Apr 21, 2009 06:01 PM
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(Updated Apr 22, 2009 03:42 PM)
"He would die deciphering the parchments and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since the time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.”
MY THOUGHTS :
This book made me feel 100 years old. It made me feel as if I have lived all those 150 years with Buendia family in Macondo; as if I have shared the solitude of all of them, from Jose Arcadio Buendia to Auriliano Babilonia; as if I am the only witness left who has seen all that with my own eyes, the rise and fall, birth and death of mythical but so real Macondo and along with it the Glories and Disasters of Buendia Family and now I am here to make everyone believe that it was all real—Macondo.. Buendias..Colonel Auriliano ..Remedios the Beauty.. Ursula… Melquides.. Amaranta… those 34 wars.. arrival of banana company.. mass killing at railway station.. all that madness of Buendia’s and on and on. What else can you expect from a person who has seen it all from beginning till end with 6 generations of Buendia Family, the creation and Annihilation of Macondo? It made me feel 100 years old filled with solitude of all of them.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (OHYOS) is by far one of the best book that has ever been written on the face of our earth. Such is the impact of OHYOS on me that I remember each and every character by name, entire Buendia’s family, even those who have shared just few pages with them. Such is the flow of words and simplicity of writing that you feel like you are living the story, otherwise never before I have took a book with more than 400 pages and finished it till the last page with the same enthusiasm as with the first one; even read some sections twice and thrice, and you know what..when it ended I was looking for more. It’s not the experience of mere book reading, it’s like living it and U know, what happens when the story ends in such scenarios.. a part of you dies with it too.
CHARACTERS IN THE STORY :
The best part of OHYOS is its characters. Such is the lucidity of characters, each with their negatives and positives, almost all strong and most of them stubborn, each with their own shares of solitude. Each character is so different and peculiar and so full of life that you love and hate them, feel pity and envy them as if they are alive in your own world.
The other good thing is, a family where every other member is Arcadio or Auriliano (for records there are in total 22 Aurilianos) writer manages to give all of them so much space and distinction that you end up having a place in your heart for all of them. Ask me, I know all of them, whether its Jose Arcadio Buendia with his never ending obsession for inventions and discoveries and his madness; or Ursula with her tolerance and strength and more than 100 years of life to see almost entire family thru; or Colonel Auriliano Buendia with his passionate love for Remedios and his 34 wars for liberals and his meticulous work of making Gold Fishes and then molding them again to create them back just to cover his solitude.. (the best character); or Pilar Ternera, a card Reader and a Wh**e and essential but unrecognized part of Buendia Family tree; or Jose Arcadio and his Journey thru the world and back; or Amaranta with her passionate loves and hates, her declaration of her own death with exact date and time and virginity till the end of her life, even with so many man in love with her; or Auriliano and Arcadio Segundu, twin brothers, so much resemblance in their character and features, earlier in their life, that it confuses everyone including you, and they die too at the sametime and even I wonder whether they’re put rightly in their tombs or not :) or Remedios the Beauty, the most beautiful one on the face of earth and at the same time one with the most pure and devout heart, one who goes to heaven with her physical body and almost all of the town’s men were mad after her beauty ..(most imaginative character); or Fernanda, who tries to change the culture of the house and end up destroying it; or Santa Sofia De Peida, the most silent one at times I wondered that GGM has failed to glorify this one but even she is covered precisely at the end of her life; or Melquides, a Gypsy, one who brings new inventions to the town and one who, at end of his life, writes the mysterious parchments and was the first one to die in Macondo; or Auriliano Babilinio, the last one, who succeeds in decoding the language of parchments (Sanskrit) and finally was able, after so many attempts by others, to decipher the secrets of the parchment and so many others that I am not covering all are unique and interesting.
SOME LIGHT ON WRITING STYLE :
From the writing perspective I will say that after reading about 6 generations of the family I got tired; Macondo gets tired starts moving towards extinction; Buendia’s get tired, they become lethargic and indolent but not the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez (GGM). He has written each page from the first to last one with same enthusiasm and concentration and has given to each character same scope and living which is unimaginable. Most the incidents are declared first and then covered in detail from each characters perspective.. like “while he was busy with his wars In those days she…”And as with most of the great classic books, he manages to end it all with a climax that very shocking but apt. If one has to choose a writer as an ideal, I think he fits perfectly well. Hat’s off to GGM for writing such a beautiful book.
SOME WORDS FROM THE BOOK :
“Always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral troth in the end.”
"It was the last that remained of a past whose annihilation has not taken place because it was still in the process of annihilation , consuming itself from within, ending at every moment but never ending its ending” ... I just love these lines..amazing
“Secret of good old age is simply an honorable pact with the solitude”
FINAL WORDS :
OHYOS is one such book that’s a must read for all the book lovers and those who don’t find book reading amusing should read it too as it might help them change their frame of mind. As with most of the great works of art, movies or literature, OHYOS has simplicity and originality at its core and brilliant characters and story makes it best, even the novel of the century. Do yourself a favor , read this book. U will surely love and live it like me and if you wont then something is wrong with you and it requires an immediate medical attention.
You can read some other facts about the book in comment section. Lack of space :(
Take Care Keep reading and Writing
Vikky Gural
PAY HUMMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA..
