I am currently reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Alasdair read it during his travels in South America last year, and recommended it to me. It was written by Marquez in 1967 and is seen as his most important work.
I have been finding it rather hard going, but now that I am about two thirds through it I am becoming obsessed with the fate of the Buendia family. The novel tells the story of several generations of this fictional family, who first found and then live in a mythical town called Macondo in Colombia in South America.
Although I haven't finished it yet I can see that one of the main themes is repetition; in the names of family members, the events that happen to them and the mistakes that they make, in fact it all goes round in circles. Another main theme is the solitude that the Buendias either end up seeking or have thrust upon them. There are also themes of war, trade, money and friendship that are woven throughout the book. According to Ally the story of Macondo is meant to tell the history of the 19th and early 20th centuries in South America, and the book is on every school's curriculum in Colombia. Since I don't know anything about South American history this is difficult for me to discern, but I can see many references to colonialism, especially when the "gringos" arrive and change the nature of Macondo.
It's written in a style of writing called magical realism, in which supernatural events are presented as everyday e.g. nobody is surprised that Rebeca's parents' bones keep click clacking even after they are buried, and even ordinary things like meal times or doing the laundry are given a surreal spin. The family's ghosts don't really leave after they die and therefore can be found hanging around the house and garden!
I haven't really made up my mind whether I even like "One Hundred Years of Solitude", but I have a feeling that it's one of those books that gets into your head and stays forever.
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