Jon was right, the ending of the book was such a shattering surprise. Now looking back at the entirety of the novel, magical realism is done here like no other, and I certainly cannot imagine any book written of a similar nature that can even live up to, much less overtake the writing of Garcia Marquez. In my opinion, this book is undisputed as a must read and deserves an immortal place in the literature canon. Another thing I have noticed now is how intentional his method and style of writing is. Having read his other works allowed me to realize that the narration and writing style of Garcia Marquez isn’t exactly fixed, and much of the magic encapsulated in “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is actually restricted, and thus intention to this novel solely. This is to say that its design choices were much more conscious than I would imagine. I think this book has a very solid place in being one of the best books I have read so far not just in this course but in life general, although I would hesitate to describe it as one of my personal favourites, just based on the contents and extravagancy of the book but would rather call it a must read. To some degree, reading the words on the page is almost like reading the title to news articles- you anticipate it and no doubt value its significance but you wouldn’t really say that you love reading the news.
To pick up on last post regarding characters, I have stated that the one that stood out to me the most is Ursula. I think her significance to me is almost the concentrated essence of female characters and the overarching role of women in the show. In some sense the role of women may be established in this book due to the repetitions in circumstance that characters find themselves in, thus maybe the role says less about the idea of women, as much as it is another symptom of repetition. But regardless, a new character has taken place over Ursula as the one that stood out to me most- Remedios the beauty. Because what even was that. I guess the fate of those named Remedios is broadly described as being “taken away” whether from mysterious illness, a mental hospital or the heavens themselves. But either way, I think her existence is an outlier.
As a hilarious side note, I have been describing the plot spottily to my boyfriend, and he is vaguely aware of the general themes of this book. So to clarify the characters to him, I decidedly showed him the family tree, to which he responded with “I expected the family tree to be drawn in a circle”. I think that is a worthwhile note that the editors and translators of the book can take into account.
To finish, a question to you all: What do you all think about Remedios the beauty and everything that happened to her?