Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
*****
Some books have a title that tempts me to turn to the blurb; this is one of them. And then, even better, it has this great opening line. So I began reading. About half-way through I put the book down. It lost me.
Been there, done that too.
It’s not just me, then. The front cover says ‘The greatest novel in any language of the last fifty years’ (according to Salman Rushdie). Clearly, he got something out of it that we didn’t.
Yeah, a paycheck!
I love this series of first lines you’re doing – every one of them is so great! I read One Hundred Years of Solitude and I agree, it’s tough going! I really loved it though, but when I recommended it to my mum, one of the smartest people I know, she gave up exasperated after 100 pages. I guess it’s one of those love it or hate it kind of books.
😆
Thank you very much, Emily, for your comment. I did attempt to read ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ again, but still didn’t get into it or through it. Other novels beckoned, so I left it.