This is one of the more fascinating novels I have read in a long time. Very stylized and well structured.The book reminded me a lot of Gene Wolfe’s boThis is one of the more fascinating novels I have read in a long time. Very stylized and well structured.The book reminded me a lot of Gene Wolfe’s books in the surreal and dark world it creates. The themes dealt with in this are similar to that of Ursula Le Guin. All the major characters here are female and some major themes are female sexuality, freedom and oppression, history and identity, and the epistemological themes of language and perception....more
This is the first book by Rushdie i have read. Surreal, sensual, fantastic and self-indulgent. A marvellous tale blurring the line between history andThis is the first book by Rushdie i have read. Surreal, sensual, fantastic and self-indulgent. A marvellous tale blurring the line between history and fable. Rushdie’s language is beautiful. The work is rich in details, filled with lush imagery. I loved how he effortlessly weaves story within a story, touching on various historical personages.
The book begins with the arrival of a golden haired stranger at Fatehpur Sikri. A man who travelled across the road armed with a story. A man calling himself Mogor dell'Amore, and a story that encompasses Florence to the Mughal empire, from Babar to Akbar. The rest of the book is a tale of enchantment and fantasy, touching on some history.
This is a work about imagination. About stories and dreams and the ephemeral nature of things, the transformative power of a story. A novel of sensual eroticism and with some metaphysical contemplations blended in.
Reading this was pure pleasure. Rushdie is a master story teller. ...more
The story of the town of Macondo told through several generations of the Buendia family. I loved it. It was magical, funny and tragic. The beauty of MThe story of the town of Macondo told through several generations of the Buendia family. I loved it. It was magical, funny and tragic. The beauty of Marquez’s writing is in the poetic and surreal way he presents the world. Marquez quickly wraps you up and takes you on an imaginative and delightful journey.
The history of Macondo is a metaphor to the history of Columbia. I'm not well versed with Latin American history but the events in this book like the struggle with modernisation, the civil wars and the exploitation by foreign imperialists are something that any third world person can relate to.
The themes of solitude and the cyclical nature of history is dealt with throughout the book through the generations of Buendia’s all bearing the same names and the same personalities and so doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
And almost in the end this line blew me away..
“…..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 truth in the end.”
On the whole for me, i can only describe this book as beautiful....more
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