One Hundred Years of Solitude

I've read longer books than Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, but few have matched the grand scale of his epic novel. The book begins with the founding of a fictional Columbian utopia called "Macondo" by Buendia family patriarch, Jose Arcadio. From here the book spans 100 years and seven generations (time expands or contracts in Macondo based seemingly on Marquez's whim) chronicling the important events in the rise and fall of Macondo, specifically focusing on the Buendia family. The Buendias are creative people for the most part, but not in the naming of children, so dozens of characters share a small handful of names- there are something like 20 different 'Aureliano's, requiring the reader to pay close attention to context or face terrible confusion. At the heart of the plot are ideas on family, sex, and sometimes sex with family- despite plenty of other families settling in Macando with the Buendias, they just can't seem to stop inbreeding, despite an age gap of generations. Marquez doesn't stop there though, touching upon more universal themes like war, politics, and religion as well. One Hundred Years of Solitude was certainly an ambitious undertaking for Marquez, which is why I'm puzzled that I was left kinda underwhelmed. A story of this magnitude feels like a huge gamble that could either fall flat on its face or be considered one of the greatest books of all time- it falls into the latter category for most people, but it just didn't leave much of an impression on me. Oh well.