This book review is for: One Hundred Years of Solitude
It was under the category: A Book Whose Story Spans Generations
I am pretty sure I read this one near the beginning of the summer. This is the story of a fictional town called Macondo. It is the history of a family named Buendia. All the characters have names that are similar. The founder of the town is Jose Arcadio Buendia. It covers the lives of his children and his grandchildren. Jose and his wife are first cousins, and they leave their village to search for a new home. The town stays pretty secluded, but is often visited by gypsies. Over time, Jose Buendia goes insane, starts speaking only Latin, and is tied to a chestnut tree for many years until he dies. Generations of Buendias eventually leave the town into a near abandoned state. There are only two people left in the town, and they enter into a relationship - not knowing that they are aunt and nephew. The wife dies in child birth and the child is devoured by ants (what?!?!) leaving Aurelino - the nephew - as the last living Buendia relative. Aurelino finds a manuscript that was left by the gypsies years before that tells of all the Buendia misfortunes. While reading it, the town of Macondo is wiped off the face of the earth by a hurricane.
This book will make your head spin. While I enjoyed the book, I had to keep referring to the family tree at the beginning to keep all the names straight. There are a lot of Arcadios and Ursulas and Joses that you start to forget whom is married to whom. The book is written in a magical realism style and will have you chuckling and shaking your head all at once. It was WEIRD. And silly. And just fun.
I think I will recommend it. It is an acquired taste - that is for sure. You just never knew where the story was going!
Stars: 3
No comments:
Post a Comment