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July 23
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New comment on Emily's review of
Love in the Time of Cholera
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Aimee
read and liked
Emily's
review of Love in the Time of Cholera:
"I read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez because of John Cusack. It’s no secret that I have a weakness for the man. Between him and Gilbert Blythe, I’m likely to remain single for my entire life, because I’ll be searching fo...more
I read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez because of John Cusack. It’s no secret that I have a weakness for the man. Between him and Gilbert Blythe, I’m likely to remain single for my entire life, because I’ll be searching for the combination of the two of them for eternity. I've started reading this book at least half a dozen times. This last time it was selected for the HBC ... Hersday Book Club. So I had to keep going this time.
Much like my quest for the perfect cross between John Cusack and Gilbert Blythe, Love in the Time of Cholera is a tale of unrequited love. Florentino Ariza falls madly in love with Fermina Daza as a teenager, and worships her mercilessly from afar. When Florentino finally gets the courage to contact her, she accepts his attentions, and they begin a letter-writing affair with one another. When Fermina’s father finds out about their correspondence, he sends her to go live with cousins, and Florentino is heartbroken. When Fermina returns, she rebuffs Florentino, chalks up her affection for Florentino to a childhood crush, and is soon married to Juvenal Urbino, a young doctor. Throughout the years, Juvenal and Fermina have their triumphs and their disappointments, and through it all Florentino watches and waits patiently for Juvenal’s death, so he can reclaim his one true love. The onset of the novel is Juvenal’s death, and then the chapters that follow detail the events leading up to the doctor’s death.
On to the scoring … a side note – the scoring this time is unapologetically FILLED with spoilers. Continue at your own risk.
** Florentino is creepy – maybe it’s because I am jaded, but he is obsessed and not in love – Minus 4
** Chapter length ... I’ve been over the importance of this factor many many times - - but they’re flat out ridiculous in this book. 350 pages and 6 or 7 chapters. UGH … cause it’s so terrible to have chapters in a book - Minus 3
** Beautiful narrative. The story flows nicely and you can feel the Caribbean town in the descriptions – Plus 4
** Juvenal seems to be a genuine person who loves his wife unconditionally. – Plus 3
** Juvenal has an affair, which makes him imperfect, and I appreciated that. Compared to Florentino’s constant reckless anonymous sex, I had a hard time not liking Juvenal – Plus 2
** I have no sympathy for Florentino living with unrequited love for decades. He’s sleazy. And reminds me of a stalker. – Minus 3
** Sara Noriega – one of Florentino’s lovers needs a pacifier in her mouth to have an orgasm. And she keeps them on the bed post - Plus 2 … cause a freaky kink is always appreciated
** “It is as if he were not a person but only a shadow.” – This are Fermina's thoughts on why she cannot love Florentino – Plus 3, I totally agree with this statement. He’s a shadow of a person, and I have a hard time having sympathy for him.
** I was so happy that Fermina originally rebuffs Florentino at the funeral. So inappropriate. I’m biased in this regard having had people offer to buy my grandmother’s house during her wake, something else so totally inappropriate. – Plus 5
** When Juvenal dies, Florentino is in his late 60s (roughly) and sleeping with a teenage girl … who he is guardian of in the eyes of the state. How am I supposed to like this guy? How am I supposed to feel bad for him that he’s been living with unrequited love for 50 years?? He just makes me feel ICKY! Add to the fact that she kills herself after Florentino leaves her for Fermina … he’s such an unlikable bastard! – Minus 10
** The first time that Florentino and Fermina are together, he’s got some ED action. It was great. It was justice. – Plus 3
** Fermina prepares a dish on the river boat called Eggplant al Amor. Loved it. I’m totally going to copy her the next time I make eggplant. – Plus 2
** Always referring to the characters by first and last name was kind of annoying. – Minus 2
Plus 2 – Overall, it was a good book. The narrative was beautiful, and the descriptions were phenomenal. But I had a really hard time reading the book simply because the Florentino was such a scumbag. If not for the HBC, I would have quit despite the lyrical beauty....less
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Aimee
read and liked
Liz's
review of Love in the Time of Cholera:
"I feel suspicious about the fact that I didn't fall for this book the way Florentino Ariza fell for Fermina Daza. I am compelled to blame my lack of appreciation on poor reader comprehension rather than GGM'S writing, because only one of us won the n...more
I feel suspicious about the fact that I didn't fall for this book the way Florentino Ariza fell for Fermina Daza. I am compelled to blame my lack of appreciation on poor reader comprehension rather than GGM'S writing, because only one of us won the nobel prize and I'm pretty sure it wasn't me. However, I'm no idiot either, so I'll at least take the liberty to explain my grievances:
1. As a synesthete, I found Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza's names to be WAY too similar. They look the same; I kept getting them mixed up! I think it was unecessary to pick the two most F, vowel, R, N and Z laden names ever for use in this one story.
