One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is a story that follows three generations of the Buendia family and the question of whether they can escape the effects of the past.

Thoughts while reading:

-I’m not quite sure what this is about, but I’m really enjoying it so far. I feel bad for Ursula though, having to deal with all the whims of her husband who is caught up by new ideas
-There is a lot going on and a lot of characters. It can be hard to keep track of them, and their relationships are so entangled. There’s also a lot of uncomfortable things that happen to the women
-Considering the dramas that the characters get caught up in, it’s interesting to see Ursula’s insights about them once she gets old and blind and perceives them in a new light. I didn’t care for Amaranta (especially with how she treated Rebecca) until Ursula’s views put her in a new light. Remedios the Beauty was fascinating though, with how she was completely uninterested in social convention and people thought she was simple-minded, yet she still drove men insane
-Meme’s story made me so sad. I wish she could have been with her lover. I disliked Fernanda but this made me dislike her more

 

Something about the book almost felt like a dark fairy tale. I definitely had characters confused a few times, and didn't always know what was happening. From what I gather, this is one of those books that hits a lot harder if you grew up in Latin America, and while reading it, I couldn't help thinking that there was a whole history I was missing out on, simply because I wasn't taught it. I generally enjoyed the women's stories more than the men's, but some of the incidents were very harrowing (like the Banana massacre and how it was forgotten). Perhaps this is one of those books that I would appreciate more with another reading, but as it is, I would give it 3 out of 5