One Hundred Years of Solitude

By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Includes a bonus PDF with a character chart!

One of the twentieth century’s enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility, the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth—these universal themes dominate the novel. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an account of the history of the human race.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1964 Gabriel García Márquez (P)2013 Blackstone Audio

Why did they choose this narrator????

I can’t listen to this guy. I gave up. Which is unfortunate because apparently this is a great book. Just because someone has a resonant voice doesn’t automatically make them a good narrator. He starts out doing very inconsistent accents and then abandons that very quickly. His characters have no consistency. You don’t get a feel of continuity in the through line. His women are weird. He can’t do women at all. He pronounces “R” as “d” which adds a sense of affected erudition to the narration which seems completely inappropriate to the subject matter to me. Seems like a poor choice by the production team. I guess I’ll actually have to read the book.

Wow! What a masterful painter of words.

To be engrossed in one family for 100 years ( or longer ) was quite an adventure. Not for the faint of ears or mind, as the twirling, twisting narrative anchored only by the same names assigned to multiple generations, wraps to and fro through lifetimes intertwined and begrudgingly let go of; in a secluded South American jungle village.

100 years of solitude

Great book, I loved the foreshadowing but sometimes the story felt like a conversation that never ended.

Amazingly entertaining work

Douglas Adams meets the Addams Family....WOW! Garcia Marquez was a literary genius and his Nobel Prize was well deserved. John Lee's reading was very well done and his inflections made me laugh out loud numerous times. I have to disagree with those reviewers who found it difficult to keep the characters straight without a chart of the family tree. The time span covered by the book is roughly 100 years, and obviously there will be a number of characters from different generations. I found the theme of variations on the same few names used over and over, confusing even the family members themselves, to be hysterical. Don't try to keep the genealogy straight in your head.....there won't be a test. Just listen and enjoy!

Just a great book

I have read this book 3-4 times. Each time I read it, I learned something new. Having someone read it to me just is amazing. Love the way narrator danced his voice in almost a sing song way at times because this is what the story is like. Bravo. Just love it.

Why do white dudes perform the work of non white authors?

John Lee is amazing. He has a strong voice but this was not the book he should have performed. Isn’t there a Columbian actor or actor of that decedent who could have guided the listener through Márquez’s world? I think the answer is yes but the production house was lazy and chose to whitewash this book.

Spellbinding

I loved this audiobook and the narration of it. Now, this isn’t my first time reading it so I can’t say that it is good for a first experience. As a re-read however, I found it delightful, utterly spellbinding, and reminded me of a) why I love this book so much and b) that literature is FUN! In all the tragedy and events ”One hundred...” is a fun experience because it is playful and magical and is populated by all this unforgettable characters!

Oh, for first time readers/listeners (or anyone needing a reminder) there is a pdf file with the Buendia family tree that comes with this audiobook which I think is great, reminders are helpful especially towards the end!

Loved it

Struggled to read from ch 14-19 because it kept dragging on and one keeps forgetting the characters, oh so many characters. Nonetheless, A masterpiece.

Kudos to TEDEd for sharing this!

I am so glad I found this! The audiobook really helped me keep track of the story. I have been trying to finish this book since my second year in college, but so many unfamiliar words kept distracting me. John Lee did a superb job narrating this masterpiece! Still can't contain my excitement over this gem.

Excellent Telling of a Classic

The story itself that Marquez has written is incredible and worth visiting several times in life. The themes and imagery are great. It's a masterpiece of magical realism.

I enjoyed the narrator of this audiobook and thought he did a decent job of animating the many characters in the story.