Reviews - Love in the Time of Cholera

Once you start hating Florentino Ariza, it becomes uncomfortable to finish the book.
In other books, as ASOIAF, the author´s goal is to make you feel disgusted with the character itself, but I doubt that the goal of Márquez was that with Florentino.

ali1311's review against another edition

2.5

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

This was all well and good until the main character became a pedophile right at the end. Ok, well it actually wasn't all well and good until then, and I found myself both bored and a little disturbed throughout. The writing is certainly good, but this book didn't grab me at any point and felt laborious. Maybe I'm just too woke and unable to root for a male main character who is the indirect reason that TWO women get murdered!! To be fair, I'm not convinced Marquez himself wants me to root for this couple, and while an interesting premise, it certainly made it hard to care about the characters.

nazarin's review against another edition

2.25

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

No amount of exquisite prose can convince me that Florentino - a master manipulator, rapist and pedophile - deserves his "happy ending". FERMINA DAZA DESERVED BETTER THAN THIS CREEPY OLD PSYCHO DISGUISED AS A LOVER BOY!!!!

cheesegoddess1's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

You should read Gabriel Garcia Márquez they said… saw this and picked it up. Didn’t research first. Gave it three stars only because I get what friends ,want Bout style of writing. The plot is not something I want to visit again.

Not sure if his other works read like this one. I struggled through last half. This is an incel’s book about love where no means yes, women throw themselves at any and all men and obsessing about someone your entire life in a mad unhealthy way is ok. Then there is this older men into wicked young girls thing. Normalizes pedophilia basically. Nope.

Gonna say that the it is of it’s time thing is not holding up for me. Wasted a lot of time trying to read when I should have passed.

Content Warnings

kjellouise's review against another edition

3.0

relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nishmas's review against another edition

3.0

I loved the writing, but I was lukewarm on this book as a whole. It took me a long time to get a grip on it, but I only cared about one of the characters and it got fucked up towards the end. (I'm not a fan of surprise!pedophilia.)

agathefrr's review against another edition

2.0

Malgré l’enthousiasme débordant avec lequel j’ai commencé ma lecture , je n’en sors pas entièrement satisfaite…

Beaucoup beaucoup trop long, décousu, et pardonnez moi mais indigne d’intérêt à mes yeux

Il y a de sublimes paragraphes sur l’amour et les relations entre les hommes et le femmes et sur le rapport à la mort
Mais ça ne vaut pas la peine de se coltiner les deux glandus pendant 400 pages

J’ai expédié la fin parce que je n’en pouvais plus …

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