That would have to be One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. What a profoundly human book. The kind of book that is very difficult to describe in any meaningful way, but which I unreservedly recommend to anybody.
This is a fantastic book though I read it 15 years or so ago now. I should re-read it. I also have 'Love in the Time of Cholera' but haven't read it yet. It was the first magical realism book I had and have read. I found the family tree at the beginning or the book essential as the names are all very similar and it's easy to lose track.
I read (more accurately listened to) this book a couple of years back. The story itself was engaging and I remember I liked the way everything was described. Once I finished the book though I didn't feel like I took away anything from it. I kind of enjoyed the story, but I have always wondered whether I missed something. Was I supposed to get some understanding of something that was "between the lines"? Did I miss some underlying concept or thread? It's a mystery to me, I just saw it as a well said story. Anyone have any tips on how to "understand the meaning" of the book?
Well, books do not have to have any meaning, just like paintings or songs, but in this case it helps a lot to be latin-american. Garcia Marquez used to say that the Caribbean is not a geographical region but a cultural one. It goes from the south of the US to the north of Brazil, with many cultural and historical elements in common.
This is a book about the Colombian Caribbean, but also the whole country and the region. At the end it is a book about life. I have always noticed that Anglo readers get too caught up on minor details (the number of Aurelianos, who did this or that) but that is missing the point, this is about the flow of life, the absurdity of human struggles, the magic and terror of being alive, love, senseless violence, hope, all of that expressed in a brilliant prose.
Isn't this one of the prominent showcases for the "magical realism" genre?
The amazing video game "Kentucky Route Zero" is impossible to describe, but it touches on this genre in video game form and poverty in America with many references to this novel with characters named "Marquez" and so on. What an experience.
I'm currently learning Spanish and got the original version my first month in. My plan was too ambitious - I didn't get very far on my first try. I look forward to my next one once I'm more proficient.
