ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE By GABRIEL GARCIA MARCQUEZ

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)