Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Synopsis

Set in an unnamed Caribbean seaport, Garcia Marquez’s extraordinary Love in the Time of Cholera (1988) relates one of literature’s most remarkable stories of unrequited love. “This shining and heartbreaking novel,” Thomas Pynchon wrote in The New York Times Book Review, is one of those few rare works “that can even return our worn souls to us.”

Mary Wesley on Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera:

“This is the funniest, most moving book I have read and re-read. Each reading discovers fresh delights, a true classic. Garcia Marquez is the greatest South American writer who doesn’t hesitate to write of the spiritual and mundane in the same paragraph.”

Review:
It started out slow for about the first 100 pages. But then it started to pick up speed. By the last 150 pages it was a constant page-turner. It’s a story about love. I’d love to go in detail about it, but that would give away the plot. It was a beautiful story. I enjoy Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s tales. This is the third book I’ve read by him. It basically says that love comes in two forms. There’s lovesickness that is akin to cholera. A feverish, burning, mad love that is written my romantic poets. Then there’s the stable kind of love formed in marriage and daily routine. That’s all I can say about it. To say more would give away this beautiful tale.

But I would not wait my entire life for the love that escaped me. Never. If it escaped me, it was not meant to be. No point into preserving it like in a museum to be admired secretly and whenever one felt like it. No, there’s no point in harboring unrequited love. Once it’s over, it stays over for me. I do not hold any candles for any past suitor in my life. I move on. I always do. Onto new loves and into new possibilities. There’s no point in holding on to the past for the mere chance of it one day becoming requited, no matter how many years it would take. That’s just ridiculous. I don’t know why people hold on to past loves. Let them go and embrace new ones, better ones. Better than you can have imagined. Don’t be so obstinate when it comes to love. Choose wisely and carefully. If the person rejects you, forget him or her as his or her loss. Usually they were not worth your affections in the first place. And you can always replace them with someone more worthy. Always more worthy.

I guess in this story he could never find anyone to equal her or surpass her. That’s very sad.

The ending was bittersweet. The luckiest person in the book I think is Fermina Daza. Lucky woman. Unlucky in some ways. But very lucky in most

Which man would you marry? The Doctor who was highly esteemed and of high social ranking and wealth or the man who wrote you endless love letters and revolved his life around you and the life you two can have? The man who wrote you wasn’t as noble but had the potential to become someone great.

Who would you marry?

I’d marry the one whom I loved the most. They are both good catches. I couldn’t go wrong either way. ROFLMAO. Either or would do. That’s a hard decision

A great read. Five out of five stars.

Tags: book review, books, gabriel garcia marquez, love in the time of cholera