Reviews with content warning for Pandemic/Epidemic - El amor en los tiempos del cólera

Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

El amor en los tiempos del cólera by Gabriel García Márquez

19 reviews

vklyle99's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Whoever said this was the greatest love story ever told, seek mental help!

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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book is a meandering account, not unlike the riverboats owned by the main character. It frustrates me that in several places I felt like I was rehearing exact paragraphs from earlier in the story, because they seldom felt thematically resonant, but rather... recycled.

I liked the bit that recounted the incident with the escaped parrot. There is also a lot of discussion of the mortality of human beings, gerontolophobia, the nature of sex and love, there is further musing on the deforestation of Colombia and the pointless hunting of indigenous fauna, which appears to also be a parallel between the tendency of the young to not indulge in self-care to sustain their health and prolong their strength and fitness.... yet.

This is a story that feels like it's supposed to be romantic, but really it just comes across as the exploits of a man's fostering a lifelong obsession with a woman who turned him down when she was 18.

cw: rape that is celebrated by the recipients of the unsolicited attention (more than once)
cw: physical relationship between a custodian and ward.

..ugh.. yeah let's just not.

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anaodaniel's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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squidyinkydink's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

2.25

I'm somewhat surprised that I've gone as long as I have knowing very little about this classic, but it happens. To start, the prose is absolutely beautiful, and I imagine it's even more so in Spanish. Unfortunately, I had a hard time focusing. This is more of a problem related to my reading habits, but the chapters were much longer than I anticipated. I found that I frequently lost track of what was happening because I'd have to stop at random moments to do something else.

However, I just couldn't care very much about the characters, who are supposed to be the driving forces of the novel. I didn't find Fermina to be a compelling character. Florentino had more depth, but wow, is he massively problematic. It was incredibly difficult to look past the fact that an elderly man had sexual relations with a fourteen-year-old girl, for one. There's also the obsessive love for Fermina that didn't strike me as romantic at all, and I found the ending rather lackluster and frustrating, for the most part.

I'm not upset that I read this novel, but I certainly am disappointed that it didn't end up being as gripping and beautiful as I thought it'd be.

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