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''"That's how it goes," Aureliano admitted, "but not so much."'' }}
 
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a 1967 novel, that gave [[Gabriel Garcia Marquez]] the Nobel Prize. Staple of Spanish-speaking High School curricula everywhere, mostly for being [[Mind Screw|awesomely deep and so goddamn hard to understand]]. Arguably one of the most important pieces of literature written in the 20th century, or to put in context, almost as important as ''[[Don Quixote (Literature)|Don Quixote]]'' to Spanish speaking literature. Famous among other things for using every conceivable trope one could ever hope to fit in 28.8 oz of paper.
 
The book follows the story of the Buendía family and the town they create, Macondo, a metaphor for Latin America as a whole, from its foundation to its end. Of course, it is told in a [[Anachronic Order|non-linear fashion]] with [[Generation Xerox|every generation having the same few names]], as well as the same basic attributes (except for a pair of twins whose names are thought to have been accidentally switched at some point, which is why it's so confusing). Alongside the story of the Buendia family, there are an abundance of vignettes recounting both the everyday and the supernatural occurrences that shape the lives of the inhabitants of Macondo. The themes range widely, incorporating legendary figures (such as the [[Wandering Jew]]), historical events ([[Pirate|Sir.Francis Drake bombing of Rioacha]], the Massacre of the Banana growers), and short stories about the love of two minor characters who never get to [[Two Lines, No Waiting|interfere with the main action]]. [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Believe it or not]] the story takes place in a time span of a hundred years.
 
[[Needs More Love]].
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* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Rebeca with José Arcadio.
* [[Apron Matron]]: Ursula.
* [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]]: {{spoiler|Remedios the Beauty, literally.}}
** {{spoiler|It's implied that Melquíades does this at one point.}}
* [[Babies Ever After]]: {{spoiler|Subverted.}}
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* [[Badass Mustache]]: Colonel Aureliano Buendía.
* [[Banana Republic]] - For a while, Macondo is this.
* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: Mauricio is the [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]], Meme is the Type B [[Tsundere]]. [[Tear Jerker|It ends in tragedy]].
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: {{spoiler|José Arcadio saves Colonel Aureliano Buendía from the firing squad.}}
* [[Bigger Is Better in Bed]]: Several people say this about José Arcadio.
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* [[Dead Guy, Junior]]: Over and over and over…
* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]] - The {{spoiler|last Buendía dies of this from an army of ants.}}
* [[Death Byby Childbirth]]: In a variation, little Remedios dies after a terrible miscarriage. {{spoiler|Played straight with Amaranta Úrsula.}}
* [[Death Is Cheap]]: Melquíades.
* [[Death Seeker]]: Played with in the case of {{spoiler|Colonel Aureliano. He isn't actively seeking death, just waiting for the right time to die.}}
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* [[The Ditz]]: Mauricio Babilonia. Pietro Crespi, to a certain extent.
* [[Dogged Nice Guy]]: Gerineldo Márquez, to Amaranta.
* {{spoiler|[[Downer Ending]]: Amaranta Ursula succumbs to [[Death Byby Childbirth]]. Hers and Aureliano Babilonia's child dies too and his corpse is eaten by ants. Aureliano, who has crossed the [[Despair Event Horizon]] already, sees his kid dead and then realizes it's the last clue to decipher Melquiades's scripts. As he's reading them and uncovering all the secrets of Macondo and the Buendias (his true bond with Amaranta Ursula included), Macondo is destroyed by a tornado and everyone dies.}}
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Prudencio Aguilar insults José Arcadio Buendía over his lack of a sex life with Ursula. José Arcadio Buendía [[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice|kills him with a spear]] ten minutes later.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Pietro Crespi}}. Subverted with Colonel Aureliano.
* [[Easy Amnesia]]: The entire town, briefly, and more permanently Rebeca, as a symptom of a plague.
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* [[Historical In-Joke]]: Colonel Aureliano Buendía's involvement in war between the Liberals and Conservatives.
** The {{spoiler|massacre of some two or three thousand people by the banana company}} [[wikipedia:Banana massacre|actually happened — the book just fictionalizes it]].
* [[Hooker Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Pilar Ternera, Petra Cotes and Nigromanta.
* [[I Wished You Were Dead]]: Amaranta. ''Twice''.
* [[Impoverished Patrician]]: Fernanda del Carpio.
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* [[Innocent Fanservice Girl]]: Remedios the Beauty, who loves going around naked. She even lampshades this by saying it's the best way to go around.
* [[It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It]]: Near the end, Aureliano Babilonia is unable to cope with his attraction to Amaranta Ursula, who is his aunt and who he believes to be his sister, and rapes her while her husband is in the other room. She tries to fight him off at first, but ends up enjoying it so much that her feelings of love are transferred from her husband over to him.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Mauricio Babilonia is a fan of [[Brutal Honesty]], but can be somewhat sweeter when with Meme. It's mentioned that Meme starts falling more genuinely for him ones she deduces that his brusqueness towards her is, to a degree, [[Pet the Dog|his way to show tenderness.]]
* [[Kissing Cousins]]: José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula. Happened also to some other members of family, with {{spoiler|pig-tailed child as final result.}}
** [[Book Ends]]: {{spoiler|A relative of José Arcadio and Úrsula had been born with a pig's tail as a result of incest, which had led Úrsula to refuse to consummate her marriage in the first place.}}
* [[Knight Templar Parent]]: Fernanda, so damn much.
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: The book comes with an invaluable family tree. Everyone born into our marrying into the family has [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]]. Some characters get more love than others, but I can't think of a single character than can be considered the protagonist of the story.
** This troper was certain for the first half of the book that it was the Colonel's story, but having read the whole thing if one character can be pointed to and called the protagonist it would have to be Úrsula who is the direct or indirect cause for almost everything that happens in the course of the story and who's yearnings best encapsulate the overarching desires and drives of the Buendía clan. {{spoiler|For this troper the story after Úrsula's death felt like it had had its life sucked from it and it was simply tidying up to close shop.}}
*** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: of course you did. Úrsula was the leader of the clan, after she died the Buendias quickly fell into decadence and the last survivors were just ghosts of their former glory.
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* [[Proper Lady]]: Little Remedios, and Santa Sofía de la Piedad later. Subverted with Úrsula, who is very devoted to her family, but also extremely stubborn and more than capable of standing up to her husband and children.
* [[Rape Is Love]]: {{spoiler|When Aureliano Babilonia rapes Amaranta Úrsula}}. This is also how Pilar Ternera lost her virginity, and which made her join the caravan that founded Macondo in the first place.
* [[Redemption in Thethe Rain]]: ''The whole town''. Not that it helps, anyway.
* {{spoiler|[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]}} - In one fell swoop, {{spoiler|Macondo is eventually destroyed.}}
* [[Roma]]: Several. Melquíades eventually becomes a permanent fixture in the house after he comes [[Back From the Dead]]. {{spoiler|Then he dies ''again'', then comes back again, then just [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?|sort of vanishes…]]}}
* [[Scars Are Forever]]: {{spoiler|Amaranta, who burns her own hand as self-punishment for Pietro Crespi's suicide.}}
* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] - Colonel Aureliano Buendía.
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