Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Cem Anos de Solidão by Gabriel García Márquez

13 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

katanai's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

“she became human in her solitude” damn

okay. so many thoughts but also none at all? um. when i went in to this book i definitely wasn’t expecting such dark elements such as pedophilia, incest & rape. author’s writing is so lengthy im unsure of why it took so long to get to the point. a yapper for sure. it was so wordy & not in a way that’s all the way enjoyable although you will get lost in the sauce. at the beginning, all the different ppl but sharing such similar names ground my gears bc i got confused to who was who. i can see why it’s some ppl’s favorite books but also out of all books why this one? i get it but it doesn’t mean i have to like it. in short, a novel that tells of the worst that humans can be as well our stubbornness that leads to solitude in which do we even matter at all? anyway. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

gabrielwerthman's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

eliss02's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

I've read this for an university exam, I despised it so much it made me sick a few times but I constantly think about it. Despite me disliking this book it was one of those I've printed on my mind.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

_cecilie_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jolineliest's review against another edition

Go to review page


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cj1234's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ran_sophia's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

The book reads me well and I was able to orient in the story, which surprised me quite a bit.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

fanycaz's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

Siempre tengo mucho que decir cuando termino de leer algo que tenga que ver con Cien Años de Soledad, ha sido el libro que ha marcado la diferencia en como me acerco a la lectura.
Este es un libro redondo, trata de responder todas las preguntas sobre la vida de cada personaje sin forzar las línes, con esto quiero decir que las relaciones entre personajes son orgánicas, aunque esto no quiera decir saludables, y deja en claro el como en la vida de ellos tanto el ambiente como las reacciones a éstas son siempre un tira y jala de motivaciones y rencores que se llevan al cabo de todas las páginas.
Una cosa que siempre me llama la atención es como se critica el machismo de GGM en sus historias; es un tema complicado porque en la novela se nota el machismo de su tiempo, porque es algo que él entendía en su ambiente, no pienso que degrade a las mujeres en su novela, porque cada uno de los personajes tiene tantos defectos que sería imposible separarlos por solo su género, pero es verdad que tiende a describir a algunos de sus personajes femeninos objetivizándolas.

La historia es muy diferente siempre que la leo, pero aunque se levanten sentimientos cada capítulo, la parte donde la historia se vuelve cruel es a partir de la llegada de los gringos a Macondo, porque describe con mucho detalle el maltrato y colonialismo moderno que se vive en latinoamerica.

Me encanta como ahora que la he leído de nuevo, puedo recordar y conectar mejor los puntos de quiebre de cada personaje e incluso entender mejor las razones de sus acciones, que no siempre eran acorde a lo que decían, cada uno de los que participan en la historia son muy emocionales, todo el tiempo se dejan llevar por sus emociones más profundas, ésto se ve sobre todo en Amaranta, que fue en su vejez lo más transparente que pudo en todos sus sentimientos.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

crescentpages's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings