Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Cem Anos de Solidão by Gabriel García Márquez

226 reviews

bbqcandy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Its easy to see why Cien Años De Soledad is considered a classic. The timeless themes of family dynamics and the cyclical nature of time, combined with the pseudo-historical nature of the book and the hint of mysterious magic make this an absolute must read for anyone interested in hispanic and latino literature.

Though the book can be very challenging and confusing, this often serves as a way to further the themes of the book. I’ve heard others complain that they can get confused by all the characters that share names, but this is quite purposeful in the book,
especially as you find out that the characters that share names, also share personalities and even their ultimate fates.


The other, often confusing and major theme in the book is the cyclical nature of time. Much of the book is written in a way where the passage of time is hard to discern. Many sections are written as flashbacks, some segments are written as flashforwards, and overall the book is written in a way that almost feels as if every event is happening at one.
At the end of the book, it is revealed that Melquiades’ manuscript is actually the book we are reading, that he wrote at the start of the 100 years, predicting everything that happens and writing everything as if it occurred all at once.


For me personally, the hardest challenge of this book was reading through it in the original Spanish. I have been a Spanish-speaker my whole life, but most of my education took place in the USA, so I never got the chance to read many books in Spanish, especially more challenging and academic books. I do not regret reading this in Spanish. Marquez’s words and rhythms add a deeper layer to this book that makes it so much more rich and often beautiful in a tragic way. That said, I do wish I had read other, simpler books in Spanish as practice, in order to work myself up to reading this one. I don’t think my lack of skill took much away from my experience reading this, but it did take me a long time to get through it.

I could talk about this book for hours, but this review is getting long, and I’m writing on the clock at work, but I will just say that this is an incredible book written by a very talented author and I would frankly recommend to anyone, especially if they are interested in hispanic literature and history.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lydia_rose's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

waluigi123's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mantha625's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mabi29's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Não sei como ficou tão famosa...a história é bem mais ou menos, e ao longo do tempo vamos esquecendo quem é quem, por que os personagens tem os mesmos nomes. Além disso há normalização de coisas como sexo com menores e incesto que me incomodou bastante. 

Bom que foi audiolivro pq se tivesse tentado ler o físico não teria aguentado.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

joseph51latas's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book builds a vivid world that grows and dies over the course of a century. Isolation, recalcitrance, and the predetermination of history drive the characters and the plot.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jmdressel's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this book was a challenging read! the writing was very stream-of-consciousness focused, and so there was less of a reading story, and more just like someone was telling a story in person. this is the first book i’ve read in the magical realism genre. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

juiceman's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of those books that you can’t fully appreciate until you have finished it. Wasn’t going to give it 5 stars until I got to the last page and suddenly found myself wishing I could read it with fresh eyes all over again, with the mystery and unknowing of where it was all going. Where are we all going?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

annagrimmyy's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Dnf at 135 pages 

I can understand why this is considered an important piece of literature. 

That being said, due to the fact that every female character is raped (up until 135 pages at least), I cannot believe that to this day people are heralding this book without critiquing the way women are treated. Gave up reading as quite frankly there are better classics that deserve my time more than this load of horseshit.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lolosadcat's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this book has some of the most consistently superb writing that i've read - not only in prose, but structure as well. the plot of this book isn't so much a linear plot as much it is the meandering story of the rise and fall of a line of people and their town, jumping around points of time. however, every story beat and reveal feels carefully placed and the entire book has great, steady pacing. 
that being said, i would recommend reading this with the family tree accessible to help remember the character's names and relationships. the repeating names can be confusing to track, but they are important to the themes of certain traits and flaws repeating in the family. 

definitely one of the most fascinating books that i have ever read. i'll be thinking of this doomed family and their exploits for quite a while. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings