Incest, death, magic, and more sex than one could ever imagine. If you open your discussion about this novel with that statement, you're sure to have your students' attention… and the attention of some concerned parents, too. While your students may be flipping through the pages looking for the sex and magic, parents would surely come a knockin'—and not in a good way.

Gabriel García Márquez simply does not shy away from the way people actually behave, and the thing is—spoiler alert—people really do have sex. Some people have lots of it and others (poor Fernanda and her botched uterus, for instance,) are on the sidelines waiting for an acknowledgment of their royalty.