down the
pages like they were nobody else's business but your own. Me
personally, I plan to donate the book to the library or used book
store. It's not that special to me that I feel the urge to keep it
around.