Finished reading it today: Wow!
A breath taking, dazzling story, which reminds me of 1001 Arabian Nights with its creativity and fluidity... and Marquez is a master of story telling.
The ending really caught me by surprise!
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Finished reading it today: Wow!
A breath taking, dazzling story, which reminds me of 1001 Arabian Nights with its creativity and fluidity... and Marquez is a master of story telling.
The ending really caught me by surprise!
Finally Ive started it about 1/4 of the way through--- and so far I really like it. It reminds me alot of Allande's house of spirits which confused m a bit when I first read it but I like this one more.
Just though Id put siomthing down as I want to be included in the live thing on this one. But I have limited internet till next week.
Can I ask one thing though , can anyone tell me what Jose Arcadio B----- (cant rember the spelling :rolleyes: ) is saying when hes speaking latin, and where did he learn the latin anyway??
And I suppose Ill find this out when I get to the end but does more than one of them face the firing squad because one minute its saying Colonle Aurionios and the next its saying arcadio :confused:
i read this book approximately about a two years ago, i absolutely loved theopening lines. i iked this book so smuch that i read love in the time of cholera but i didnt like that so much. the only problem i had with 100 years was that it was so confusing-i mean the names, keeping track of whose who, whose sleeping with who, whose the father of who...etc. etc. lol. but its excellent. should be made compulsory along with the works of Chekhov and Dosteoevsky. Im movign to Russi. thers something in the water they drink!
If I get it correct, you've just said that Marquez is as good as Dostoevsky...You know, that is an insult! For Dostoevsky, of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by optimisticnad
But, I agree in one thing; there really is something in the water(vodka:D ) they drink...
i didnt say Marquez is as good as Dost, just said that both should be made compulsory and theres degress of...cumpulsion? :-) Iv only read The idiot by Dost. but loved it, was diasppointed by the ending though meaning i didnt get my happily ever after romance. BUt yeh, Dost. is way better than Marq.
(do they really have vodka in their water? :-) Must give it a try.)
This book is amazing and so surreal. I hated Jose having to live under the tree for so long.
Surreal is the word for it and yes, the living under the tree thing was among one of the strangest things in the book but apparently, he liked it there because his "ghost" or spirit or soul or what have you, continued to hang out there after his death.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbassett
I'm wondering if any of it could have been avoided - based on the ending of the book?
.Quote:
In interviews, the author has repeatedly stated that the title came to him only during the final stages of his writing the book. And as he figured out the chronology, he realized that the narrative covered some 140 or 150 years. The amount, though, would have been a mouthful for a title. So he settled simply on 100 (which, in Spanish, is just one syllable, Cien).
The "solitude" part he explains thus: "solitude" (soledad) is the opposite of "solidarity" (solidaridad). He depicts a family and a town so caught up in their individual solitudes that they forget about solidarity. As we all know, a family, an institution, or a nation cannot survive without some sense of solidarity. It also bears mention that Garcia Marquez came of age at a time when Existentialist ideas about human solitude were very much in the air.
The title, in Spanish, is very succinct and beautiful: Cien anos de soledad
..................
Another discussion group:
"Concerning the episode when Remedios the Beauty ascends to heaven: I think we have to take it straight, accept it on face value as something that "really happens," in the same way that other such magical events really do happen in the course of the novel. If we are to compare it to anything at all in Christianity, the most appropriate would be the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which, in Hispanic countries, is a national holiday and is part of Catholic folklore. Many a Hispanic Catholic home has on display a small image of Mary rising to heaven. The capital of Paraguay, moreover, is Asuncion, Spanish for "Assumption."
Garcia Marquez humorously refashions this standard, idealized image. Remedios waves good-bye as she rises (something you wouldn't normally associate with this sort of occurrence), and she clings to Fernanda del Carpio's monogrammed sheets, which she takes with her. Meanwhile, back on the ground, mean-spirited Fernanda is more upset about the loss of her precious family linens than about the disappearance of a Buendia family member! The entire scene should be taken as a kind of joke. "
The repetitiveness (in names and experiences of the characters) dominant in the novel is an allegory of how Marquez (and his society's way of thinking) see their reality. Repetitiveness and futility. Whatever you do (either you follow the rules or break them) the end result is still the same -- whether you love passionately or be apathetic, whether you're a hero or a coward, etc.
Hey, check out this new GG Marquez thread:
Chasing Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Márquez was hardly influenced by Faulkner, as like Vargas Llosa and others.. frankly i think if faulkner never would written his books, Márquez would stay the periodist for a rest of his life.
Did you mean, " ... heavily influenced ... "?Quote:
Originally Posted by JoanS
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickAdams
yes, i meant that.. sorry