Title: One Hundred
Years of Solitude
Author: Gabriel
Garcia Marquez
No.
of Pages: 457
It is said if you want to learn English then Bible is the book you
must read. I believe, if you want to understand any concept of universe then
Bible answers them all.
“ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE” is a brief snapshot of Bible only.
Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez has written an excellent piece, which
is a true embodiment of the vicious circle of life. The only reason it is
vicious is because it will end at where it all started. Kids usually ask this
from elders, who was the first person on this planet and usually they all get
different answers from different kinds of people. Few books say “Manu” was the
first person and that all would end because of war and violence.
Mocando is a little world isolated from the outside one and the first
family out there is of Buendias. José Arcadio Buendía, head of the family is
involved in mysterious and scientific inventions and always tries to find logic
behind the events.
Turnaorund happens when people of the village are exposed to other
ideas and people and that is the moment when everything starts getting messed
up in Mocando. It is quite interesting that whenever few leaders think that
this is right for the growth of our country or village in the book is possible
in long term only if leaders have the traits to control that much power and
handle the consequences of it as well.
Head of the family, Jose, was not able to control the happenings and
thus war continues and unrest prevails everywhere. Lust for power among the
second generation can be seen clearly as after series of wars, Aureliano
becomes the leader of the Liberal rebels and governments keep on changing after
that. We observe the worst of relationships when people fight and even births,
deaths and love affairs take an ugly shape. Author describes various events and
centuries go by where people die, come into this village, they fight and then
rest in peace. The lady of the house Ursula Iguarán tries to bring that love
and unity in her family back but the golden thread of unity was not just
broken, but burnt to ashes. Then banana
movement happened just like any other world war and banana workers went on
strike. Dead people were dumped in the sea and then nature took its toll.
This is a marvel of a book, a must read for all the intellectual and
the thinking beings, and I would surely want readers to feel the end of this
story so as to know whether the village came back to normal state or not?
Whether anyone survived or not? If yes, then who it was? Was it somebody from
high income group or one of the banana workers? Whether anybody was left in
this village to celebrate their victory? And the most importantly will this be
the way human race will end on this planet earth?
(This review has been contributed by Suhani Bhareja, MBA Candidate at IIM Calcutta)
