(Read in the original Spanish)
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece, one of those rare books that put me in a trance and take zero effort to read. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has such mastery over words that I almost felt like I wasn't reading at my pace but one deliberately set by him, setting up turns of phrase and reveals that matched the cadence at which he wanted me to read. It's magic realism at its finest, even its overall structure reflects this; how it evolves from an ahistorical almost allegorical narrative to one that is increasingly overtaken by context and reality as it goes on, how one keeps fighting against the confusing repetitive names throughout generations of characters (a common complaint) in the same way the Buendía family fights to break out of the historical cycles it keeps falling victim to; does it matter which Aureliano you're reading about? In the same way I want to say yes the characters are constantly trying and failing to define themselves as individuals. Narratively it's structured as a series of vignettes framed as mundane occurrences that are nonetheless filled with magic and unpredictable wonders. I can tell this story of a family (and community) trying to carve a place for themselves in the face of encroaching history will stay with me for a long time.