What We’re Reading: a series where we, your librarians, share what we're reading this week. Today we start with Harry, the newest staff member to join the Conshy Library.
This week I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I’ve been a big fan of his writing ever since I read his short story Light is Like Water. I’ve read many of his works of fiction as well as some of his journalistic writings, the latter of which I would highly recommend for some thrilling nonfiction prose! And now I’ve finally dived into the novel that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The novel takes place in the fictional town of Macondo, a small South American town far removed from the amenities of modernity. It follows several generations of the Buendía family and their foibles. Rebellion, alchemy, and endless rain are just a few of the oddities that they endure in Macondo.
García Márquez writes with radical empathy and this is what makes his stories truly remarkable. Every character's description and development unfold so vividly I feel like I could come across Úrsula or Colonel Aureliano Buendía as I stroll down Fayette. I find that by the end of his novels, the characters feel like tiny universes, full of life and motivations that we, the readers, can easily identify with.
I would recommend this book to someone who is looking to read something outside the Euro-American canon, who enjoys magic realism, or wants to check off a book from most “Best Books of All Time” lists.
471 pages, suggested for ages 16+
