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Gabriel García Márquez: Love In The Time Of Cholera
- Thread starter ceb_ceb
- Start date
Laughingman
New Member
I would say ariza developes a monomania, an obession/fixation on Daza caused by their rather brief encounters... but that seems obvious, so im pretty sure i'm not answering your question properly, a little more specific please?
SFG75
Well-Known Member
Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Love in the time of Cholera
Just finished this book the other night. I have to say that I really enjoyed the writing style of this book and the story that was told. Florentino declaring his love for the dead husband's wife made for an interesting start to say the least. :lol: I will say that Florentino came off as perhaps the most selfish and cowardly lead character I've read about in a long time. I think he is neck and neck with Nabokov's Humbert, but maybe beats him by a chin when it comes to moral qualities. The old man is responsible for two deaths of lovers in the book and he comes across as a stunted lover who never grew up after his young love interest in Ms. Daza. The mentioning of politics and the humorous account of Dr. Urbino's parrot made me chuckle a bit. Marquez did a masterful job of writing about the characters and describing how age limited them in the ensuing years. Definitely a book to check out, a future classic.
Any thoughts on this book?
Just finished this book the other night. I have to say that I really enjoyed the writing style of this book and the story that was told. Florentino declaring his love for the dead husband's wife made for an interesting start to say the least. :lol: I will say that Florentino came off as perhaps the most selfish and cowardly lead character I've read about in a long time. I think he is neck and neck with Nabokov's Humbert, but maybe beats him by a chin when it comes to moral qualities. The old man is responsible for two deaths of lovers in the book and he comes across as a stunted lover who never grew up after his young love interest in Ms. Daza. The mentioning of politics and the humorous account of Dr. Urbino's parrot made me chuckle a bit. Marquez did a masterful job of writing about the characters and describing how age limited them in the ensuing years. Definitely a book to check out, a future classic.
Any thoughts on this book?
SFG75
Well-Known Member
Quite the interesting merging of threads.
Oh, that is tough. Yep, definitely hard to figure that one out. Must not have been much. He was just gravely ill, and soon forgot about her when she went on her trip across the mountains. It wasn't like he tried to keep tabs with her through the company messengers and shadow her in public when she was married. Yeah, not much of an effect, most definitely.
I haven't read other books by my Marquez, I will definitely keep my eyes peeled though. Could some of the pages about Florentino's vast conquests been shortened? Perhaps so, maybe the author wanted the reader to fully understand Florentino's base nature and how even with that fault, he still loved Daza. To me, this is best explained by their boat ride together at the end of the book and how he feels pained when she won't allow him to kiss her on the cheek and how she goes about talking depressingly about age. I absolutely loved the ending of the book. For the first time really, Florentino was the commander of his life and Ms. Daza. The "We'll sail forever" comment is what he should've said years ago had he had the initiative and wasn't so inhibited. There is also a strong element of bravery in how Marquez ended the book. It reminded me a lot of Woolf's To the Lighthouse where at the very end, a story is told of how resolutely, father stepping onto the rock at the lighthouse is noble, brave, and daring like McCarthur walking on the sand of the Phillipines. It's a symbolic reference to stoically marching forward in the face of impending death.
Oh, that is tough. Yep, definitely hard to figure that one out. Must not have been much. He was just gravely ill, and soon forgot about her when she went on her trip across the mountains. It wasn't like he tried to keep tabs with her through the company messengers and shadow her in public when she was married. Yeah, not much of an effect, most definitely.
I haven't read other books by my Marquez, I will definitely keep my eyes peeled though. Could some of the pages about Florentino's vast conquests been shortened? Perhaps so, maybe the author wanted the reader to fully understand Florentino's base nature and how even with that fault, he still loved Daza. To me, this is best explained by their boat ride together at the end of the book and how he feels pained when she won't allow him to kiss her on the cheek and how she goes about talking depressingly about age. I absolutely loved the ending of the book. For the first time really, Florentino was the commander of his life and Ms. Daza. The "We'll sail forever" comment is what he should've said years ago had he had the initiative and wasn't so inhibited. There is also a strong element of bravery in how Marquez ended the book. It reminded me a lot of Woolf's To the Lighthouse where at the very end, a story is told of how resolutely, father stepping onto the rock at the lighthouse is noble, brave, and daring like McCarthur walking on the sand of the Phillipines. It's a symbolic reference to stoically marching forward in the face of impending death.
MsBlueEyzz
Member
I struggled to finish the book. It is not necessarily one I would recommend to anyone, which is rare for me. Normally I can recommend books to certain people, but this one I would not necessarily recommend to anyone I know.
Libra
Active Member
Have you read any of his other ones?
MsBlueEyzz
Member
No, I haven't. Are they better than this one? I kind of got turned away from him due to this book.
Libra
Active Member
Yes,they are much better.
Chronicles of a Death Foretold is one of my favorites,and also A Hundred Years of Solitude.
We have some good reviews in here,do a search to see what other members think.
MsBlueEyzz
Member
Thank you! I will add those to my list of what to read soon
I always am open to suggestions.
Abecedarius
New Member
I am almost through this one. So far I am really enjoying it; beautiful, comic and tragic. I will write a review when I have finished.
nwee
Member
so I am not alone about "Love in the time of Cholera". Though well written, it is sometimes long-winding & at the end of book I was left wondering what it was all about. Somehow or the other this book has postponed me from picking up hundred years, which is in my bookrack already for the last 2-3 years. It is not as if it is a bad book - the question I had on my mind was with so many unread classics still around why did I have to go through the rigmorale of "love inthe time of cholera"....
jaybe
Member
Did you give up on it or die of boredom?
SFG75
Well-Known Member
Bovine_Belle
Member
I didn't find it romantic at all, unless you are referring to Fermina and Urbino's marriage, which was long and (mostly) happy. Imho, Florentino was just a dirty pervert.