Well, books do not have to have any meaning, just like paintings or songs, but in this case it helps a lot to be latin-american. Garcia Marquez used to say that the Caribbean is not a geographical region but a cultural one. It goes from the south of the US to the north of Brazil, with many cultural and historical elements in common.

This is a book about the Colombian Caribbean, but also the whole country and the region. At the end it is a book about life. I have always noticed that Anglo readers get too caught up on minor details (the number of Aurelianos, who did this or that) but that is missing the point, this is about the flow of life, the absurdity of human struggles, the magic and terror of being alive, love, senseless violence, hope, all of that expressed in a brilliant prose.

I could continue but this short youtube review has pretty animations and touches some other points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2zhLYz4pYo