Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo. The founding patriarch of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía, and Úrsula Iguarán, his wife (and first cousin), leave Riohacha, Colombia, to find a better life and a new home.

Recognized as one of the most significant works in the Spanish literary canon.

Any one interested in being the Discussion Leader for this Nobel Prize Winning Novel?

I'm pretty far along in the book now, probably at about the 10th section. I would be the discussion leader except I'm having some serious reading comprehension problems with this book. I feel like I'm pretty good at following the character development, but the plot seems to be lost on me, I really do not understand what is going on politically. Maybe the book is just too abstract for my engineer's brain. I'm happy to lead by asking dumb questions!

Ellen, that would be wonderful!

I am sure there will be a lot of discussion.
I have heard following the character was a bit rough with the same names.

Anyone in?

Anyone out there reading along, or planning on reading along?

I’ve read that this book can better be appreciated by someone who comes from Latin American culture. That was interesting to me because I think the story is really neat because it seems like it could take place in any culture in any time period. As I started reading the book I tried to imagine where in the world it was taking place, and my mind kept jumping all over the world. Also you can kind of pinpoint a time period because of the technology mentioned…but then there is the fantasy aspect and that leads me to think it could be past, present, or future. Does anyone else have thoughts on location and/or time period?

Ellen, I am not going to read the book right now because I have way too many books on the go, but I plan on reading it after I finish the Isabel Allende book I am reading. I am going to read it in Spanish, so it will be very slow going.
I really enjoyed Love in the Time of the Colera.
I am hoping that some of the people who voted for the book will get a chance to read and comment. I know this is a busy time of year for everyone.
I am certainly interested in reading your comments, since I do plan on reading the book in a couple of months.
Happy reading.

Rosemarie,
I can't wait to hear your comments on the original Spanish once you get to it.

I'm about 3/4 through right now and it is so interesting how the book has such a different tone to me as things have progressed. As time passes their lives are becoming more modern and I am now seeing the culture and time period clearly.

I am reading The House of the Spirits(la casa de los espiritus) and it also covers a long time period. It will be interesting to compare the two. I am about a third of the way through the book.

I read this a few months ago with my local book club and we had some really great discussion about it. It was clear that the Latin@ readers could connect more easily with the characters. The magical realism was also quite fun, with the way it paralleled the chaos in the novel and the variable nature of time.

It was difficult to keep track of all the characters, but several of us found that using a family tree and taking notes as went along helped a lot, particularly since so many characters had similar names.

I'm not a huge fan of Garcia Marquez, but I'm glad to have read this one.

Hi Summer, it's good to hear your thoughts.

I just finished the book and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had in person discussions about it. I did use the family tree, but I kept finding myself getting lost between what was actually happening and what was the magical realism. I liked the way the words sounded and the imagery, but I have no idea what it meant. I'm going to equate it to a Salvador Dali painting, I love looking at them, but I have no idea what it is trying to say.

I am getting more curious about this book. I am now halfway through the House of the Spirits and plan to start One Hundred Years... in November.

I don't remember when I read this one, but I remember it blew my mind! Something about the way the story was told. Like all these incredible things were happening and yet the characters acted as if it were everyday. It's become one of my favourite books!

I also remember looking up the town this book is based on and desperately wanting to visit, but that never happened....

I am reading The House of the Spirits, another Spanish family story, and the main character says that she doesn't like using the same family names again because it causes confusion in the family journal she is writing.
I plan on finishing this book by the end of October, so that I can start on the Garcia Marques book to see how the books compare re names.

I am planning to start One Hundred Years as soon as I finished The Moonstone, where I am currently on page 332/466.

I bought the German edition of One Hundred Years, because I thought the book might be easier to understand when I read it in my mother tongue. But I doubt that this will be a great help, since Ellen compared it to a Salvador Dali painting. We will see ;-)

Nicole, I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the German translation.

I wonder if anyone out there has read it in more than one language and has opinions on that. The story is so metaphorical/abstract that it seems like the meaning and feeling of the book would be so different from different translators' perspectives.

Well, I started reading One Hundred Years today. The story is pretty weird, flying carpets, Rebeca eating soil,...

The language is basically easy to read, I am already on page 50. But I stumbled across two or three ancient conditional verb forms. In English this could equate to the language of Shakespeare. Either Marquez also used these old-fashioned verb forms or the translator thought it necessary to interrupt the flow of reading with some strange words.

I've already returned my English translation to the library, so I can't check, but I seem to remember some odd verb forms.

I agree with it being easy to read, my problem was that it was almost too easy and the words flowed so nicely that I would get caught up just reading and stop paying attention to the meaning.

Maybe Marquez used these verb forms on purpose, to show how isolated the Buendias lived.

I'm not sure there is a meaning to the story... According to Wikipedia it could be an allegory about the history of South America. Or it could represent the Bible, from Genesis (founding of the village) to the apocalypse (the end of the Buendias).

