Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Love in the Time of Cholera

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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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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lizzanator's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

1.0

It was difficult to find any redeemable aspects of this book as it glorifies rape, pedophilia, and stalking behaviors. None of the main characters are likeable and I can't say that I'm glad that they ended up together. I kept reading, hoping that there would be some character development or recognition of the stalking-like behavior of the main character, but nope. We're apparently supposed to celebrate that and be happy for them.

Content Warnings