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

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

109 reviews

burroesilvia's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

3.5

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erebus53's review against another edition

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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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danitza's review against another edition

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I recommended this book to my book club and feel bad not finishing but half way through and it’s so boring can’t even think about finishing the other half

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jacecar50's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

4.0

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anaodaniel'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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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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pollylumpy'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

I hated this book. The main characters are incredibly annoying, especially Florentino who is a monster. Every woman he met was the same character in different names, except for

America, the child he groomed and drove to suicide after taking advantage of.

Fermina is, at least, a nicer person and her story is way more interesting, but the themes of misogyny and the societal expectations of women are named but barely dealt with. She’s so absentminded too, it drives me insane.

The book runs around in circles and becomes extremely tiring to read, it is 100 pages too long, if I’m honest. It has zero romance, you feel nothing for the connection between Florentino and Fermina, which is funny considering García Márquez wrote this as a tribute to his parents.

Also not enough magical realism. :(

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