A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez

This book won a nobel prize for literature so it's supposed to be really really good. Academically, I totally and completely agree because of the reoccurring themes of solitude and the idea of how everything has a cycle. There's also the element of the supernatural and the seemingly coincidental that Marquez works really well into the novel.

However, in terms of how engaging the text actually was, the text was pretty decent but it was honestly hard to keep track of all the Aurelianos and Arcadios. I mean it's clear that the repetition of the names had significance and perhaps I read the novel too sporadically to remember the differences between them, but I would have to say that that is what detracted from the novel for me.

The novel was also really really long (it just keeps going!) but given the title and what Marquez was trying to accomplish, I think that he kept the text engaging enough to keep the reader going. Sometimes these types of books eventually get really boring or bogged down by details but there was a constant storyline and the plot kept moving so that was good.

I think that the only reservations I have about this novel is that yes, it is a good read, but I guess it isn't completely my kind of novel, where the ideologies aren't as apparent and the plot isn't riveting (though I don't think that it needs to be for a novel to be good). I'd definitely want to read this novel again because I feel like a missed out on some important stuff but as for a recommendation to someone who doesn't really read, I wouldn't recommend this book.