Reviews with content warning for Violence - Cem Anos de Solidão

this book its a wonderful mix between non-fiction and fantasy, the stories can make you feel uneasy, disgust, love and also angry, sometimes thinking about the Buendías as a crazy family to just see them as what they really are a intricated family tree with more than just one turn.

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cyates99's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

It has been called the greatest novel of the 20th century. I am inclined to agree. Just read it.

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sarasreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a very difficult book to rate. It accomplished so much and conveyed so much in interesting and allegorical ways, but without all the extra extrapolation and reading it as a straight story, it's a bit messy, and I didn't really connect with any of the characters. So the allegory was fascinating, as well as the magical realism and quality of the writing, but the actual characters and plot were so-so, and it was also frequently disturbing.

I also needed to read this with the family tree open at all times, and recommend doing the same. I also recommend reading the Sparks Notes chapter summaries either as you read, or at the end. It really helped me delve deeper into the meaning of the bizarre incidents that happen in this. I do recommend it, but go in prepared to approach it with some tools in your belt!

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midwifereading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

What does GGM smoke when he's writing, because, 😳😳😳. I almost DNF'd this one too, because it's just too much. But, it's a book club book, and I really wanted to say I finished it. And I did it. Listening to the audio on 1.5x speed. 😬

Ultimately, he's a brilliant and beautiful writer, but his subject matter is disturbing, his characters impossible to like, and his style is very difficult to follow at times.

That said, I pulled up the Wikipedia page outlining the plot and characters, which really helped me follow the story much more easily, especially because all the characters have the same three names!!! That family tree came in handy.

This story wanders all over the place, and is supposedly an allegory of sorts about Columbian society, classes, elites, and politics. No wonder I don't get it. I know nothing about Columbia. Although I now wish I did know something!

There is some stunning visual imagery, especially surrounding death. (Yellow butterflies, any one?) Th characters are vivid, but don't quite feel real, though I assume they're not supposed to.

Anyway, this book is enough to tell me I probably don't like multi-generational family sagas, because never want to read anything like it again.

100 Years of Solitude may be considered an international masterpiece, but couldn't it have been told without all the incest and pedophilia? Maybe?

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haleybird's review against another edition

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I couldn’t get into it, and though I understand that many family histories involve incest, rape, pedophilia, and prostitution, the way all of these things were presented just rubbed me the wrong way. I also didn’t feel like the characters had much depth, and I found myself wishing certain plot points would just move along (like the random “insomnia” epidemic). I can appreciate that this is a much loved book and that the author won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but it’s just not for me.

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