corn in the bible posted:

That sounds like a good book, I should read it

Avshalom posted:

in my entire life i have only read one book, gabriel garcia marquez's fatalistic epic one hundred years of solitude. i first read it in kindergarten and have re-read it several hundred times in the decades hence. i know it off by heart in both english and spanish. my life is slowly transforming to fit the book's ideals. i am trapped in a hell of my own devising and i see no way out but i would rather be ensnared in garcia marquez's universe than any of the warhammer bullshit or frilly elf fiascos or japanese light novels about loving expensive designer household appliances with the face of blushing toddlers that the nerds in this sub-forum are into. i will kill each and every one of you

Goodreads posted:

WARNINGS WARNINGS
I don't recommend this book if you feel uncomfortable with books that depict graphically

* Pedophilia/rape (view spoiler)
* Incest/child abuse (view spoiler)
* Non sensical Violence (view spoiler)
*Prostitution
* Cheating
* Bestiality
* Women treated as objects sometimes by their own parents

If you like me grew up reading marvelous books like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Twilight, The Hunger games, which are all extremely strong in terms of characterization and character development and which are at times trashed by the same critics that praised this piece of cr%p, I doubt you'll enjoy this book because:

* No plot, everything is a messy mix of twisted, and I mean TWISTED, disturbing, cringe-inducing family anecdotes
*No character development.
* Poor character presentation. Other than I know that Amarantha is somehow fierce it's difficult to describe the rest of the characters personalities. What are their goals? What do they want? What do they fear? Who are they? What are their motivations?
* Poor worldbuilding. Am I supposed to know how Macondo, the setting of this book looks like? All I know is that Macondo founders were trying to reach the sea and they couldn't and were tired of travelling so I know there's no sea close to this town. The rules of this world don't seem to follow a logic, either. It's like Garcia Marques just smoke weed and added whatever he saw when he was under the effects of the weed to add magical elements here and there. I rarely notice worldbuilding issues in my reads because I have a strong imagination. Even books that don't describe the rules of their worlds or the setting properly don't turn me off, but since this book is universally praised as a "master piece" I was expecting more.
* No coherent timeline, Little to No dialogue
* Author breaking the rule of show don't tell 98% of the book


I should have tried to convince my professor to change this assigment. I should've told him that this kind of topics are potential PTSD triggers for me (which is 100% true, although usually books don't activate triggers for me, certain kind of music and smells are triggering for me) or that they are against my religious beliefs (that'd been a lie, but I wish I had lied) Maybe it wouldn't have worked and still I'd been stuck to read this horrible book, but these professors should be more responsible when assigining this kind of disturbing readings and forcing people to read them taking away our sacred right of DNF a book we don't enjoy .

I'm aware that the author won a Nobel Prize, but it seems to me that it was more like the academy thought it'd be rebellious and edgy to give an award to this author leaving other more talented authors out, therefore steering controversy. Sort of like they did when they gaveBob Dylan the Nobel Prize even if he's a songwriter and poet more than a book writer.

I don't even know who is supposed to enjoy this book. I think that some Hispanic readers might find something good in this book because it seems to me that the author at times was talking about Colombian/Hispanic political issues in a metaphoric way, but honestly there wasn't enough of that.

Also, the opening line of this book is supposedly matter of study in English literature courses around the world


'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.'


I can see why some readers might find that intriguing and get hooked from there, but I read a lot of books with great opening lines/paragraphs in commercial literature. Angefall by Susan EE, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Maze Runner by James Dashner have strong opening lines that get you hooked. I think every reader gets hooked by different opening lines, so why critics and scholars think this opening line is better than any is beyond me. However, I'll say that the ending scene was strong and extremely disturbing. It's a scene that will make you feel haunted and in search of a happy reading because (view spoiler)

I'm only writing this because I need to organize my ideas for my essay. I doubt that writing my honest opinion about this trash will earn me a good mark, so I'm trying to find an angle to write about. Maybe I can write about the role of women in Garcia's books. The other Garcia's book I read was Chronicle of a foretold death which was thankfully short and somehow realistic, but still 100% misogynist. An oudated view of women is common in this author's writings.
My recommendations if you are forced to read this author:

