100 Years of Solitude
What a novel. The first thing that struck me was how beautiful the writing was, and I was reading the original Rabassa English translation. I wish my Spanish was passable, so that I could go back and experience the book all over again in the original words.
The best novels transport you into another world. For me the pinnacle of that feeling came when reading Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. However, this felt like something different entirely. The world itself was very much the same earth I know, but the fantastic stories and magical realism blend facts with imagination in a way that blurred the lines of fantasy and reality. I wasn’t transported away into another land so much as experiencing daily events in a new and unique way.
The theme of solitude (Marquez uses the word all the damn time) was the most impactful theme throughout the novel for me. The characters move their lives barely noticing each other, but somehow remain connected as a family. I can’t tell if the Buendia’s as a rule of thumb resent each other or love each other. I think that’s the point.
