One Hundred Years of Solitude [Cliffs Notes Study]

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!... but confusing
Review: I liked this book enough to rush out and buy 3 other Garcia Marquez books. For me that is rare. I found it to be a magical and poetic work, but with so many different characters (many with very similar names)concentration is essential. I am writing this now mainly for those of you who have heard of Garcia Marquez but have not yet read any of his work. My advice is to start with Love in the Time of Cholera. It is also a poetic, mystical, and romantic story but with essentially three major characters it is much easier to follow. Then read Chronicle of a Death Foretold. When those two have sparked you then take on One Hundred Years of Solitude! But expect to be turning back to previous pages, and refering to the family tree printed at the beginning of the book many many times. Either way, read something by Garcia Marquez. He is fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but overrated work of fiction
Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those few novels that is magical, beautiful and can capture the very kernel of mind to wake you up from the reality of Latin American world. The writer questions the propriety of the superstructure of the governance of mankind and the whole lot of theories and principles which are supposed to deliver the mankind from the drudgeries and miseries but which do not.To read this novel is to experience darkness and the failure of mankind.

Rating:
Summary: Intese imagry and symbolism
Review: There is not a lot to comment on this book. It is simply extrodinary. Having lived in the general area that Garcia Marquez was raised, and of the which he wrote this book, I find it very true to life. The characters in the book permit the reader to relate to the type of everyday life that goes on. Though the book seems to be several broken events placed together, upon finishing it we are able to witness the great symphony of literature that Garcia Marquez composed.

Rating:
Summary: This is an enjoyable book that I would read again.
Review: This is a well written book that grabs you in the beginning and is even better in the end. The plot is masterfully interwoven and keeps you reading. The only downfall is that it is difficult to relate to any of the characters because of the magic realism. This made the reading a little slow in a few parts, but on the whole it was a great book. The family is stuck in a town isolated from the rest of civilization. It is interesting to see the progression of Macondo and the affect it has the the citizens there. It is ironic that even though the the characters are part of a huge family, they are all lonely. The end of the book is the best part that puts the whole story into perspective.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever
Review: This was really the best book I ever read. The non-standard use of time and space concepts is amazing. I read it in two languages (both translated) and I started to study Spanish just to read this book in original. Everytime I read this book it gives me a completely different view.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but overrated work of fiction
Review: To read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterwork is to confront one's demons and one's devices in a monumentally singular reading experience. What does that mean? I have no idea, but I thought it sounded good when I wrote it.
Seriously though, you could do worse than to read this book. Although, it is overrated, and at times, you will think it is pretentiously boring. Still, there were enough good stretches of narrative beauty to overtake the sometimes tiresome ponderousness of the story.