Reviews with content warning for Murder - Cem Anos de Solidão

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.

Content Warnings

saturn_rage's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

2.25

Okay, so Remedios the Beauty is the only saving grace of this thing. That, and some really interesting ideas, love the concept of reading your past and present as your world ends around you. But, holy shit, we need to stop tolerating shit like this. This is a book about MEN written by a MAN. The women are not characters, they are only things to be fucked, assaulted, or confounded by. Furthermore, there are far too many age-inappropriate relationships here (any, really), and the “excuse” that “it was normal at the time” doesn’t fly. Again, there’s so neat ideas to be found here, but it’s always just bogged down by horrendous shit that the novel and its author seem gleeful to include. This should be better, but that would require a different approach to all of it.

Also, I only found out halfway through this reading that Netflix is adapting the book into a series, so that explains why it was in such high demand.

Content Warnings

agnes_bc's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

sineadw9's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

4.5

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this and how quickly I worked through it. The town of Macondo, and the Buendias’, intertwine and come to life in a compelling, magical way - I feel close to them. I can picture myself in their home, in the town. In so many ways it’s a tragedy but it unfurls so naturally that it doesn’t feel that way. I couldn’t keep track of the Aurelianos by the end but it didn’t really matter. This sort of reads like a long-exposure photo. It’s so rich and dense that I’ll probably reread it at some point. I actually found the writing to be quite fast-paced.

Lives up to the hype? Read it if you’re up for an ever-unwinding family saga and some OG magical realism, don’t read it if you get frustrated keeping track of names or by problematic protagonists 😂 not for everyone

Content Warnings

More...