One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez chronicles the Buendía family across seven generations in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo, blending magical realism with historical and personal cycles of love, war, solitude, and fate. Founded by the visionary José Arcadio Buendía and his wife Úrsula Iguarán after fleeing scandal, Macondo evolves from an isolated utopia influenced by gypsy wonders like ice and magnets into a site of civil strife, banana company exploitation, and eventual decay, mirroring Latin America’s turbulent history. Themes of inescapable solitude, repeating destinies, and the fluidity of time culminate in the family’s prophesied doom, as foretold in Melquíades’ ancient manuscripts, making it a landmark of world literature.