This was interesting till about half way, then it just got too long for my taste. It's the story of a family living in the invented town of Macondo in Columbia, following them from the founding of the town to the end of the family line through many generations (and despite the title, it seems like it should be longer than 100 years, based on how many generations there are ... or maybe it just feels that way). For added confusion, children and grandchildren are frequently given the same names as their predecessors and also frequently share similar family personality traits, so keeping the relationships straight is more than a small challenge.

Apparently Marquez is one of the first writers to use “magical realism,” a style of fantasy wherein the fantastic and the unbelievable are treated as everyday occurrences, and this book is a great example of that. Strange and impossible things frequently happen and are just accepted as a normal part of life by the family. I've read other books that used this technique and sometimes it works well, but I'm not sure it added anything to this book for me. The story was already confusing enough without wondering whether occurrences are really happening or are just in the imagination of the character experiencing them or something else.

Spoilers: In general the book deals with family life, how themes repeat within a family and affect generations down the line, how happiness and sadness and luck and misfortune exist together and can change from one to the other in an instant. Specifically, it follows the family from their first encounters with a travelling gypsy wise man who gives them various things including some mysterious writings, and the story goes through 100 years of the family's descendents until the final son of the family finally manages to decipher the scribbled notes (written in sanskrit) that the gypsy left them but which could not be translated until 100 years have passed. It turns out the notes are an exact history of the family from the time the gypsy first met them until the time the final son dies, and as he translates the end of it the story concludes.

I dunno. It's nicely written and some of the characters are interesting, but it really felt rambly and too long and pointless for my preference.