Ugh. I don’t remember where I saw this book as a recommendation, but I think it was more than one place. I listened to it on audiobook and I was not a fan. It has all the hallmarks of a “gardener” writing style. Just plant a bunch of seeds (characters and settings) and see what grows out of it. Of course, it has all the pitfalls of a gardener style without benefiting from the advantages.
The basic premise is to follow a family line from the start of the village of Macondo until the end of the line, multiple generations later. It’s not a terrible concept to work with. However, if I never hear the word Macondo or Buendia again, I’ll be happier. The Buendia family are a miserable bunch of unlikable idiots. The story tries to be grounded most of the time, but has ridiculous magic in it that goes beyond just prophecy and reading the cards. Harry Potter might as well have shown up.
At times, it does hit hard. The wars and the banana company were probably some of the more interesting parts. However, I just can’t get past the gardener style. It’s like a giant game of “and then”. It doesn’t seem like the author had any idea of what would come next with every word he put on the page. Just keep the words coming and hope it almost makes sense. Throw in some magic here and there. Bring back random characters that went away or bring in a totally new character because something needs to happen. Tie a guy to a tree for years and everyone just accepts it. It was like a bad soap opera.
All of the characters seemed like caricatures rather than real people. At least, I hope you don’t know anyone like the people in the story. They’re all crazy. The advantage of gardener writing is that it allows you to take a character in a situation and write what that character would do rather than force a character to get to some pre-planned plot point as in a more organized writing style. So the gardener style of writing can make characters feel real because they act exactly as an author imagines that real person would act.
This story did not benefit from that at all. Perhaps there’s a cultural difference between the author and me that is totally throwing me off, but I just don’t think real people are like the people in this story. They’re all ridiculously irrational and often petty, awful people for no real reason. I didn’t know what I was getting into with this book and I initially thought the founding male was mildly interesting with his obsession over technology from the gypsies. I thought the story had a chance following his run-ins with technology he didn’t understand and the attempts to understand it. It was almost noble, though quite misguided. Unfortunately, he was literally turned crazy and tied to a tree until his death.
So I didn’t feel like I had anyone worth rooting for. I didn’t feel like these characters were real people. I didn’t enjoy the magic sprinkled into what otherwise seemed like a grounded story. I don’t think the author had any idea where he was going or what he wanted to do with this book. He just kept writing until he decided to be done and wrapped it up.
So no, I do not recommend this book.