Love In Time of Cholera
Love in The Time of Cholera
The Entertainment Critic Book Review, By James Myers
LOVE IN TIME OF CHOLERA
By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Published by Vintage Books, a Division of Random House
Publication Date: Original Date was 1998, First Vintage International Edition, Oct 2003
Price: $14.95
348 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-307-38973-2
Five Star Rating *****
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
BELIEVED TO BE ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S GREATEST AUTHORS
OPRAH’S BOOK OF THE MONTH
NY TIMES BEST SELLER
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
“Fermina,” he said, I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love.”
Fermina Diaz would have thought she was facing a madman if she had not had reason to believe that at the moment Florentino Aqriza was inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Her first impulse was to curse him for profaning the house when the body of her husband was still warm in the grave. But the dignity of her fury held her back. “Get out of here,” she said. And don’t show your face again for the years of life that are left to you.” She opened the street door, which she had begun to close, and concluded:
“And I hope there are very few of them.”
…Only then did she realize, that she had slept a long time without dying, sobbing in her sleep, and that while she slept, sobbing, she had thought more about Florentino Ariza than about her dead husband.”
This is a great book that explores the theme of long-suffering, unrequited love. The novel begins as Juvenal Urbino comes upon the fallen body of his chess partner, Jeremiah de Saint-Amour. Jeremiah has killed himself to avoid old age. Urbino falls to his death attempting to retrieve a parrot. He leaves behind his widow, Florentino Ariza. Through the continual use of flashbacks throughout the book, we learn that Florentino had a puppy love type of affair with Fermina. She considers him to be immature. Florentino is crushed and truly never gets over the breakup. He vows to love her forever, but to console himself, he has 662 affairs. Florentino’s father arranges her marriage to Urbino. After Urbino’s death, Florentino and Fermino begin to correspond. Their correspondence becomes more meaningful. Eventually, they meet and shipboard together, and raise the flag of cholera. This means they cannot return home, neatly avoiding a scandal and making it possible so, they can never be apart again.
The book is lyrical, and you can feel the pain Florentino goes through during his years apart from her. The story is told in a narrative method and relies on flashbacks to move the story and increase the intrigue. It is a love story, lasting over 50 years, told with surprising power and beauty. The prose in this novel is as beautiful as any I’ve ever read. It is understandable why Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the Nobel Prize.Read full review
