Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

32 reviews

co32minus's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? No

3.5

CW and expectation setting for future readers: there is a significant amount of misogynoir (derogatory descriptions and speach about black women), and pedophilia in this book. It's set in Columbia during the cholera epidemic, the main characters are rich, and it was written in the 1980s. The tone reflects that.

Aside from those criticisms overall I'd say this book was decent, I'd be curious to read it in the original Spanish where I'm sure the poetry sings louder. The writing is very fluid, ebbing and flowing from one thought to the next which creates an interesting sensation of being told this story orally, or as if it's being recounted from an old memory (which fits the themes of love and age). It was personally harder for me to read because the chapters were so long I would have to stop reading in the middle of a thought and pick up later. I didn't feel particularly compelled by any of the characters, the dynamic of their youth was interesting and
once Fermina and Florentino reconnected as older people I really enjoyed their reflections on living and what it means to love after so much of your life has passed.
But I felt pretty on edge throughout the entire thing waiting for Fermina to give consent to Florentino who was obsessed with her and didn't take responsibility for his own emotions. I also expected cholera to be a bigger factor haha, but I think th  book is more about "the time of" and not cholera. I think generally it's not my genre, I'm not a big fan of low stakes long form romance, but for those who love sustained longing you'd probably love this book (if the misogynoir and pedophilia don't turn you away.)

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ghost_thorns's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

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theraindiary's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0


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sara_o's review against another edition

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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

1.0

I really hated this book. I’m kind of baffled by all the love it gets. I get that “it’s about a different time”, but the rampant misogyny, racism, weird glorification of rape, a main character who bookends his life by dabbling in pedophilia, and explicitly grooming a young girl when he’s in his 70s, then essentially abandoning her, the stalking... ugh.  I just… hated it. 

I know that the writing was sometimes beautiful, but in other parts, was practically purple. There were some sex scenes where I was thinking “if I read this exact prose in a standard, mass market romance, I would say it’s schlock and completely overwrought.” (no shade to mass market romance novels. I would rather read 1000 of those than this book). 

I hated it. 

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bajammies's review against another edition

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Life is too short to allow the problematic parts in 2024

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brightface77's review against another edition

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

2.5

Being a classic I thought I would find some redeeming quality to it but I could not. Between the grooming of a child and then discarding her resulting in her suicide and the complete distain the main character has for everyone and everything except for his obsession, I had a heard time with it.

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stindex's review against another edition

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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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gabriella_'s review against another edition

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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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snowleopard4's review against another edition

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

3.25


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squidyinkydink's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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