One Hundred Years of Solitude - By Gabriel García Márquez

I just finished reading ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’. And the story of the Buendías, with its six generations’ worth of haunting nostalgia, is fresh on my mind. 

So,  there are things I want to say about the book before I lose my train of thoughts to something else.

The Book is a journey

The book traces the lives of six generations of descendants of José Arcadio Buendía, who founds the town of Macondo (a metaphorical representation of Columbia), and the generations span a hundred years.

Firstly, the book is NOT about a clever plot or a gripping climax, but is about the sheer experience of reading it – about leaving behind your societal prejudices and opening your mind to receive the possibilities of a newly founded town; about deliberating on the causes and effects that lead to a town’s prosperity or ruin; about understanding the characters, identifying with their thoughts and simply following their development over the passage of time.

So, don't pick the book if you're looking for some light reading. Don't read it if the only way you can be kept satisfied is by sudden twists and fantastical plots.

The book is for the persistent. It rewards the ones who persist and are prepared to get lost in the lands of Macondo. And the reward is the journey itself.

The Repetitive Names

On goodreads, I read a lot of reviews that indicated a difficulty in following the story because of the characters of every generation being named the same. But I (not to sound proud) did not face the problem at any instant – for I was so involved in the story, that I could conjure up the family tree in my mind and know which Aureliano Or José Arcadio the author was talking about.

The author, on his part, makes identification easier by referring to the characters by slight variations of their names.

For eg:

·         The first José Arcadio Buendía (The patriarch) is always referred to by his complete name- José Arcadio Buendía

·         His son, José Arcadio Buendía (2) is referred to as José Arcadio

·         His grandson, José Arcadio Buendía(3) is simply called Arcadio

·         Arcadio’s twin sons are each referred to as José Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo

So you get the drift.

Moreover, not more than two or three generations of Buendias are focussed on at any given instant in the book. The story and the characters in focus change with time. So we all naturally know which Jose Arcadio is being spoken about. 

In fact, a few days into the book, I only found it natural that they be named that way, for it adds to the magic of the book and to its various themes.

The Prose

The book is a translation- translated from Spanish by Gregory Rabasa.

I can only assume that some of its charm could have been lost in translation, but I cannot be sure, for I found the literature extremely satisfying.

The beginnings are written modestly, in a style cloaked in simplicity, where the language is dedicated to just tell the story. The sentences are relatively short and words carefully chosen with intentions of keeping a simple reader glued.

But towards the end (after page 360), the translator seems to let go of some internal barriers, and gives in to the urges of words, that he stops holding back on long sentences and unleashes them on us with repressed fury. And I loved them. Some of them were so beautifully crafted, that I read them aloud to myself multiple times.

Themes that made a mark on me:

Time: I’ve always maintained that Time is a bitch, so the confirmation of the fact in this book made an impression. Ursula, (José Arcadio Buendía’s wife, who lives to see 6 generations) keeps saying that Time travels in circles and observes the uncanny repetitions of unfortunate events in the family. – But the whole observation is left to the speculation of the reader who is free to contemplate on it. 

Also, one notices how the passage of time keeps alive the spirits and vices in some until the very ends, but pushes the others to confine themselves to corners and lose themselves to their own delusions.

Memories and Nostalgias:

·         Collective memories: The author points at the short lived and fleeting nature of people’s memories when people of Macondo forget even the wars that happened, and have no recollections of the warriors that fought those wars to shape the town’s destiny.

He also insinuates that it’s easy to distort history and corrupt public memory. The story describes how a massacre (Banana Company Massacre- google it), that kills thousands of people, is covered up overnight by the officials and is made to seem in the public eye as an event that never happened.  

·         Memories of individuals: The author writes from the perspectives of different characters, and of their responses to the same situation. With time, each one chooses to recall a particular set of memories over and over again. These memories are purified, magnified and eternalized over time, while the others are dimmed, leading to rigid and contrasting perspectives being formed in each ones’ minds.

Solitude: The members of the wealthy Buendían family are seen to be solitary in their pursuits of fulfilling their own needs, that they eventually get consumed by the same. However, in the later generation, when the wheels of time reverses fortunes, a couple (Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes) discover that love changes everything, and they find fulfilment in solidarity.

I find solace in solitude, myself, and could relate to the many quirks of the characters.

The author also points to the pros and cons of the solitary nature of the town (Macondo) itself. The initial self-sufficient town sees the beginning of destruction when it becomes connected to the rest of the world.

It’s impossible to write of all the things I pondered over while reading through The Hundred Years- But I believe each one of us would embark on a different journey while reading the same book, and for that reason I ask you to make that journey.

The Great and Secret Show - by Clive Barker

After innumerable cups of coffee, three months of deliberations on whether or not to continue reading the book, and multiple attempts at donating it to some library, I pushed myself to see ‘The Great and Secret Show’ through till the end.

Was the book worth it? Umm…

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The fantasy literature Novel is the first of the Art trilogy by Clive Barker.

Notwithstanding my lethargy, the book is brilliantly conceived. The plot is out of the ordinary, and doesn't conform to standard horror-norms or patterns.

It starts with an ordinary frustrated-with-my-work kind of man (named Jaff) landing a job of sorting and discarding all the country’s undelivered mails (spanning a decade) at the post office.

Upon reading the contents of the mails, he gets a whiff of something abnormal going on in the world. He observes that people are covertly discussing something about “The Art”- the gateway to ultimate power.

