Gabriel García Márquez: Love In The Time Of Cholera

[SFG75]

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.

Florentino was a reprehensible person after the the failed courting effort. What caps it off for me, is the death of the young woman that he was involved in, you could definitely make the case that he was culpable in her death. To me, he made self-destructive choices, but still loved the one he couldn't have. Most people move on or channel that kind of frustration into a more productive way.

 

[Bovine_Belle]

Florentino was a reprehensible person after the the failed courting effort. What caps it off for me, is the death of the young woman that he was involved in, you could definitely make the case that he was culpable in her death. To me, he made self-destructive choices, but still loved the one he couldn't have. Most people move on or channel that kind of frustration into a more productive way.

See I didn't feel that Florentino loved Fermina. Can you really fall completely, endlessly, in love with someone that you've never spoken with or even been introduced to? I think it possible that he fell in love with the idea of Fermina, but not the person. I also doubt that Fermina would want to associate with him if she knew what he was really like in his treatment of America and, as you mentioned, Olympia - plus the possibility of getting an STD from someone who slept around so much (although that could just be my modern sensibilities.)

 

[SFG75]

I like the idea of his falling in love with the idea of her. He definitely wanted to go back to a simpler time that he remembered somewhat fondly. It was a safe place, even if it was an aborted ideal. Perhaps that is what made it all the more glamorous in his mind's eye.