Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - El amor en los tiempos del cólera

“Love”? More like feverish obsession.

“Love”? More like constant infidelity.

“Love”? More like sexual assault ( a doctor to his patient! And she’s okay with it!* )

“Love”? More like pedophilia.

“Love”? More like stalking.

This book was crap. Marquez is a talented writer but the story was gross, annoying and pointless. So pointless. I couldn’t care less about every single character.

It’s completely sexist and so OBVIOUSLY written by a sex-obsessed man. He practically has his female characters begging for sex. *And when they’re assaulted, they’re okay with it! And even a 14 year-old girl is happy to have a 70 year-old man groom her and…you know the rest.

Just gross. So so gross.

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narcisa'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

1.0

Would give it 0!
Honestly, there was absolutely nothing that I liked in this book. I have no idea why it is referred as a love story. For me, it seems more of a creepy obsession of a pervert!
Florentino is a selfish, pervert, creepy and disgusting character.
Fermina is so annoying. She's never happy with anything.
The only person that was somehow agreeable was Dr Urbino, until he started to be a cheater as well.
No one in this book could keep their pants on!
Yuck, yucky book, no morals, no substance, no lessons.
Just a lame story of a senseless obsession.

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imoran's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Florentino Ariza has a kill count higher than Anakin Skywalker

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madelynfrank's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have so many thoughts about this book as probably a lot of people had? Was FA supposed to be gross right? Very gross. Prose is beautiful and often funny. Plot and characters all flow between each other in time which I really enjoyed. Felt very tangential like a story. Racism/sexism/pedophilia was a bummer but I guess to be expected.

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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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hypatiasilver's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.75

This novel contains many beautiful passages worthy of 5 stars. It also contains some of the worst passages and plot points I have ever read.

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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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