Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: A masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful, endearing and touching novel. Marquez's style is rich, verdant and a joy to read as he traces a tale of love over the lifetimes of the main protagonists. I would say this is unmissable and an essential read.Book Review: A good read, but not exactly classic Garcia Marquez
Summary: 4 Stars
For fans of literature in general, rather than Garcia Marquez fans, this is probably a favourite. What Garcia Marquez excels in writing is tragedy, stories that are sodden with grief and through which characters trace a regretful and painful course. Love in the Time of Cholera is probably his least characteristic novel, since there is light at the end of its tunnel; this is probably what makes this novel digestible to people who might find the rest of his novels 'too heavy'. Set, as usual, in the civil war-racked aftermath of the liberation of South America from the Spanish, the novel charts the career of an unrequited lover whose personal history is intertwined with the fortunes of the riverboats that begin to penetrate into the interior of the jungular continent. Whilst this might be Garcia Marquez's most populist novel, it is probably the one that leaves him most open to charges of mysoginy, with the central female character being the source of the protagonist's deep and profound misery. Nevertheless, the tale is a good one, and the portrayal of women is not all negative. Anyone who has experienced misfortune in love, or unrequited affection, will find much sympathy in this novel, and, since that encompasses more or less all of us at some stage, this is a story that reaches out to many. A very good read, especially if you want to experience the power and magnificence of Garcia Marquez's writing without his archetypal 'sad endings'.Book Review: A fantastic description of unending love
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was recommended to me and I found that it has now become my favourite book ever! The way the author empathizes with each character shows a depth of observation in the human pysche that few others seem able to achieve.For those that 'have been there' this will touch a nerve and for those who haven't will ask 'why haven't I ?'.The book is one that will stay with you for ever,and it's one and only downside is that any other books you might read subsequently will always seem 'good' but 'not quite good enough.Book Review: Yawnsworthy
Summary: 1 Stars
I really wanted to like this book as I do enjoy reading period romantic novels (occasionally) but I found it totally boring. I did immerse myself in it and found myself skim reading the pages to get to the end of it. It dragged on and on and I found it hard to keep awake. It's difficult to enjoy a book where you do not sympathise with any of the lead characters, especially Florentino, who's a glorified stalker and bedhopper of women less than half his age. Instead of sympathising with him, I wanted to shake him violently (which was not the desired emotion by the author I'm sure). I was not disappointed when I came to the end of this. I was disappointed that I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped to. In fact not at all.Book Review: Obsession in a sultry climate
Summary: 5 Stars
"Fermina, I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love." Thus does Florentino Ariza lay bare his heart to Fermina Daza after - by the former's exact count - 51 years, 9 months, and 4 days of yearning.LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA tells of lifelong relationships and a lifelong obsession. Though the book doesn't indicate a time and locale for the storyline, it apparently takes place in a Colombian coastal town between, say, 1890 and 1950. During that period, Ariza's two opportunities to win the love of Fermina are separated by the latter's 50-year marriage to Dr. Juvenal Urbino.
I must say up front that I think this novel will be better appreciated by female readers. However, I'm giving it 5 stars, not because my testosterone level is necessarily low, but because I myself enjoy stringing words together, and author Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez is a master par excellence of that talent. I especially liked his technique of stating a relatively simple fact, and then telling in glorious detail how it got that way. For instance, within the first few pages he relates that Urbino's talking parrot escaped to the backyard mango tree, then dedicates 5 full pages of text to the background of the calamity. And, after Daza makes the statement that heads this review, the next 225 pages to the paths the three principal characters travel to arrive at that point. Throughout the narrative, Gabriel's prose is lush, flowery, and richly detailed, and credit must be given to the translator, Edith Grossman.
The vast majority of the text is devoted to the Urbinal-Daza marriage, which, I suspect, follows the same evolutionary course as many others in real life, and a number of other, more transient or transitional love relationships. Regarding the bonds that tie a man and woman together, I venture that M?rquez is a wise observer, as indicated by the following excerpts:
"After their first encounters they had both lost awareness of their ages, and they treated each other with the familiarity of a husband and wife who had hidden so many things in this life that there was almost nothing left for them to say to each other."
And an observation by Daza: "It is incredible how one can be happy for so many years in the midst of so many squabbles, so many problems ... and not really know if it was love or not."
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA is the splendid creation of one of the twentieth century's most gifted writers.