Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez

32 reviews

purplehulk713's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book is so beautiful, but it must be understood in the context of Latin American history otherwise it might seem really dense beyond its very poetic prose. Which it still can be at times. However, even though he doesn’t necessarily mean to be, García Márquez is often incredibly funny in his writings. He said things like 

The decrepit lawyers dressed in black who during other times had besieged Colonel Aureliano Buendía and who now were controlled by the banana company dismissed those demands with decisions that seemed like acts of magic.

and

Fernanda viewed her as an undesirable witness of her shame and lamented the fact that they had abandoned the medieval custom of hanging a messenger who bore bad news.

Let’s take a journey to Macondo, Colombia and visit the Buendía family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Incest and Xenophobia

cleansky7's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

miayukino's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

joanabryant's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and War

shainalite's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

my all time favorite book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

2treads's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

...because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.

The fact that this book's main focus is only on the male offspring of Jose Arcadio Buendía is irksome, although she does get a chapter that outlines her decline 😤. Especially when Ursula, the matriarch, has gone above and beyond in ensuring that the family is provided for. She is also clever and aware, and is not afraid to put herself forward to defend her children and grandchildren. She deserved chapters to focus on all she did and endured. 

This obsession that Marquez has with showing men and their sexual proclivities is alarming, and as my husband says, it could very well be he means it in a tongue-in-cheek, darkly humorous manner for affect. I remain unconvinced.

However, what is undeniable is that he is a writer that has complete control over how this expansive yet contained story unfolds, and even as it may seem like mindless wading for some readers, there will be others that will get swept along for what is a captivating, awesome, disturbing tale of a family and their tragic legacy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, and Pregnancy

juliana18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

autisticmisabel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Excrement, Mass/school shootings, and Colonisation

lief_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault and Blood

Minor: Child death, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

elisabeth_with_an_ess's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Wow. Folks, I have got THOUGHTS on this book. Up to the last two chapters, I would not have said I was enjoying this book, in spite of being amazed by the undeniable brilliance of the writing. The plot seems to ramble all over the place, with events that I expected to be ultimately climactic in nature being nearly thrown away in the narrative. On top of that there were lots of scenes and events that made me feel deeply "squicky" (check the trigger warnings on this book before you read it, because there are some doozies). However, just when I would nearly make up my mind to stop reading, I would encounter a phrase or a piece of imagery that was so breathtaking that it would keep me reading. And then, as the book ended in a whirlwind of revelation and fulfilled prophesy, I was so glad that I finished the story. 

Even so, I don't think I can honestly give the book more than three stars, even for the brilliance of the final chapters. I don't think it makes up for the unnecessarily graphic descriptions of the Buendia family's hereditary vices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail