One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude is a difficult book to read, to experience and to describe.
Epic in its proportions and ambitious in its ambit, it tells the story of generations of a fictional Buendia family set in Colombia, South America. Rich backdrop for an interesting story, which it is, no doubt.  All through the book, you are aware that this is no ordinary book. It is said to be a thinly disguised history of Colombia with some important historical markers, and inhabited by some very interesting characters and situations.
But, the narrative style, which has been eulogized as "magical realism", fails to rouse an average reader like me. Almost forever in third person, the narrative seemed to me trudging along like a tuneless song. It is with great effort that one sifts through the debris and finds the sparkling diamonds beneath.
Salman Rushdie described this book as "The greatest novel in any language of the last fifty years". I am sure I would read it once more to be able to rise up to it.