I wouldn't worry about the meaning. You can't always understand works of art. Like a Salvador Dali painting, there is no way to understand it - except asking the artist. But an artist will not answer such a question.

Sometimes the artist or author has no precise explanation either; he or she is inspired and the work grows on its own.

I have just started reading the book today and I am enjoying it. Jose Arcadio Buendia is quite a character!

I am about 38 pages into the story and find it fascinating. I have just reached the section where Aureliano and Jose are doing alchemy, and it occurred to me that the root of the name Aureliano is the Latin word for gold.

This is interesting, Rosemarie. I am sure Marquez had an ulterior motive for the names of his characters.
I am currently on page 242/468.

We know that Colonel Aureliano Marquez is going to be standing before a firing squad right from the beginning of the book- but we have no idea which side he fought on in the civil war. I like the atmosphere in this book, the hint of magic.

Does anyone else find it creepy that a man in his thirties wants to marry a little girl, especially since she has lovely older sisters?

Rosemarie wrote: "Does anyone else find it creepy that a man in his thirties wants to marry a little girl, especially since she has lovely older sisters?"

That's really the tip of the iceberg with the Buendias. Keep reading!

I plan to. I read Love in the Time of the Cholera, but this book is a lot stranger. Thanks for the warning.

I am halfway through the book but think I will give up on it. I haven't touched the book in two weeks - all the follies are getting boring.

I will keep at it. I plan to finish it this year, but am reading other books as well. Are you reading anything interesting right now, Nicole?

Rosemarie wrote: "I will keep at it. I plan to finish it this year, but am reading other books as well. Are you reading anything interesting right now, Nicole?"

Sure, I just finished 'When Nietzsche wept', 'Animal Farm' and '1Q84' and started Khaled Hosseini's 'And the mountain echoed' yesterday. All of them great works. I still hope I will find the mood to finish One Hundred Years this year.

I enjoyed Animal Farm more than 1984, which is just too grim. I am reading Le Petit Prince as a break from the heavy stuff. Happy reading.

Amaranta is one of the most mixed up nasty characters that I have encountered in the many books that I have read. She is crazy.

Amaranta is a bitch. :-)

Totally!

I read this novel during a law school summer in 1977. It and my other reads, like Tom Robbins, Brautigan etc.., were books popular on college campuses in the 70s. I did not like OHYOS, the magical realism did not appeal to me, and I expressed my displeasure with my current reads to my 3rd year roommate who suggested I turn to classics. He had been a German major in undergrad, and suggested Mann's Buddenbrooks, which I loved and started me reading classics until this day.
Now, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a classic itself and I'm feeling like life has gone full circle or, really, just feeling old.

It is strange how Marquez is telling the story matter-of-factly, like when one of the Aurelianos or Jose Arcadios stands in front of a firing squad, he is giving a report as if this was something that happens every day. I don't have any connection to the characters.

I think I will pick up that book again and continue reading.

I was a German/French major in university, and got an MA in German studies. I always preferred the classics to the newer works. And now, like Brian says, what was new to me then is now considered a classic, or has been forgotten.
Thomas Mann has always been a favourite. I read Der Tod in Venedig (Death in Venice) earlier this week, and had forgotten his intense convoluted writing style- which I like but is fatigue- inducing. I have actually been in Venice, so it was nice to visualize the scenes which took place in the actual city.
I am working away at the Garcia Marquez book, very slowly and steadily.

Slow and steady wins the race, Rosemarie.

I did like Love in the Time of Cholera when I read it a few years ago, but not well enough to have me try OHYOS again. Maybe I'll try No One Writes to the Colonel sometime.

I liked Love in the Time of the Cholera also.

I am now at page 200 and the Colonel Aureliano Buendia is acting like a real jerk. Ursula has been developing into a strong tough character, but some of her descendents are something else entirely.

This book just keeps getting stranger and stranger, so I am curious to see what will happen next.

At what page are you? What is currently happening?

I had the world's greatest high school AP English teacher who opened up my world by having us read this masterpiece when I was 16. i still have my dogeared copy. Loved it! Enjoy!

I am at thr section where Aureliano Segundo and his mistress are raising rabbits and all of his animals are having a population explosion of fertility. Ursulas is a hu dred years old and still going strong.
Every section brings more weird and wonderful, sometimes sad, things.
I have finished the sectio of the revolitionary war-about 45% finished.

Finally, I made it through the book.
I don't know what to make of the book... It was...different. A very literarily written, very artistic book. Marquez came up with a lot of weird stuff to mirror South America's society across its history.

I am over half way through, when Fernanda has turned the Buendia household upside down with all rules. The scene of her wedding night, and the bizzare gown are also mentioned in Like Water for Chocolate. More magic realism.