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.

Well, this was truly something. A tragedy of a cursed and doomed family in Colombia over a period of 100 years. There were parts that blew me away and parts that hollowed me out. Disgusting parts. I just don't understand how people love it so much, how that word can be used for it I don't know. It is an amazing and affecting, wondrous and likely important work. But I did not love it.

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. 

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?

I have no regrets, I love a multi-generational family saga and this one perhaps defined that genre in the modern era… but wow this was a tough read for many reasons, despite the lyrical, flowing prose. I’m glad I read this for a book club where I was able to discuss it with others, because I wouldn’t have gotten as much out of it on my own.