Monday, August 22, 2011

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

My copy of this book has a sticker on the back that says 'Oprah Book Club #3'.  It's been sitting around for a very long time I fear.  As I plow through my list of unread books, I'm getting to the really thick books that I probably bought because everyone else was reading them at the time, but they really scare me. 

Macondo is an imaginary town in an imaginary place where people live.  Yes, of course people live in a town but what I mean is they live life.  They get married, have children, visit prostitutes, go to war, start businesses.  The list of life goes on.  In Macondo the gypsies charge the villagers to see ice for the very first time.  A lost child brings the insomnia plague, another visitor brings the banana plague.  Once it rained for four years straight and then the sun shone for ten years. They go through life living and dying and rolling with the punches.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those classics that everyone should read.  I found the story amusing and entertaining.  I had difficulty however, keeping track of all the characters.  The men and their many sons, had the same names.  The women too repeated their names.  Only Ursula, the matriarch of the town refused to allow anyone to name their child after her.  Someone did manage to slip in Ursula as a middle name for a child when they thought Ursula was on her last legs.  

This is a story worth reading.  It's funny and sad and crazy and twisted.  But be aware that it's not an easy read.  But then again, it's about life.

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