Book Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude

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

The multigenerational saga of the Buendía family is a monumental piece of literature. It took me two weeks to finish this book as the storyline was so rich in detail. The story does not have a formula, as the storyline is as unpredictable as the Buendía family. There is a noticeable cyclical nature to the characters, as is the Buendíafamily tradition of naming children after ancestors, history seems to repeat itself, while the rest of the world moves forward.

The Buendía family founded the town of Macondo – a city of mirrors as dreamt by the patriarch Jose Arcadio and built with the help of his wife Ursula. A city that reflects the world around it and the world within the town. Over the course of the novel, the Buendía’s and their descendants are met with fortune, tragedy and war. In an ode to Colombia’s colonial history, local superstition is met with strict Catholicism. However, magic and the supernatural in Macondo take precedence over the country's strict conservatism and religious structures. Magical realism is one of the defining features of this novel it's what makes the novel.

There is something rather beautiful about how the Buendía family is surrounded by magic. Their belief in ghosts and how they feel time does not affect them. Ursula and her children live to be over a hundred years old. They are untouchable to the rigours of time and modernity. That being said, Macondo does not escape the intrusion of modernity and outside forces, it becomes one of Macondo’s greatest of all conflict: modernity vs. magic. In line with Colombia’s history, the imposition of modernity on Macondo, ends in bloodshed and war. Even after the wars are long over, the more modern the town becomes the more Macondo starts to crumble, the magic slowly seeping away. The soul of the town itself rebels by inducing plagues of ants, scorpions and a rain storm that lasts for several years killing livestock, and, eroding the townspeople's willpower. Through the power of narration and tone the extraordinary events seem to be rationalised within Macondo and become less remarkable. Due to the narration, every moment in the book feels like the most important part, it never ceases to be at its most interesting.

Overall, I would highly recommend this novel, the climax of the book stays with you for several days. The eventual fate of Macondo is devastating, and probably the reason why this book is so well revered. It is a stunning read and one of the best novels I have read this year.

Netflix have announced a series for this book to come out in the next few years. Interestingly, the author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez never wanted to sell the screen rights to this book as there is too much detail to cover, I wonder if Netflix will do it justice.