He becomes consumed by his curiosity about The Art, and recklessly resorts to evil methods to find it.

He then liaises with an evolutionary scientist, Dr.Fletcher who invents a potion (Nuncio) that can accelerate the evolutionary process of whatever it comes in contact with.

Both Jaff and Fletcher come in contact with the potion and turn into advanced beings with their inherent qualities enhanced. So, Jaff becomes the evil one, and Fletcher, obviously the good one.

What ensues after is what the book is about.

And trust me, you cannot predict what might follow because the plot isn't clichéd. But what might turn you off is probably the long-drawn descriptions of every single instance that don’t do much for the story. Unnecessary monologues and descriptions tend to drain the readers’ attention-batteries.

However, Barker has a way with words. Intricately crafted sentences that can hit the spot are found everywhere in the book.

I would recommend this book to those serious readers who don’t need external encouragement to finish reading the books. Otherwise, you’re likely to abandon it.

There’s a hippie on the highway- James Hadley Chase

Harry Mitchell, after serving his three years in Vietnam, visits Paradise City for a vacation before taking up a job in New York.

En route to Paradise City, Harry saves Randy (also a traveler) from a bunch of hippies. Randy feels greatful and promises to get Harry a job as a life guard in a sea side restaurant. While travelling together, they fall into a trap where they’re planted with a corpse of an old guy. But Harry and Randy find a safe place and ingeniously dispose the body. They reach their destinations and life seems normal for a few days. But soon, Paradise City Police Force suspect something’s wrong and start digging.

In the end, when the adventure is over, Harry is overwhelmed by the amount of violence he’s faced and wonders how his future would turn out to be.

A Can Of Worms –James Hadley Chase

In this book, the protagonist, Bart Anderson is a creep, a reckless spender and an operator in ‘The Parnell Detective Agency’ in Paradise City. His problem is that he has a money sucking girlfriend and he can never get enough money to spend on her, which leaves him always borrowing from friends.

And that’s when the agency lands him with the job of tailing the rich author, Russ Hamel’s wife to check if she’s having an illicit affair. But he finds out that there’s something more than just an affair, or worse, a terrorist link up. But Bart is so stuck up and his girlfriend keeps badgering him to make more money that he turns blackmailer.

What happens later is what the story is all about. But finally, the author makes you see that blackmailing does no good.

AMANDA by- Kay Hooper

This book is a certain page turner. Kay Hooper, with her amazing imagination and immaculate English has created a plot which comes from a rare genre.

The story starts with Amanda Daulton, a little girl of nine and heiress of a multimillion dollar fortune of Daulton family being hastily taken away from her house by her mother on a stormy night.

Twenty years later, a beautiful, self assured woman comes to Daulton family claiming she's Amanda Daulton and says she needs to discover why her mother took her away from the house when she was a kid.

Amanda drifts lightly.. and the mystery element is always there..! Once u finish the book, You'll want to hold on to it for a long time... . or that's what i did. :)

Tell me your dreams- Sidney Sheldon

An interesting plot. Keeps you reading till the end.

Ashley Patterson, aged 28, working for global computers in Cupertino is a workaholic and she gets this feeling that she's being constantly stalked and followed.

Tony Prescott, 22, also working for global computers is a vivacious, i-dare-to-do-anything kind of a girl. She has a great voice and an awesome singing talent. She frequents night clubs and sings when the singers take a break.

Alette peters,20, works for global computers too. She's sensitive, calm and quiet. She is a talented artist and volunteers at church to teach painting to kids.

A series of murders takes place and the victims are all men. They are all stabbed and castrated.
The evidence (finger prints and DNA tests) shows that Ashley Patterson has committed the murders. But it turns out that Ashley Patterson, Toni Prescott and Alette peters are all the same person; and Ashley suffers from MPD (multiple personality disorder) - a medical condition in which different personalities occupy the same body!

Toni Prescott, the dominant alter ego is the one who is responsible for committing the murders and Ashley is not even aware of it. So Ashley is released from the murder charge and sent to a mental asylum where she gets treated. It then comes out to light that she has had a terrible childhood. The alters had been born when she was six and  her father molested her and she couldn't cope with the emotional trauma. Moreover, Ashley's mother had hated her when she was a child, and that had added to the reasons for the alter-personalities getting created.
However, finally, when Ashley gets cured and comes out of the asylum, she sings Toni's (her alter's) favorite song which leaves us in a quandary whether she has been really cured or whether Toni still resides in her..

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I personally liked the book. But Tamilians who've watched ANNIYAN, a film which derives it's plot from the inspiration drawn from this book will agree that half the thrill is lost as we're already familiar with the plot.
However, Anniyan is a complete commercial film made for the Indian audience, and it was quite a hit!

I would advise people to not read the book in the nights. It gives creeps. But it makes us all agree that Sidney Sheldon is truly a mastermind and that he manages to make all his books compelling reads.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - by Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks certainly knows how to stir our emotions.

This message in a bottle makes us yearn for the kind of love that he portrays in his book.

 Theressa Osborne, a single mother, finds a bottle washed up on the shore. When she picks it up, she notices a letter inside it, which she starts reading.

The letter is written by Garret and addressed to Catherine, telling her how much he misses her. The soulful letter makes Theressa search for the man who wrote the letter. Thus, starts this beautiful story, touching our hearts as it moves and making us want to love and be loved like that...

By the time we finish reading the book, we are left in a daze..