readingandliving's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
kimmyp's review against another edition
3.0
Spoilers. I’ve been meaning to get around to this classic for awhile. I listened to the audiobook, which I liked. It had an interesting tone. It covered fifty years, and big heavy topics like death and love and heartache, but the story was told in such a matter of fact way that it didn’t really feel emotional at all. I think that also made it more difficult to become invested in the characters and they didn’t come off as very likable. I wish the author would have left out the part of the story where Florentino groomed and started a “relationship” with a young girl (14, maybe younger when it started). I realize this is supposed to be a different time, but I lost all the compassion I had for that character after that. I think they casually mention that he also cornered his maid and raped her that resulted in her getting pregnant, but he paid her off and she stayed on and even took care of him when he hurt himself falling down the stairs. All this is mentioned just in passing within a few sentences. The writing was good, so still an overall enjoyable read, but with some pretty big issues.
smiths2112's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
devanie's review
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Suicide, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, and Stalking
tuesdaydg's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I’ve struggled over what I want to say about this book. I think I’ve finally come to this: it was hopeful, it was hopeless, it was romantic, it was grotesque, it was beautiful, it was ugly. There are so many things I loved about this book, but there were just as many things I hated. It’s a prolonged portrait of a life spent waiting for true love, yet the novel also steps back to show the ugliness of that pursuit. I think it has a lot to say about the concept of love, but I wish it more clearly articulated those ideas.
READER WARNING: There were many moments where I cringed at the sexist, racist, and classist ideologies of some characters, so be warned that you will read overly descriptive or blatantly stereotypical passages at some points.
READER WARNING: There were many moments where I cringed at the sexist, racist, and classist ideologies of some characters, so be warned that you will read overly descriptive or blatantly stereotypical passages at some points.
jesssicawho's review against another edition
5.0
Took me a few pages to get into the book, but once I did, I was hooked. It's beautifully written and so moving. A classic for a reason! If you haven't read it, you must!
imyerhero's review against another edition
2.0
I’ll admit it, the reason I wanted to read this book was a completely lame one. Ever seen the movie “Serendipity”? John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale? Anyway, if you haven’t – go look it up on Wikipedia. If you have, this is the book that she writes her phone number in. And ever since then, I’ve wanted to read it.
This story has three main characters – a beautiful and self-assured woman, and the two men who love her. Fermina Daza is the only child of a wealthy mule driver and as a young girl, catches the eye of poor and misfitting Florentino Ariza. The two begin a furious love letter writing campaign – mostly on the side of Florentino, who becomes sick with the love of Fermina. However, when he proposes, Fermina realizes the impracticality of marrying an illegitimate child with no prospects who her father hates. Instead, she marries a local hero – Juvenal Urbino. Juvenal is a doctor who has been granted the thanks of the city due to his work with preventing and treating the cholera epidemics which frequently ravage the area. The book follows the three characters and their expressions of love. Fermina is patently faithful and a supportive wife to Juvenal. Juvenal is not physically faithful to Fermina all the time but recognizes how much he loves her and needs her. Florentino is completely shattered by Fermina’s decision to marry someone other than himself and vows to wait until she is a widow and pursue her then. He spends most of his life working to help the love lives of others, whether by writing passionate love letters for them or fulfilling their sexual needs. But none of his actions are considered unfaithful to Fermina in his own mind.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really like this book. I felt like I never got a mental break from the story. It jumped all over the place. Sometimes we would follow one character for five minutes then jump back twenty years in the life of another character. It was often hard to tell who we were focusing on or what year it was. I felt the entire book lacked focus (probably just a shortfall of me as the reader because I hear this book is supposed to be amazing when it comes to literary criticism). And I know that it has to be deeper than merely examining different aspects of love because it failed to do that in a convincing manner.
And the character of Florentino disgusted me. I’m not certain as to why, but everytime I was reading about him and his life, I felt uncomfortable and sped through the passage as quickly as possible. It’s hard to enjoy a book when you have no great love for any of the main characters and therefore have no emotional investment in what happens to them. I merely continued reading because I wanted to know how it ended.
This story has three main characters – a beautiful and self-assured woman, and the two men who love her. Fermina Daza is the only child of a wealthy mule driver and as a young girl, catches the eye of poor and misfitting Florentino Ariza. The two begin a furious love letter writing campaign – mostly on the side of Florentino, who becomes sick with the love of Fermina. However, when he proposes, Fermina realizes the impracticality of marrying an illegitimate child with no prospects who her father hates. Instead, she marries a local hero – Juvenal Urbino. Juvenal is a doctor who has been granted the thanks of the city due to his work with preventing and treating the cholera epidemics which frequently ravage the area. The book follows the three characters and their expressions of love. Fermina is patently faithful and a supportive wife to Juvenal. Juvenal is not physically faithful to Fermina all the time but recognizes how much he loves her and needs her. Florentino is completely shattered by Fermina’s decision to marry someone other than himself and vows to wait until she is a widow and pursue her then. He spends most of his life working to help the love lives of others, whether by writing passionate love letters for them or fulfilling their sexual needs. But none of his actions are considered unfaithful to Fermina in his own mind.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really like this book. I felt like I never got a mental break from the story. It jumped all over the place. Sometimes we would follow one character for five minutes then jump back twenty years in the life of another character. It was often hard to tell who we were focusing on or what year it was. I felt the entire book lacked focus (probably just a shortfall of me as the reader because I hear this book is supposed to be amazing when it comes to literary criticism). And I know that it has to be deeper than merely examining different aspects of love because it failed to do that in a convincing manner.
And the character of Florentino disgusted me. I’m not certain as to why, but everytime I was reading about him and his life, I felt uncomfortable and sped through the passage as quickly as possible. It’s hard to enjoy a book when you have no great love for any of the main characters and therefore have no emotional investment in what happens to them. I merely continued reading because I wanted to know how it ended.
mcklusky's review against another edition
4.0
A kind of slow-burn, warts-and-all sort of beautiful. A romantic, almost poetic voice that offers few apologies for, and often embraces, the imperfections of the central characters. A story that celebrates the lofty heights of a love that waits a lifetime but that also acknowledges the small, incidental moments of grace and love that are often what actually composes our lives.