* Write notes for each time a new Buendia appears. There are at least a dozen characters sharing almost the exact name and that is confusing
* Don't expect character development, don't expect world building
* Don't expect brilliant dialogue, although you can expect beautiful monologues
* Expect a lot of info-dumping and exposition
* Expect a lot of magical elements, but not the kind of magic that makes you want to live in this world.
* Expect a lot of misogynism It's like the author comes from ancient times or the Taliban and his views on women are very outdated. As a demi-feminist some scenes were hard to stomach.
* Keep an enjoyable read at hand because sometimes you're tired of this world and you want to get out of it by reading something good.

Long story short, this book is way Overrated. Overrated doesn't cover it. I think the author, may he rest in peace, might have written it under the effects of the weed.

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

it's very good. theres a lady who's sexy as gently caress so she floats int o space

Powaqoatse posted:

Uhhh is demi-feminism what it sounds like?

pepperoni and keys posted:

I found this review of it on Goodreads that I thought you would like

Franchescanado posted:

She's a demi-god who happens to be a feminist, what else could it be?

Powaqoatse posted:

I hope it's that, cause all other options are worse.

corn in the bible posted:

also if you check that girl's user page you can see she's ranked #5 best reviewer on goodreads

less laughter posted:

Or only one half of her is feminist, e.g. the bottom half or the left half.

Ras Het posted:

there is no feminism south of the equator

quote:

I feel like a mental midget in trying to explain my feelings about this book. I struggle to understand why it is considered such a classic piece of literature. Am I jaded by my own time? Have I heard too often the world "lolita" used in modern contexts to refer to young girls who are attractive to adult men who should know better? I had to delve into some literary criticism in order to help me understand, and I think what Lolita tries to do is tell a disguting story about a disgusting man using beautiful language. I think it also speaks to our modern day inclination to want to explain ourselves, as if we could absolve ourselves from the horrors of the crimes we commit if it is understood why we did it. Listening to the audiobook, although fabulously read by Jeremy Irons, probably meant that the language was lost on me for the most part. Instead I was left with the story of this self-described monster who destroys a child's life and feels remorse only at losing her. Perhaps revolutionary in its storytelling at the time it was published, but too gross to read today.

Powaqoatse posted:

I guess there's something to be said for understanding what a book is saying, even if you don't understand that you understood it?

There's plenty worse messages to take from Lolita you know?

A human heart posted:

The people who post very long earnest reviews on goodreads about how they couldn't relate to characters from seminal works of literature, are cool

quote:

Jacqueline rated it 1/5 stars

I don't get it - each new page is just Marco Polo talking about made up cities that he "traveled" to.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

She reads like a case study in the perils of internet driven self-education. Why should she listen to her dumb professor? He isn't even ranked on Goodreads at all!

corn in the bible posted:

This one is my favorite:

chernobyl kinsman posted:

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > General TBB Chat/questions thread - ongoing chat about some rando goodreads troll!

fridge corn posted:

Aquarium by David Vann

chernobyl kinsman posted:

chernobyl kinsman posted:

StrixNebulosa posted:

"Relentless and heartbreaking, primal and redemptive"

This sounds like peak emotional novel and really not my style as I like to read for escapism purposes.

Powaqoatse posted:

The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka

I thought the way Gregors dad treated him was very mean and unfair. I think if I turned into a monstrosity, my dad wouldn't be so mean. Maybe he would, but I don't think he would. His mother and sister were okay I guess, but they could have supported him more.

It's a very bad story because nobody wants to help Gregor. They all think its his own fault and thats really dumb. Obviously he didn't turn into a monstrosity on purpose.

Franz Kafka is a horrible man and I hope he goes to jail for writing this story very recently and still being alive to be punished for doing so.

A human heart posted:

These are all just opinions from this forum

Enfys posted:

what the gently caress is up with this supposed nobel literature not even having decent world building

Alhazred posted:

I still think it's kinda weird that the Malazan books are so hyped by goons because they employ in medias res.