One Hundred Years of Solitude-like books

eMMI

so I finished the amazing book by Gabriel García Márgues a few days ago. wow.

anyway, I was thinking, are there any other books like it? meaning, are there other books that have the reality with all these magical/supernatural things combined?

*quick search from google* magical realism?

any tips welcomed!

Collin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_realism_novels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_realism_writers

?

eMMI

Collin wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_realism_novels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_realism_writers

?

ok, thanks. any you've read?

Collin

eMMI wrote:

ok, thanks. any you've read?

Nope. What's One Hundred Years of Solitude like?

The only book I thought of was Interview with a Vampire, but since I don't know what One Hundred Years of Solitude is like or what magical realism is, I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for. It's an excellent book, though.

http://cwtv.com/shows/supernatural

chime

Didn't read the second link but in the first one I have read (and enjoyed) Everything is Illuminated, Perfume and Midnights Children ... my fave being Midnight's Children. Also read Chocolat from that list which I thought was ok.

I also loved One Hundreds Years of Solitude and would recommend Love in a Time of Cholera.

As Collin said I love The Vampire Chronicles.

eMMI

Collin wrote:

Nope. What's One Hundred Years of Solitude like?

The only book I thought of was Interview with a Vampire, but since I don't know what One Hundred Years of Solitude is like or what magical realism is, I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for. It's an excellent book, though.

http://cwtv.com/shows/supernatural

well, I really don't know how to explain it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_hundred_years_of_solitude:

"The novel chronicles a family's struggle and the history of their fictional town, Macondo, for one hundred years. García Márquez acknowledges in his autobiography Living to Tell the Tale that Macondo was based on the towns where he spent his childhood. Like many other novels by Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude crosses genres, combining elements of history, magical realism, and pure fiction."

somehow that Vampire book's name sounds familiar.. will look into it.

eMMI

Chime wrote:

Didn't read the second link but in the first one I have read (and enjoyed) Everything is Illuminated, Perfume and Midnights Children ... my fave being Midnight's Children. Also read Chocolat from that list which I thought was ok.

I also loved One Hundreds Years of Solitude and would recommend Love in a Time of Cholera.

As Collin said I love The Vampire Chronicles.

didn't they make a film of Love in a Time of Cholera? ooh! the library seems to have it.. might get it then, thanks.

Collin

eMMI wrote:

didn't they make a film of Love in a Time of Cholera? ooh! the library seems to have it.. might get it then, thanks.

Interview with a Vampire was made into a film

eMMI

Collin wrote:

Interview with a Vampire was made into a film

cool. maybe that's why it sounds so familiar.. (ahh the life of a movie rental store workers. )

chime

eMMI wrote:

didn't they make a film of Love in a Time of Cholera? ooh! the library seems to have it.. might get it then, thanks.

I think they did but because I liked the book I didn't want to see the film. Check your library for Midnights Children as well it's a long book but so worth it.

If you decide to try the Vampire books this lets you know the order they go in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Chronicles ... I've read them all

caifan82

You should check these, they are great and some of my personal favorites. Although the first 2 are pretty much short novels, they are pretty intense.

Carlos Fuentes - Aura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_%28Fuentes%29

Juan Rulfo - Pedro Paramo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_P%C3%A1ramo

Isabel Allende - The house of the spirits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Spirits

Cheers!

BTW: If you plan on reading any of these books, do not read the wikipedia links I posted. I just read them, and they are full of spoilers :S

eMMI

Chime wrote:

I think they did but because I liked the book I didn't want to see the film. Check your library for Midnights Children as well it's a long book but so worth it.

If you decide to try the Vampire books this lets you know the order they go in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Chronicles ... I've read them all

that's cool, probably won't see it either. got the book from the library today.

I'll check the library for those as soon as I get some books I've got at home, "out of the way". (got the Cholera, Junkie and some other book, whose name I can't remember just now)

eMMI

caifan82 wrote:

You should check these, they are great and some of my personal favorites. Although the first 2 are pretty much short novels, they are pretty intense.

Carlos Fuentes - Aura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_%28Fuentes%29

Juan Rulfo - Pedro Paramo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_P%C3%A1ramo

Isabel Allende - The house of the spirits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Spirits

Cheers!

thanks. those look pretty interesting.

Jeremy1012

From the wikipedia list, check out Nikolai Gogol, Jorge Luis Borges (best writer ever ), Bulgakov, Murakami (particularly Kafka On The Shore) and Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children).

Byrnzie

Jeremy1012 wrote:

From the wikipedia list, check out Nikolai Gogol, Jorge Luis Borges (best writer ever ), Bulgakov, Murakami (particularly Kafka On The Shore) and Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children).

I was gonna mention 'The Satanic Verses'. You beat me to it. I've read Gogol - mad as an egg - and Kafka. I still need to read Midnights Children. I may treat myself to a copy up in Shanghai next month.

Also, Ben Okri's books 'The Famished Road', and 'Songs of enchantment', are both superb.

The Famished Road:
'Teeming with fevered, apocalyptic visions as well as harrowing scenes of violence and wretched poverty, this mythic novel by Nigerian short-story writer ( Stars of the New Curfew ) and poet Okri won the 1991 Booker Prize. The narrator, Azaro, is a spirit child who maintains his ties to the supernatural world. Possessed by " boiling hallucinations, " he can see the invisible, grotesque demons and witches who prey on his family and neighbors in an African ghetto community. For him (and for the reader), the passage from the real to the fantastic world is seamless and constant; many of the characters--the political thugs, grasping landlords and brutal bosses--are as bizarre as the evil spirits who empower them. In a series of vignettes, Azaro chronicles the daily life of his small community: appalling hunger and squalor relieved by bloody riots and rowdy, drunken parties; inhuman working conditions and rat-infested homes. The cyclical nature of history dooms human beings to walk the road of their lives fighting corruption and evil in each generation, fated to repeat the errors of the past without making the ultimate progress that will redeem the world. Okri's magical realism is distinctive; his prose is charged with passion and energy, electrifying in its imagery. The sheer bulk of episodes, many of which are repetitious in their evocation of supernatural phenomena, tends to slow narrative momentum, but they build to a powerful, compassionate vision of modern Africa and the magical heritage of its myths.'



Edit: In fact anything by Ben Okri is good. His poetry is also really good.

chime

Jeremy 1012 I loved Kafka on the Shore.

Byrnzie I started Famished Road a couple of years ago and only got about half way through ... it's still sat on my shelf ... may be I should give it another try ... and if you treat yourself enjoy Midnights Children

One Song Glory

Don't know if you've read The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. I personally didn't love it, but then again I only had four days to read it for a course I took last semester. Slight Pearl Jam connection as the song Pilate is obviously based on the book. Short synopsis: Satan comes to Stalinist Russia to stir shit up, while the crucifixion story from Pilate's perspective is told simultaneously. It's quite a heavy read, but also fascinating! It seems to fit your description of mixing realism with the supernatural.