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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This review contains spoilers!
I chose to read Love in the Time of Cholera in the time of my own romanceless historical pandemic, hoping the love story would ignite something in me. After reading the synopsis and following the novel's initial introduction of his character, I did not think I would care for Florentino Ariza and his love (re)proclamation at all. A lifetime allegiance of fidelity along with taking 600+ lovers? A confession of love while Fermina Daza's late husband was not even cold yet in his grave? I was not buying it. However, my opinion shifted as I followed Florentino's life after his graceless rejection. His passion was definite. Fermina Daza was written rather coldly in terms of her own attitude towards love, even when she was apparently her most in love. I felt her late husband to be the most honest of the three, or at least the most believable lover. I felt sad for Florentino's life of pining after a woman who would not really see him.
The writing was lyrical. I learned new vocabulary with this read, as well as how to stop reading when chapter structure was not so easy. To say the least, I did not enjoy the casual and, in my opinion unnecessary, pedophilic relationship between elderly Florentino and his teenage ward. To be honest, it soured my fairly positive regard for his character at the end and ruined much if not all of the magic his dedication towards love weaved throughout the story.
I chose to read Love in the Time of Cholera in the time of my own romanceless historical pandemic, hoping the love story would ignite something in me. After reading the synopsis and following the novel's initial introduction of his character, I did not think I would care for Florentino Ariza and his love (re)proclamation at all. A lifetime allegiance of fidelity along with taking 600+ lovers? A confession of love while Fermina Daza's late husband was not even cold yet in his grave? I was not buying it. However, my opinion shifted as I followed Florentino's life after his graceless rejection. His passion was definite. Fermina Daza was written rather coldly in terms of her own attitude towards love, even when she was apparently her most in love. I felt her late husband to be the most honest of the three, or at least the most believable lover. I felt sad for Florentino's life of pining after a woman who would not really see him.
The writing was lyrical. I learned new vocabulary with this read, as well as how to stop reading when chapter structure was not so easy. To say the least, I did not enjoy the casual and, in my opinion unnecessary, pedophilic relationship between elderly Florentino and his teenage ward. To be honest, it soured my fairly positive regard for his character at the end and ruined much if not all of the magic his dedication towards love weaved throughout the story.
I think this is the first time I am reviewing a book on this blog which I really did not like. And I really really wanted to like it. I watched the movie when it came out a few years ago and I really enjoyed it, but the book? Not so much. I don't know exactly why though. The language is beautiful (I have many beautiful quotes to share with you), but the story it just... I did not like it. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Marquez is the story of a man who when he was young fell in love with a girl. They have a passionate relationship through letters for a couple of years, but when her father finds out he gets furious and takes her on a journey away, so that she'll forget about the young man. They continue their romance through telegrams, but when she returns and finally sees him again she realizes she does not love him and she breaks it off. He however, continues to obsess over her. Stalk her. Think of her. While he sleeps with many other women, he resolves to always wait for her, certain that he will marry her one day. Oh, and did I mention that one of these other "women" is a 14-year-old girl whom he is a guardian for? That was just disgusting and wrong in so many ways.
The first 40 pages are a snore, but then the love story opens up and swallows you whole. Absolutely dazzling.
I know this author is supposed to be all that. But I'm not sure I see it. This book was significantly more interesting and easy to follow than A Thousand Years of Solitude, but eh. An interesting read, but I wasn't thrilled. And I'll be honest, it bothered me that the entire time I tried to figure out what country they were in, and of course you can't. The historian in me was frustrated.
Nice satire, it made me laugh out loud a couple of times that books have never made me do. Though halfway through I became bored and wished they would either get together or be forgotten. So it gets old really fast and things become so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore.
This book has been on my bit-at-a-time list for quite a while, and it felt like time to finish. It is so beautifully crafted, with the deceptive depth and light touch of a fable or a fairy tale - each small side character or incident a wry story-within-a-story that all adds up to a sum that is greater than its parts. Along the way he intricately details the setting without actually spending much time filling in the details, like a masterful watercolor.
Like Proust, but without the flowers and set in the Americas.
This book was incredibly well written. There were pages and pages of lovely poetic prose with everything described in detail, making it a pretty hefty and heavy book to get through.
I didn't know anything at all about the story before setting off, apart from what I thought I could pick out from the title of the book. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, which was probably for the better, as I found that it exceeded all my expectations.
Lot's of beautiful and true to life quotes to take away.
** spoiler **
The one thing I really didn't like though, was the relationship between Florentino and America towards the end of the book. I liked his strange, non-conventional profile as the lead male character up to that point, but that last bit was a bit too much for me.
I didn't know anything at all about the story before setting off, apart from what I thought I could pick out from the title of the book. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, which was probably for the better, as I found that it exceeded all my expectations.
Lot's of beautiful and true to life quotes to take away.
** spoiler **
The one thing I really didn't like though, was the relationship between Florentino and America towards the end of the book. I liked his strange, non-conventional profile as the lead male character up to that point, but that last bit was a bit too much for me.
Frankly speaking... this book was one of the longest ones i have read..after Ayn Rand.
But no doubt a classic, in the manner of expression, story-telling and characters. It took some time to get used to the ornamental manner of English used, which was typical to that era. But once you get the hang of it, the story totally absorbs you into the lives of Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. It's not a sweet run-of-the-mill romance , but takes you along a timespan of more than 50 years, when Florentino waits for Fermina to respond to his undying love for her, while she gets married, has children and grows old. Along this time, he meets multiples ladies, struggles with life and builds up a position in the society, while she's struggling with her domestic life.
The story is pretty bold for the time it was written in, with generous amount of eroticism. But you can make out, that it is a master's work of art and done aesthetically. There are some guest appearances made by the Cholera outbreak ;-) , but didn't quite get the hang of it being a major part of the story.
Especially since these days, I have this particular inclination towards reading classics, I'm glad to have added this book in my Read collection.
But no doubt a classic, in the manner of expression, story-telling and characters. It took some time to get used to the ornamental manner of English used, which was typical to that era. But once you get the hang of it, the story totally absorbs you into the lives of Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. It's not a sweet run-of-the-mill romance , but takes you along a timespan of more than 50 years, when Florentino waits for Fermina to respond to his undying love for her, while she gets married, has children and grows old. Along this time, he meets multiples ladies, struggles with life and builds up a position in the society, while she's struggling with her domestic life.
The story is pretty bold for the time it was written in, with generous amount of eroticism. But you can make out, that it is a master's work of art and done aesthetically. There are some guest appearances made by the Cholera outbreak ;-) , but didn't quite get the hang of it being a major part of the story.
Especially since these days, I have this particular inclination towards reading classics, I'm glad to have added this book in my Read collection.
Disfruté muchísimo este libro más que por la historia, por la forma en la que escribe Gabriel García Marquez, en serio me impresionó demasiado como describía cualquier suceso o acción y yo pensaba "a mi jamás se me hubiera ocurrido decribirlo de esta forma o comparar esto con aquello" y de una manera tan detallada, pero al final siempre funcionaba. Y sobre la historia en si, es un triángulo amoroso de toda una vida con un final muy bonito y que todo el tiempo se sintió muy real.