Reviews tagging 'Death'

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

42 reviews

imoran's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Florentino Ariza has a kill count higher than Anakin Skywalker

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, War, Sexism, and Pregnancy

madelynfrank's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have so many thoughts about this book as probably a lot of people had? Was FA supposed to be gross right? Very gross. Prose is beautiful and often funny. Plot and characters all flow between each other in time which I really enjoyed. Felt very tangential like a story. Racism/sexism/pedophilia was a bummer but I guess to be expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Classism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, War, Medical content, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, and Racism

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Another stunning novel by one of the most talented authors to ever existed. Within the social commentary, magical realism, and class dynamics, there is also an incredible amount of heart. I would highly, highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Terminal illness, Racism, Infidelity, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Death

wellyreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexism, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Infidelity, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Animal death, Child abuse, War, Racism, Suicide, and Sexual assault

cpsawcd's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Un mélange du Comte de Monte-Cristo, de Manon Lescaut et de Lolita, avec comme toile de fond la Colombie des 19e et 20e siècles. 
Le livre se lit facilement mais reste décevant, surtout après avoir lu les Douze Contes Vagabonds du même auteur.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, and Death

stindex's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Death, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book is a meandering account, not unlike the riverboats owned by the main character. It frustrates me that in several places I felt like I was rehearing exact paragraphs from earlier in the story, because they seldom felt thematically resonant, but rather... recycled. 

I liked the bit that recounted the incident with the escaped parrot. There is also a lot of discussion of the mortality of human beings, gerontolophobia, the nature of sex and love, there is further musing on the deforestation of Colombia and the pointless hunting of indigenous fauna, which appears to also be a parallel between the tendency of the young to not indulge in self-care to sustain their health and prolong their strength and fitness.... yet.

This is a story that feels like it's supposed to be romantic, but really it just comes across as the exploits  of a man's fostering a lifelong obsession with a woman who turned him down when she was 18.

cw: rape that is celebrated by the recipients of the unsolicited attention (more than once)
cw: physical relationship between a custodian and ward.

..ugh.. yeah let's just not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Death

gabriella_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Was anyone going to tell me there’s a

pedophilic relationship

in this or was I supposed to find out on my own? Genuinely left a disgusting taste in my mouth reading this. 

And why was there so much casual racism and bigoted language throughout the book? It was physically painful in a book that otherwise had a gripping prose (but was problematic, I smell misogyny). 

I don’t want to rate this because I feel so conflicted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Dementia, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Classism, Cursing, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual violence, and Stalking

ro_lux's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

jayisreading's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.25

I'm somewhat surprised that I've gone as long as I have knowing very little about this classic, but it happens. To start, the prose is absolutely beautiful, and I imagine it's even more so in Spanish. Unfortunately, I had a hard time focusing. This is more of a problem related to my reading habits, but the chapters were much longer than I anticipated. I found that I frequently lost track of what was happening because I'd have to stop at random moments to do something else.

However, I just couldn't care very much about the characters, who are supposed to be the driving forces of the novel. I didn't find Fermina to be a compelling character. Florentino had more depth, but wow, is he massively problematic. It was incredibly difficult to look past the fact that an elderly man had sexual relations with a fourteen-year-old girl, for one. There's also the obsessive love for Fermina that didn't strike me as romantic at all, and I found the ending rather lackluster and frustrating, for the most part.

I'm not upset that I read this novel, but I certainly am disappointed that it didn't end up being as gripping and beautiful as I thought it'd be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death, Racism, Suicide, and Rape