One Hundred Years of Solitude

By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator

Narrated by: John Lee

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

Waited a long time for this

Where does One Hundred Years of Solitude rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As a book, it has been—after some treasured volumes of philosophy—the closest to my heart. I re-read it every few years to renew the taste of Garcia-Marquez' languid poetry in my mind. As an audio book it ranks in the top dozen, but no closer, I suppose because John Lee's somewhat grand and booming interpretation jars with my own imagined version of the words spoken aloud.

What other book might you compare One Hundred Years of Solitude to and why?

The epic of one larger-than-life family's history across a hundred years, it is similar to Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. It stands out, however, in it's exploration of subjective reality (magic realism), and the themes of solitude, melancholy, the fluidity of time, the cyclical nature of man's weaknesses, tragedies, strengths, and triumphs. It is said to be a metaphorical picture of Colombia.

What three words best describe John Lee’s performance?

lively, inarticulate (with the Spanish names and words), stentorian

Any additional comments?

I think a bi-lingual reader might have made a better narrator, as John Lee's Spanish names were always very laboriously and stiffly pronounced.

Also, Lee always performed all the men's dialogue with the same sleazy, drawling, South-of-the-Border caricature voice, and all the women's dialogue in a slow exhalation that made the characters sound dazed and hypnotised.

All of which diminished the dignity and the humanity of Marquez' characters a bit.

Still, I have waited so long for an audio book to be made of Marquez' greatest novel, that I enjoyed the overall experience immensely.

In My Top Ten

This audiobook is brilliant, and among my favorites of all time. John Lee gives a stellar performance, full of heart, menace, irony, passion, triumph and wisdom. I've heard a lot of his narrations, and this is his best. The quality of the book helps, of course, and One Hundred Years of Solitude is an eternal classic. This is a recording I will treasure and will listen to again.

Strange

This was a strange, surreal story. The large aspect of magical realism combined with Colombia's violent history makes this a singular experience. I read Marquez a little in college, but was completely unprepared for this acid trip of a book. I'm glad I read it, but probably won't repeat the experience.

Fun and amusing story

Difficult to keep the names straight and therefore the story lines that go with them. I recommend downloading a chart showing the lineage of the family.

better 20 years ago

I liked the story better when I read it 20years ago. alot of unbelievable happenings.