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

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

9 reviews

gabriella_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

Was anyone going to tell me there’s a

pedophilic relationship

in this or was I supposed to find out on my own? Genuinely left a disgusting taste in my mouth reading this.

And why was there so much casual racism and bigoted language throughout the book? It was physically painful in a book that otherwise had a gripping prose (but was problematic, I smell misogyny).

I don’t want to rate this because I feel so conflicted.

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becksus's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.75

This was tough. I like the way it was written and the world with it's various characters, as it reminded me of One Hundred Years of Solitude (which I enjoyed). I even liked Fermina Daza to an extent. But God, I hate Florentino Ariza. What a creepy sad man (and a pedophile too!). I was not rooting for him to get "the girl", so it was a weird experience to read.

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mgraceoliver's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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cait's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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amkclaes's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

this is an absolutely beautifully written book about a completely disturbing, obsessional love - it's about love, sure, but the way that love can find many forms and require different things from one another, and the pitfalls of "love" that removes you from reality. Florentino is a sad, creepy character, he only finds relationships with vulnerable, lonely women as he pines for the one high society woman that rejected him. Fermina is a totally average rich woman, that García Márquez uses to comment on the obliviousness, the pettiness, and even the casual racism of that class, while also, through her relationship with Urbino, showing how society traps women and the pros and cons that marriage can have for a woman in her position. the book is so subtle and insightful when portraying human relationships and social structures, it's all in a gesture or a look, and the descriptions are stunning.
i have to say the storyline with the young girl perplexed me. maybe i'm making excuses for the author, but to me Florentino is such an antipathetic character, and he's at his absolute lowest base state, and to me that storyline shows the true harm he inflicts on the world through his self absorption. he makes his raggedy old self the center of this child's life,

and ultimately drives her to her death

because he is unable to extract himself from his lifelong obsession with Fermina and confront the reality of his life, that it has passed by and that he is old now.
one task of authors is to reflect our society, it its ugliness too, and he does that brilliantly

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strabbyfieldz's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

i would've adored this book were it not for the bit about América Vicuña and all the other uncomfortable or wrong elements like the racism (I could be wrong but man, some of the descriptions of the Black characters felt anti-Black and also one of the main protags was like fairly racist???). Regardless of messaging or whatever with América, it felt pointless, uncomfortable as heck and rendered the touching(??) love story of the main protagonists much less easy to root for freely.

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