2. The narrator kept making very definitive, bold claims that 3 pages later turned out to be completely untrue. For example (not real quotes) "This particular bed-fellow was the closest thing to love that Florentino Ariza ever experienced apart from Fermina Daza." Turn the page, now talking about a brand new lover, "Now, as it turns out, THIS particular bed-fellow was actually the closest things to love that FA experienced apart from FD." Next chapter, another new lover "Okay, SERIOUSLY, this is the one this time"... etc. Similar broken promises were made about various other topics. Perhaps this was done on purpose to demonstrate the fickle nature of life or love or something like that, but for me all it did was make me yell at the pages, scolding the narrator for being a big liar.
3. Florentino Ariza = mid 70's, Young Girl placed in his "care"= 14. It's just not okay. (P.s. She later kills herself because he ruined her life and stole her innocence, and his only reaction to it is that he has a bout of indigestion while lying in bed with the woman he left her for...what a swell guy). P.s. he also kinda kills another woman...the one on whose stomach he writes with red paint and her husband murders her when he sees it.
4. The whole premise of the book is the waiting...FA is waiting to finally be with FD. And when the wait is over, I don't feel like there's any reward. Nothing between them is all that magical...yeah they have fun on the boat, sure the fun is a little subdued because of their age, etc...but ultimately I don't understand what the point of all that waiting was for when he seems to have just about as much a connection with FD as he had with any of the other 621 ladies over the years. I dunno...as I stated in point #2, the ABSOLUTENESS of this book is what really holds it back for me. He says he absolutely loves FD, better than the rest, into eternity...he says this, but the reality is actually quite different. The ending is the same kind of thing...is that boat really going to sail up and down the river FOREVER? No. It's not. So why cheapen it with the gross exaggeration...just say "until we die" or "until somebody makes us stop"... it doesn't sound as cool but it means more.
In summation, it wasn't a horrible book but there were a few things that made it less than perfect. The writing really redeemed it, however, and made the experience pleasurable overall. An example of this is the detail GGM throws in about Urbino drinking chamomile tea, any then rejecting it, saying that it tastes like windows. Everyone is perplexed, thinking he must be crazy. Then they taste it themselves: Yup. Windows.
...less
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Aimee
gave
 
to:
Love in the Time of Cholera (Paperback)
by Gabriel García Márquez
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read in July, 2008
Aimee said:
"The last 20 pages were beautiful.... but the 300 or so leading up to them were interminable to me..... I slogged through it because I feel like this in one of those books you're "supposed to love," if you're any sort of intellectual, but I ...more
The last 20 pages were beautiful.... but the 300 or so leading up to them were interminable to me..... I slogged through it because I feel like this in one of those books you're "supposed to love," if you're any sort of intellectual, but I found the story structure, and the way new characters were constantly entering the story willy-nilly, very confusing. That said, I think Fermina and Florentino were some of the best written characters I've encountered. So, I guess there's plenty to love and plenty not to. :-)...less
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July 22
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Aimee
gave
to:
It's a Boy!: Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18 (Hardcover)
by Michael Phd Thompson, Teresa Barker
bookshelves:
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Aimee said:
"WOW. My boy isn't nearly as "out of control" as school would have me believe. It's more that the structure of school doesn't work all that well for my boy. Hmmm...
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Aimee
gave
to:
The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History (Hardcover)
by Katherine Ashenburg
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July 21
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Aimee
marked as to-read:
Status Anxiety (Paperback)
by Alain De Botton
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July 20
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Aimee
marked as to-read:
Village Bells (Hardcover)
by Alain Corbin
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Aimee
marked as to-read:
Queen Emma and the Vikings: Power, Love, and Greed in 11th Century England (Paperback)
by Harriet O'Brien
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Aimee
marked as to-read:
A Contemplation upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature (Paperback)
by Bobby J. Ward
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