One Hundred Years of Solitude

[lydy]

I've read about half. I don't like it and I'm not going to continue. The words are very nice, and the magic realism doesn't bother me, but I don't like the people in the book at all. I don't like the distance everything seems to be at. Some of the people are actually repugnant.

Have you read it and liked it? Why? Have you read it and disliked it? Why?

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'll re-read it and let you know. I don't remember disliking it. I've seen the exact scene with the ice from the first page three or five times in rural Central America, and have taken pleasure from it every time, so I suppose that predisposes me to like it.

K. [Hispanic and Latino fiction from the Americas is, I have found, really quite different from European fiction. The erotica is too]

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

So, I guess I wonder if you've read any other Latino fiction? Any Borges, any Llosa, any Cisneros, other Garcia Marquez, or Neruda? And how did you like it?

K.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

And, if you've not gotten a strong liking for Latino fiction, maybe start over with The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, which I loved. It was written by an Englishman, though he lived in Colombia for some time. On the other hand, if the reviews of Don Emmanuel seem to say that it's got too much of what you don't like, then skip it.

I can loan you it to you. If you want to skip the whole dreary mess, I can loan you Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which is extraordinary, and has nothing to do with Latin America.

Or, I can loan you the best book ever written.

K.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any other Latino fiction. I'd love to borrow The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and give it a try. I'm interested, provisionally, in the other two as well. I am cautious -- I really only read sf and fantasy with occasional outbreaks of non-fiction, but I'm curious about other areas. I've nothing to do this summer, broadening my reading seems like a worthwhile thing to do.

I'm not doing so well on the classics of sf, either. I read The Dying Earth, and hated it. I'm reluctant to try any other Vance.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Pick up Don Emmanuel tomorrow, or I'll send it home with any likely suspects if I don't see you.

Classic SF is, unfortunately, often hate-able. I threw "The Weapons Shops of Isher" across the room, and haven't touched Van Vogt since. Recently, have you come across any new-to-you classics that you adored?

K.