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You may be wondering at this point what the big deal is about One Hundred Years of Solitude, or what the story is even about. Well, before we go crazy explaining magical realism...I thought I would give you a taste of the plot, and maybe even make you want to pick up a copy and read it!

The story revolves around the isolated town of Macondo and the founding family, the Buendías. For years, the town has no outside connection to the world except for the occasional band of gypsies passing through to peddle their technology and goods, and when I say technology that includes anything from ice to telescopes. The patriarch is Jose Arcadio Buendía, impulsive, inquisitive, solitary and self alienating. These traits are inherited by all of his descendants throughout the novel. Eventually, the town loses its peacefulness during a Civil War bringing destruction and murder, the first time the town has experienced either of these. One of Jose Arcadio Buendía's descendants, Aureliano Buendía gains fame as a colonel in this war. During and after this war, the government changes hands many times, transforming Macondo into a less idyllic, or peaceful city. Yet another Buendía, this time Arcadio, becomes renown and takes over as a cruel dictator.

Keeping up with family members can be tiresome for the reader since the Buendía family likes to recycle family names. For example, Colonel Aureliano Buendía (the son of the patriarch, Jose Arcadio) has 17 sons and names them ALL Aureliano...so, yeah, it can be tough keeping up with them. Especially when those are only the sons from his wife, not including the one from a mistress...While the Buendía family tree may be overwhelming, this shouldn't deter you from checking it out, since most copies have a handy family tree in the front of the book.

And I must admit, I do own two copies, one in hardback and one in paperback...