Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Florentino’s Fierce Love for Fermina

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was all everyone was talking about when this book came out, so I was happy to have the opportunity to read it. It’s a love story, with a twist of obsession and a hint of loco. Florentino falls madly, deeply in love with Fermina. She shares his passion, but their love is not to be.  She ends up marrying a nice local doctor.  Fermina’s family is happy, the good doctor is happy, and Fermina, well she’s good with it too.  Florentino, however, is devastated.  Fermina was THE one for him. 

Florentino doesn’t know what to do.  Soon, he finds a way of handling his loss. Florentino buries his sorrows between the bedroom sheets—many, many sheets.  In an effort to forget one woman, he sleeps with hundreds. He becomes a man-whore. Everyone deals with problems in their own way.

Mucho, mucho years later life gives him one more opportunity. Undaunted by the passage of time and the venereal diseases he may or may not have picked up, he tries to rekindle his love with Fermina.  I had a love/hate relationship with this book.  I wasn’t too fond of Florentino. Could you tell? Personally, I thought Florentino could use a good therapist. But I did love Garcia Marquez’s writing style. His witty prose was amusing, almost lyrical at times.  I’m still undecided if it made up for the plot. 

…men blossomed in a kind of autumnal youth, they seemed more dignified with their first gray hairs, they became witty and seductive, above all in the eyes of young women, while their withered wives had to clutch at their arms so as not to trip over their own shadows.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage Books.  A Division of Random House, Inc., 1988), 256.

I do not believe in God, but I am afraid of Him.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage Books.  A Division of Random House, Inc., 1988), 304.

He was a perfect husband; he never picked up anything from the floor, or turned out a light, or closed a door.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage Books.  A Division of Random House, Inc., 1988), 222.

By the time she finished unburdening herself, someone had turned off the moon.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage Books.  A Division of Random House, Inc., 1988), 329.

I received Love in the Time of Cholera in the mail through a book pyramid scheme.  I’m not usually one to be suckered into things like this, because usually I don’t get anything. And in reality I didn’t.  The details are a little fuzzy now, but the idea was to send one book of your choosing to the next person on a list.  Then you put your name on top of the list and toss in some friends’ names and voila, you receive six books.  Something like that.  Like I said, I would normally never do such a thing, but we were talking about books here.  I was imagining all the new treasures I would get.  I was delirious with delight.  Sign me up! 

Now there was waiting game, and slowly but surely everyone at work got books in the mail!  Woo Hoo!  My turn was coming; I could feel the anticipation zapping through my veins. I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And NOTHING came.  Then one day, I opened my mailbox and there it was!  There was a book waiting for me!!  It was Love in the Time of Cholera. I felt like I was on top of the world.  I got a book! 

My feeling of being duped by a pyramid scheme transformed into vindication. It was a great feeling—until…I found out it was a fake.  It turns out, that the book I received was a pity present.  My sweet sister saw I was getting the shaft and felt sorry for me, so she sent the book anonymously.  I guess I still felt a little let down that the pyramid did not work for me. In reality, though, such a nice gesture is better than any book I could have received!  Thanks, Denise.

Happy reading!

Annette