What they say
Florentino Ariza has never forgotten his first love. He has waited nearly a lifetime in silence since his beloved Fermina married another man. No woman can replace her in his heart. But now her husband is dead. Finally – after fifty-one years, nine months and four days – Florentino has another chance to declare his eternal passion and win her back. Will love that has survived half a century remain unrequited?
What I say
Love in the Time of Cholera is a gripping tale that focuses on the shortcomings of both conventional marriage and blindly idealised romantic obsession with great humour and highly evocative prose. In Fermina Daza, Marquez creates the kind of strong female character around which a number of his books are centred, and her fortitude is a counterpoint to some of the more extravagent behaviour of Florentino Ariza. The novel’s theme of love as an illness is juxtaposed nicely with the societal ills of civil unrest and inequality that take place in the background of Ariza’s lifelong passion.
This is an excellent read and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
Alan Housden
Available in Lewisham Libraries
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Filed under: Book review, Culture, Latin America, Romance Tagged: | Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Marquez is one hell of a writer, i discovered when i read Memories of My Melancholy Whores. He sure has a way with words – truly a literary guru.