Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Love in the Time of Cholera

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

59 reviews

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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pollylumpy's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I hated this book. The main characters are incredibly annoying, especially Florentino who is a monster. Every woman he met was the same character in different names, except for

America, the child he groomed and drove to suicide after taking advantage of.

Fermina is, at least, a nicer person and her story is way more interesting, but the themes of misogyny and the societal expectations of women are named but barely dealt with. She’s so absentminded too, it drives me insane.

The book runs around in circles and becomes extremely tiring to read, it is 100 pages too long, if I’m honest. It has zero romance, you feel nothing for the connection between Florentino and Fermina, which is funny considering García Márquez wrote this as a tribute to his parents.

Also not enough magical realism. :(

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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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booksandabackpack's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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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