Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3)
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would while
reading it, but at the end, I realized I really disliked the characters and
their choices. The entire reason to read the book is the romantic descriptive prose
of Mr. Marquez, which is beguiling. The story spans 50 or more years of the
lives of three people in a love triangle in an unnamed Caribbean island. A
young man falls in love (at first sight) with a younger woman. He pines for her
and vies for her heart over several years with letters. She eventually
unceremoniously dumps him to marry a successful doctor. His pining becomes
ridiculous as he nearly puts his life on hold for 50 years, waiting for her
husband to die. He lives in the shadows of their society, ignored by her though
making life choices with her in mind. I was particularly disappointed in a
handful of misogynistic passages – a rape victim holding out for her rapist to
come back and marry her, a 70+ man having an affair with his 14 year-old ward.
While these things happen and can add to the grit of a story, they were treated
as normal and understandable. I won’t tell you the ending, but I found it unsurprising
and disappointing. Overall, if you like complicated, but believable love
stories, this one will likely not serve you well.
