Scan barcode
A review by jimflows
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
2.0
I am still reeling and confused since I finished this book yesterday. I had never read anything by Marquez, and in spite of the two-star review I look forward to reading "1,000 Years of Solitude" in the not-too-distant future. He writes beautifully and I found myself immersed in the scenery and mood of the book. If I could rate the book simple based on how well it was written, in terms of writing style at least, it would be five stars. All that to say...
I hated almost every character. None of the main characters had any sort of appeal to me. The secondary characters that I enjoyed did not appear with much frequency. I found the plot, particularly the last third of the book or so (but really, the whole book) insufferably boring and largely unbelievable. "Love" in the time of cholera felt more like stalking as a result of some serious mental illness in the time of cholera. I am curious as to why this won the Nobel Prize, aside from the beautiful prose.
I don't regret reading this book, though, but I am feeling baffled by it.
Oh, yeah, and spoiler alert (I just read someone else's view and was reminded of this):
#feminism. The portrayal of women in this book, though probably historically accurate, was off-putting. The relationship between one of the main characters, the one in "love," and his fourteen-year-old schoolgirl relative, when he is in his seventies, was downright disgusting and perverse. It seemed like a way-too-forced means of showing the pervy anti-hero trying to recapture his youth/the youth of his love.
I hated almost every character. None of the main characters had any sort of appeal to me. The secondary characters that I enjoyed did not appear with much frequency. I found the plot, particularly the last third of the book or so (but really, the whole book) insufferably boring and largely unbelievable. "Love" in the time of cholera felt more like stalking as a result of some serious mental illness in the time of cholera. I am curious as to why this won the Nobel Prize, aside from the beautiful prose.
I don't regret reading this book, though, but I am feeling baffled by it.
Oh, yeah, and spoiler alert (I just read someone else's view and was reminded of this):
#feminism. The portrayal of women in this book, though probably historically accurate, was off-putting. The relationship between one of the main characters, the one in "love," and his fourteen-year-old schoolgirl relative, when he is in his seventies, was downright disgusting and perverse. It seemed like a way-too-forced means of showing the pervy anti-hero trying to recapture his youth/the youth of his love.