Garcia Marquez can write. No doubt about it. The man is a marvel. I'd be puddling along, reading of Fermina Daza, and her adolescent passion (and his for her) of Florentino Ariza, or of her married life with Juvenal Urbino when I'd be swept away by a phrase or image, or the smell of bitter almonds. REmarkable. Poignant. Humorus. Heartbreaking. So much like life. The unfolding of love after youth has faded to no more than a whisper was an unexpected gift -- we can't all be in our twenties forever, no matter what our inner clock thinks.


It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.

Love in the Time of Cholera / 0-14-011990-6

On the face of it, Love in the Time of Cholera would seem to be the biographical telling of the life of a man who experiences every type of love there is - passionate love, quiet love, unrequited love, angry love, insane love, young love, old love, adulterous love, and thousands of other flavors of love.

The main character, Florentino, seduces and is seduced by thousands of women and - taken literally - no, this is not a great guy. His adulterous affairs end messily, in one case with the murder of the unfortunate woman, and he grieves less for her than he worries for his own safety. Another affair ends after the jealous other man destroys all the furniture in the lady's house - Florentino finds that without the sumptuous furnishings, he is no longer attracted to the poor lady. He seduces his underage ward, and then leaves her distraught and emotionally abused when his 'life love' is suddenly widowed. Florentino is a breezy wind, blowing through women's' lives quickly and forgettably.

Yet I do not believe this tale is meant to be taken literally. It is a metaphor for every possible flavor of love. One man experiences all these loves in a way that a real human never could - who has the time or energy? - in order to provide a "control group" if you will for us to observe his responses in each situation. His selfishness and self-delusion are exaggerated here that we may see our own self-delusions in love. We would not be as cruel or as heartless as Florentino can sometimes be, but we CAN be cruel and heartless in smaller, similar ways.

I'm rather shocked by the fanfare for this novel. The sexual escapades were nauseating, and I vomited in my mouth a little when I read about the pedophilia, which Marquez excuses with a shrug of the shoulders and a wave of the hand. And while the idea of unrequited love can be noble, and the thought of seniors feeling giddy again is sweet, there was nothing of nobility, and little sweetness in this book. Love conquers all? Hardly. Fermina Daza was correct the majority of her life; stay away from Florentino Ariza. Don't waste your precious time and degrade your sense of morality in the process.

I admit I never finished this book. After I didn't enjoy the beginning, I made myself read 50 more pages. I still didn't enjoy it, so I quit. The reviews say it is the greatest love story of all time, so I was expecting this exciting love story. For the part I read, it was very slow moving and took itself much too seriously. A big disappointment.

Well, this will be the first and last time I ever read anything with the label 'Oprah's Book Club' on it. To think I actually thought this would be a depressingly romantic novel. Well, it only took me about half a year to realise that this was one of the most painful reads I've ever experienced. I don't understand the appeal, now that I have finally completed it. I wanted heartbreaking anguish, torturous characters. But what I got was a mopey stalker type novel, who's main character reaches pedophile levels. And we were supposed to feel sorry for him?

The writing is stuffy and laborous and would not have been so utterly boring if the actual story was a bit more interesting. I connected with none of the characters and I barely felt the passing of 50 years in the novel. It seemed rushed, but at the same time, I felt as if the book would never end.

It all seemed completely unrealistic to me and while I can understand how someone would find this book appealing and romantic, It had the opposite effect for me.