One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Hey, gimme some space, okay? Just step back a bit, you're in my light, an' I'll tell you how it went. Hey! Get that chicken off my scone!

Ok, here's the scoop. It wasn't *bad*, no way. It is anything but an easy read, but the guy can write, and there are some hot passages in here of imagery, allusion, allegory, symbolism, humour... you name it, Ol' Gabriel's probably covered it. And his use of language is, on occasion, quite inspired. The translation also reads tremendously smoothly.

But... it didn't quite do it for me, and I know why. There isn't one single, dominant protagonist/(anti-)hero, and most of the novels which zap me between the eyes possess one of those (Garp, Yossarian, Stevens in "The Remains of the Day", Okada in "The Wind-up Bird...", Meursault, Karenin/Vronsky/Oblonsky/Levin from "Anna K."). You could argue that the omnipresent Colonel Auereliano Buendia (maybe even Ursula) is the protagonist, but not, for me, à la those cited above.

So that's where it fell short. It was largely readable when I was holding it in my hands, but once I'd put it down I found no real urge to pick it up again. Overall, I'm glad I've finished it.

So, if you're looking for a dense, colourful, challenging book, then OHYOS could be for you. Otherwise you could be in for a stamina-sapping read.