One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is part of the most important lists, sitting at number four on The Greatest Books of All Time site, part of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, also in The Bokklubben World Library Top 100 - 9 out of 10

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is part of the most important lists, sitting at number four on The Greatest Books of All Time site, part of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, also in The Bokklubben World Library Top 100

 

9 out of 10

 

I rate this as a 9 out of 10 more for nostalgic reasons than considering the latest experience, and I surely ponder the embarrassment of seeing more than a million ratings on Goodreads, see all the good and illuminati acclaim this magnum opus (allegedly) and find this modest reader bark at the wrong tree, rejecting Marquez

 

Nevertheless, it is like this: reading One Years of Solitude for the first time was a delightful sensation – I even think I remember where some of this happened, in Herculane – then came a second try, and it was not pleasant, and now, because I am checking this new site to see what AI aka an algorithm says about books, I said:

 

-          Let us take on Jose Arcadio Buendia and all again!

 

The most likely explanation for this failure to see the grandeur of one of the Greatest Books of All time – or number four, if we want to be exact – would be a decline, while I saw the majesty, scope, marvelous characters when young, the first time I have approached this universe, now, with age, some things get difficult…

Others turn out to be impossible, evidently, I could try and hide behind some attenuating circumstances, find other culprits – here is one, we lived under Ceausescu here, sort of ‘Bad Magic Kingdom’, with one of the worst wizards in the world, he could turn everything into dust and bile, inflicting pain

 

You saw that there is no food in the shops, it is cold in the flats, you have no freedom, there are queues for everything, and yet, like in a reverse Wizard of Oz https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-wizard-of-oz-and-sailor-of-rroma.html if the ‘original’ one was impotent, could not really do much, if anything…

 

-          Ceausescu was one of those tyrants that create Magic, but of the heinous kind

 

Ergo, how can one enjoy Magical realism, when we still have those traumas, and then think of the present, which is another dose of Magical realism, I repeat this notion, associated with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because I cannot help but think that reality is no longer what I knew, I am getting sick, now I see why!

 

The rejection of all this Buendia clan, the fighting, killing, dead people coming back, incestuous connections – I mean, with an aunt it is still not kosher, right? – goes back to this disease brought on first by communism – I fought in the Revolution of 1989 http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

Then aggravated by the likes of Orange Jesus, now imperial leader of the United States of Erica – I have read Lake Wobegon Days https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/lake-wobegon-days-nine-out-of-10.html and there is this fragment about how the first to discover America where the not the ones we know, ergo USE

 

There is another interesting fact in there, Lake Wobegon Days, about how we have ‘A tendency for most people to believe that they are above average in intelligence, sense of humor, diving ability, and similar traits. Although the effect arises from a self-serving bias, the widespread belief that it is mathematically impossible for a majority to be above average is itself a fallacy’, in the case of the Orange Imperial Fool, it is pathological

He and his cohorts are also responsible for my distaste in regards of One Hundred Years of Solitude and so much more – clearly, this is more of a joke, it could be that some guy reads this and then attacks me, it happened with King Lear, when a MAGA fool started on with an homage to that fucked up idiot that is in charge now

 

So, I know this is an exaggeration, the kind of thing they would highlight to say ‘you, see, they blame him for everything, it is ridiculous, sick, and so on’, right, this is hyperbole, and I am only playing games here, it is me, I am at fault for not getting inspired, ecstatic, in awe, with this Magical Realism, and yet…there is more to this

To enjoy magic, you need to have reality, not this magic of the Orange Stupid Wizard – this is how I see it, if you disagree, well, so long, we had this clash at the sauna, where a fan of the Orange Bad Wizard was singing his praise, so I am clearly worked up about this – it seems to me that the world where common sense rules is gone

 

What we have now is this Macondo, distorted reality, where ghosts, this powdered cretin is abusing, using his magic wand to turn things into shit, if not literally, then figuratively, the old decency, modesty, values have been replaced by greed, boasting, lying in ways that are preposterous – the last example I have heard

The ghoul pretends he has ‘brought back water to California’, he talked about trees and how they contain water, I mean the brain hurst to listen to this, and still, he has what, a few billion fans, now this Magical Realism for you, of the orange kind

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’