Once again I have decided to pick up a book I was never forced to read while in school, though many of my friends were. For the most part, I have heard only praise for Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. And once the news broke that Netflix had acquired the rights, I figured now was as good a time as any to read it.The Situation: In the fictional town of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía has decided to establish a new community by the river. With his wife, Úrsula, the two of them will be the beginning of seven generations of Buendías who will reside in Macondo. Many will spend some portion of their lives outside of the town, while others will eventually leave and never be heard from again. But for the most part, the Buendías will have their home base in the place that José Arcadio Buendía decided to call home. In the early days, when the Gypsies visit Macondo every year to dazzle the residents with their tricks and inventions, José Arcadio Buendía will be so enamored with the presentations and conversations of a man named Melquíades, that he will become occupied with nothing else except using the instruments presented to him to set his family and small town onto a path of prosperity, leaving Úrsula to take care of their growing family, while also making sure her husband does not bring them all to ruin.
The Problem: The Buendías will not have an easy time of it. Despite José Arcadio Buendía's insistence to discover something great, and Úrsula's practical and resolute disposition, all of the Buendía's seemed to be destined for struggle, though most of their problems are of their own making. They do enjoy a time of fortune and high status, mostly due to Úrsula's tireless efforts. But pride, greed, lust, and general selfishness work to ensnare them all. After a time, and as the family line continues, an aging Úrsula becomes insistent that they stop using the same names for the new children being born, as she is tired of history repeating itself and the same problems coming up with the same results. But the naming convention continues, and so do the issues. It is as if their fate, indeed the fate of the entire town, has been decided, and the fight against time is useless.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction novel set in an unnamed time, in the fictional town of Macondo, which has been established somewhere deep in the jungles of Colombia. And although José Arcadio Buendía was instrumental in finding the spot he settled on, even he has a hard time navigating the land around it in an effort to explore. Once the town is established, and the Buendía's begin to raise children, strange and almost magical events begin to take place in the town, and not all of them are positive. And if José Arcadio Buendía is prone to explore and experiment - which often leads him to squandering his own family's small savings in pursuit of something that was never going to work out - then Úrsula is practical and hardworking, almost to a fault. As time goes on, and as the family line grows but does not branch out, the enduring Buendía's continue to make the same mistakes, have the same affairs, the same conflicts, the same scandals, and the same tragedies, no matter what precautions they take. Told in a style in which García Márquez's grandmother used to tell stories, the repetition of history and the fluid manner in which time passes and the story is told are just some of the elements that made this novel an instant wonder.
My Verdict: From the first chapter, I knew I had made the right decision, and that I should have made it a lot sooner. This book is all at once wonderful, lovely, heartbreaking, and tragic. It is clear that the Buendía family is destined to struggle in one way or another, but a lot of the misery could have been eliminated if they also were not so bent on pursuing their own destruction. And it is not just the family that seems enchanted (or cursed), the entire town of Macondo is under this same spell where time repeats itself, events happen that normally would not seem possible, and even memories are a tricky thing as some will remember fantastic events in great detail, while others will deny anything ever happen. And every story, from the practical to the outlandish, is told in such a tone where it all has to be true, no matter how terrible or unreal. My only regret is that I cannot read it in its original Spanish, which I am sure would make it even more enchanting than its English translation.
Favorite Moment: *spoiler alert* When Remedios the Beauty, José Arcadio Buendía's great-granddaughter, ascends to heaven while hanging the laundry.
Favorite Character: As the matriarch, Úrsula does what she can to hold the family together. When she passes the age of 100, and her body begins to decline significantly, she still maintains a strength that those half her age have a hard time holding onto. When her mind and memory starts to go, she still manages to hold onto some secrets, even as her family attempts to pry them out of her.
Recommended Reading: Though a different kind of story, Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras also takes place in Colombia and was easily one my favorite books of 2018.
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