The book was originally written in Spanish but has been translated into thirty seven languages and till date has sold over thirty million copies.

The theme of this book is about two families that witness various stages of life over the period of a century. How the protagonist try to come to grips with their past and how this obsessiveness brings about the doom of the family is captured in the novel.

In this book Macondo portrays the new world of United Sates, which appeared more like the Promised Land to so many at one time. But over the course of history it came to be accepted as another illusion.

The book cab be defined as the fine work of a master writer, about work realism. In his imaginary place metaphors and beliefs have become ordinary facts and life has become most uncertain.