The writing of Garcia Marquez is so especially unique that I feel as if I’ve experienced 100 lifetimes from following all the events, when really I’ve only read 40 pages. This book is probably my favourite read so far in the course, and I am decently surprised that this book reads so much better than his other book “Chronicles of a Death Foretold”. I am also decently pleased that despite all the characters sharing approximately 3 names, I can discern them fairly well, and I think that credit also goes to the storytelling of Garcia Marquez.

The entirety of the book follows the bizarre adventures of every character, and in each corner there is magical realism and an interesting morphing with temporality to be found. At the centre of the story is a family, which I think also signifies a key feature of the book, that being human relationships. With the use of naming each children after some other figure before, I think that highlights the inherent connections and ultimately the tangled threads of fate belonging to each member of the family. Another notable feature of the book was the repetition in describing the experiences of each family member that ultimately fall to this feeling of “solitude”. I think in some ways, as the little things that occur in their lifetime are chained to one another, it all eventually trickles into this state of solitude that each character experiences, and no doubt we would experience at some point in our lifetimes, hopefully magnitudes weaker than the tragedies they experience.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” carry on the torch of Latin American Literature’s proclivity for extravagant drama, which permeated a decent chunk of the books we have read before, only this one is much more bizarre and overwhelming, and pays special attention to the intricacies of human relationships, whether between father and son, husband and wife, or even between a family and other townsfolk. An additional feature that joins later on in the book is when war eventually breaks out, and the impact of that period of Mexican history on its people is once again illustrated very poignantly. From a personal standpoint, I was on the down low rooting for Aureliano to overcome his foreboding mortality when facing the firing squad as I was following his story in the first half of the book, but once it did actually get there I couldn’t care less about his demise, or at the very least I felt no remorse if he had died.

Altogether, this book has provided me with a reading experience like no other before, and pushed the bounds of fiction for me, and for that will always remain memorable. Which sort of leads me to my question to you all: Which character out of all of them is the most unforgettable to you? It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone you like or dislike, but rather the character you find yourself caring about the most. (For me, it was Ursula)