Kyrie
I thought that One Hundred Years of Solitude started off stronger than it ended.
The first segment of the book, about the founding of Macondo and the original settlers - José Arcadio Buendía, his wife Úrsula Iguarán, and their children - was fine. It was magical and pretty, and you could definitely feel the atmosphere of the imaginary town.
The first time that Melquíades' tribe arrived, selling glass balls for headaches, everyone was surprised that they had been able to find that village lost in the drowsiness of the swamp, and the gypsies confessed that they had found their way by the song of the birds.
...and then everyone started having children.
Virtually all of the characters are named directly after other characters.
You've got:
- José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, who led the initial group of settlers to found the village of Macondo.
- Their children, José Arcadio, Amaranta, Rebeca, and Colonel Aureliano Buendía, who married Remedios Moscote.
- José Arcadio has a son named Arcadio. Aureliano Buendía has a son named Aureliano José, and then 17 other sons named Aureliano with their mothers' surnames.
- Arcadio has a daughter named Remedios the Beauty, and twin sons named José Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo. José Arcadio Segundo marries Fernanda del Carpio.
- José Arcadio Segundo and Fernanda have a daughter named Renata Remedios, a daughter named Amaranta Úrsula, and a son named José Arcadio.
- And that's not to mention Aureliano Babilonia and Aureliano (who is a completely separate entity from the other Aurelianos).
Disclaimer: I had to look all of that up, because GOOD LORD is all of that difficult to keep straight in your head.
Once the third or fourth generation of characters rolled around, I was focusing less on the story and more on trying to keep all of the names straight in my head. And even then, I usually only managed to figure out who the book was talking about because of context. It certainly doesn't help that the characters named after previous family members tended to act like those family members. So many Aurelianos and their little gold fishes... @___@
At that point, the book focuses more on the many character it's introduced rather than the town itself. And frankly, the characters were nowhere near as interesting to me as Macondo itself was, or the ongoing story of Melquíades' books and scrolls.
For all of that, though, when I could pay attention to the story, I enjoyed it. I just probably wouldn't read it again for fun.
I thought that One Hundred Years of Solitude started off stronger than it ended.
The first segment of the book, about the founding of Macondo and the original settlers - José Arcadio Buendía, his wife Úrsula Iguarán, and their children - was fine. It was magical and pretty, and you could definitely feel the atmosphere of the imaginary town.
The first time that Melquíades' tribe arrived, selling glass balls for headaches, everyone was surprised that they had been able to find that village lost in the drowsiness of the swamp, and the gypsies confessed that they had found their way by the song of the birds.
...and then everyone started having children.
Virtually all of the characters are named directly after other characters.
You've got:
- José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, who led the initial group of settlers to found the village of Macondo.
- Their children, José Arcadio, Amaranta, Rebeca, and Colonel Aureliano Buendía, who married Remedios Moscote.
- José Arcadio has a son named Arcadio. Aureliano Buendía has a son named Aureliano José, and then 17 other sons named Aureliano with their mothers' surnames.
- Arcadio has a daughter named Remedios the Beauty, and twin sons named José Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo. José Arcadio Segundo marries Fernanda del Carpio.
- José Arcadio Segundo and Fernanda have a daughter named Renata Remedios, a daughter named Amaranta Úrsula, and a son named José Arcadio.
- And that's not to mention Aureliano Babilonia and Aureliano (who is a completely separate entity from the other Aurelianos).
Disclaimer: I had to look all of that up, because GOOD LORD is all of that difficult to keep straight in your head.
Once the third or fourth generation of characters rolled around, I was focusing less on the story and more on trying to keep all of the names straight in my head. And even then, I usually only managed to figure out who the book was talking about because of context. It certainly doesn't help that the characters named after previous family members tended to act like those family members. So many Aurelianos and their little gold fishes... @___@
At that point, the book focuses more on the many character it's introduced rather than the town itself. And frankly, the characters were nowhere near as interesting to me as Macondo itself was, or the ongoing story of Melquíades' books and scrolls.
For all of that, though, when I could pay attention to the story, I enjoyed it. I just probably wouldn't read it again for fun.