Netflix recently released a new 16-episode series, based on the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” The book, by Spanish writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, explores love, sex, politics, family, and magic.
Jackie Bixler tells people, if you have to pick only one novel to read, this is it.
“Basically, it’s taking you through a hundred years of the life in this family,” Bixler said. “And it all takes place in a fictitious town called Macondo.”
Bixler taught Spanish and humanities at Virginia Tech for 43 years. She recalled one student, a football player who was born in Puerto Rico. He was struggling in class. Then he read “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” and was captivated.
“And then at the end of the semester he said, ‘I am so glad I took this class. I had never read a novel before. I loved it and I can’t wait to read more.’ And that about made me cry. Because it made me realize, what an impact that kind of novel can have,” Bixler said.
She compares “One Hundred Years of Solitude” to the book of Genesis, because there are so many characters across several generations.
In Marquez’ novel, gender roles are not portrayed equally. “I would say it’s more of a male dominated world,” Bixler said. “There are a few strong women in the novel, but they’re kind of overshadowed by the male characters.
Readers may also be caught off guard by the strange things that happen. It’s a genre called magical realism. Surreal events, like someone spontaneously lifting into the air, or a girl being haunted by her parents’ unburied bones, are told in a way that makes it feel as though this is all true, or could be true.
That’s part of why the book was considered unadaptable for film, until Netflix attempted it.
The first eight episodes in the series is streaming now, and is in Spanish with English subtitles.
The book, which was originally written in Spanish, has sold 50 million copies around the world, and been translated into more than 40 languages.
Though she enjoys Marquez’ gorgeous writing in the Spanish version, Bixler says she loves the English translation too.
She’s teaching a 5-week course next spring on “One Hundred Years of Solitude” at Virginia Tech’s Lifelong Learning Institute in Blacksburg.
