Customer Reviews

Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)

5 star:		(164)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera is an epic love story, notable as much for its romanticism as for its unflinching gaze towards the vagaries of love's many faces. For those who scoff at or discard the literary love story, paradoxically, this is the book for you. Set in the seductive Caribbean during the mid-nineteenth century, Marquez's novel explores love in all its manifestations, from the vertigo of idolatry to the dirty dishes of marriage, and his portraits resonate exquisitely for anyone who has nursed this human inkling. Marquez never cheapens love nor falsifies it; on the contrary, he sees love's glory, or lack thereof, with an unerring eye. His portrait of marriage between his two protagonists, Dr. Juvenal Urbino and Fermina Daza, includes such observations such as "The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast." Interestingly, Marquez reveals an astute viewpoint towards the female predicament in marriage: Fermina Daza realizes she is nothing more to her husband than "a deluxe servant;" she feels she is trapped in his "holy service." Nor is Marquez oblivious to the bland atrocities committed by a husband: Dr. Juvenal Urbino proclaims meals prepared "without love;" he never deigns to pick anything up, turn out a light, or close a door. Marquez is a man who observes without bias the diurnal stalemate of a marriage lived daily. He concludes that "nothing in this world was more difficult than love." Marquez does not limit himself to the domestic pitfalls of marriage. Florentino Ariza, another man who figures prominently in this incognito Caribbean city, has loved Fermina Daza inexorably for fifty-three years, seven months, and eleven days. His love is fervent and never falters. Yet, before one chalks his devotion to an unlikely romanticism, the love Florentino Ariza fosters towards Fermina Daza is not idealized. Notwithstanding the hundreds of women he frenetically possesses during his admirable wait for Fermina Daza's widowhood, he is hardly a hero of unblemished character. At a very advanced age, he exploits his position as guardian of a 14-year old girl for physical love. Ultimately, when Florentino Ariza is granted the holy audience of Fermina Daza, he abandons the girl, who commits suicide. Towards the novel's conclusion, Florentino Ariza is very old, a victim of festering bed sores and unfettered constipation. Marquez's omniscient eye (or nose) describes the stench of the two elderly lovers as a "henhouse." Despite, or perhaps because of, these prosaic details, the reader does not doubt the authenticity of the feelings presented. Love, in Marquez's lush, grand novel, is made truer because of, not despite, its human frailties. Would also recommend the book ------THE WOMAN WHO CUT OFF HER LEG by Slavin for a FUNNY read that's nothing like this one.

This book is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. Every page is like poetry.

Takes patience at first of course, but definitely worth it.

I love this book. Its an amazing love story in a great colonial setting. The writing always as spected from Gabriel García Maquez.

I begin with an admitted bias as Márquez is my favourite author.

This was an absolutely awesome read! This epic love story that spans decades. It's impossible to capture it's brilliance and to really express what it is about. In today's time and age, 'love story' carries a connotation that isn't really fitting for this book, but I hope 'epic' captures this.

What's most brilliant about Márquez is how he vividly captures the imagination and leads you into this world, where you feel that you are living the lives of the characters and you learn about them. In this manner, you also learn a lot about your own life and human nature in general, which makes his work powerful.

Furthermore, in describing these lives from mundane details to the extraordinary, he weaves in a subtle social commentary regarding such diverse topics as gender relations, race, class, politics. The thing that strikes me the most about this is that he does this all without becoming 'preachy' but in the subtlest fashion.

It leaves you with a sense of the power of love, a love that is currently not in fashion, but also with the sense that the Caribbean and Latin American in general is constantly ravaged by war, disease, and corruption that continues unabated for almost a century.

This book came highly recommended to me by two friends, whose opinions I respect. I just couldn't get into it. And I tried. I kept hoping it would get better and I would actually CARE what happened to the characters. I found Florentino Ariza to be irritating and whiny. I quit reading a little more than halfway through the book. I just couldn't finish it.

I had wanted to read this book for a long time, and when our bookclub choose it, I dove in. I found it only mildly interesting and entertaining. The parrot scence was amusing but I was soon too bored to continue. Every time I picked it up I wanted to put it down. The writing style is awkward and cumbersome, bogged down with excessive detail. I simply found nothing early on in this book to make me want to read further. Books like this kill my appetite for reading award-winners. I admit I didn't read very far, but my philosophy is that reading should be enjoyable and the book should capture my attention. It shouldn't be like trying to get yourself to clean your room. I was not happy with this selection at all.

This book is the worst type of book; it starts brilliantly, with the premise and smell of unrequited love, but then it just dies. I felt such relief at finishing, not because- thank God- I know "what happens" but because in good conscience I can now put it away and not have that hankering orange cover staring up at me from my bedstand. I do not mean to suggest that it is a bad book. It is not. But it fails to deliver on its opening promise. And, we never get to know the characters in any capacity greater than their actions. I have no idea if I like or dislike any of the three main characters. In fact, I don't think I care because I couldn't recognize them walking down the street. I felt betrayed by this book. Why couldn't it have been better?

Filled with superfluous details, meant to paint a picture, but in the end only getting in the way. Dialog is for the most part non-existent, so beware when you make the 300+ page treck. The problem with this book is first and foremost, many episodes are unconvincing, such as Florentino loosing his virginity to a stranger in the dark on the ship. Yeh right! And even worse not being able to recognize her the next day. Not even being able to remember her scent?! I would have stop reading then had it not been for the 15 skins I shelled out (based on the outside cover reviews). Also for an artist/poet who read romantic fiction, he seemed to enjoy screwing without any intimacy. (The author cannot seem to write about it with much intimacy either, trying to sound literate but ending up sounding only vulgar). What turned me off is when he deflowered the 14 year old girl. Most readers, overlook this fact when they weep at the end. I guess he's only human, but then, so is she. If Bill Clinton were to carry on as such, these same readers would have his head. We never really get into either Florentino or Fermina's head. We never really know how Fermina makes him feel, or what it is about her that drives him. All we know is that he vomits a lot. We don't even know what is written in the LETTERS!!! Perhaps the author is incapable of writing a love letter. This is a very superficial book with many characters we will never care about. It is sad towards the end. "I remained a virgin for you". What did this mean? He remained a virgin in his soul? Oooh, heavy! (But then, he says it so convincingly, it had to have meant something!) The only redeeming quality is knowing that eventually we are all going to smell like vinegar. And in the words of BTO, "Any love is good love, so I took what I could get.." Words to live by.

I sit here and wonder, is there something wrong with me, or all the other people? Where are all those awesome reviews coming from? Did people really love this story so much, or are they just "hype followers" who cannot think for themselves. So many give this book great reviews, but I just don't understand why. It's VERY SLOW and way too descriptive,not to mention unrealistic. If books are usually better than movies, then I definitely don't want to see this movie.

I guess maybe I'm just not cultured enough, but I found this book to be incredibly boring. I picked it up because it had an intriguing title and plot summary, but I could not get into it.

There was barely a plot or dialogue; it just seemed to be random events from the main characters' lives (which I suppose did slowly move the plot along). There was not any love in it at all - just Florentino's obsession with Fermina.

I was left wondering what all the fuss is about and why there are so many 5-star reviews praising this book. I'd give it no stars but Amazon won't let me.