Solitude is Over

I have finished "One Hundred Years of Solitude" it has quickly vaulted into my top all time favorite novels. I feel like I may have to end up rereading this novel which I rarely if ever do. I think an accurate description for how Marquez wrote this novel is like an onion you peel away layers to find more layers...oh wait except now you notice that the layer that you peeled away was actually two or three layers not one...and where did this other onion come from.
Every sentence, every paragraph, every page is so full of meaning and description, everything is so well drawn that it is impossible to not forget or miss things. I think that is exactly the point. For example, Santa Sofia de la Piedad, she is there for most of the novel, barely noticed but there. As I was reading the final pages of Santa Sofia de la Piedad, I realized that I could not remember when she had entered the story or which Buendia she was related to. It was as if she had just materialized out of the darkness of the Buendia house. I had like so many of the Buendias become as comfortable with her presence or lack of presence, taken her for granted. Then she leaves, and when she does her need in the house comes in to focus, you realize that she is the last bit of reality left. The Buendias are now no longer moored to reality, they are free to destroy themselves. In fact there is nothing left for them to do but destroy themselves. And they do, they fulfill their destiny and bring about an almost biblical destruction that will wipe them from the Earth completely. 


It is a beautifully written novel, I loved it. I am now moving on to another novel. Here is my list I started out the year with...
1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet - David Mitchell
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
4. Underworld - Don Delillo
5. Nueromancer - William Gibson
6. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 
7. The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton 
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
9. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
10. Atonement - Ian McEwan
11. The Folding Star - Alan Hollinghurst
12. Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
13. The Cider House Rules - John Irving


I am thinking that I am going to read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" next.