Wednesday, November 28, 2007

"Love In The Time of Cholera"

Love in the Time of Cholera is a meditation on love in its many forms.

It revolves around three main characters, Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a very famous physician in the Caribbean, Fermina Daza his wife and Florentino Ariza.

Against the backdrop of Caribbean culture, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez weaves a story of old age, love, patience, death, sex and sensuality. The story titillates you, tickles you, makes you think and some time frightens you when you start thinking of your own old age and its many repercussions.

Florentino Ariza is the illegitamate son of Transito Ariza (his mother) and a well known ship owner, Don Pius Loayaza. The occasional alliance failed to materialize into marriage and Florentino Ariza was brought up by his unwed mother.

Florentino, a victim of chronic constipation, meets Fermina Daza, a school girl, living with her father and aunt when he goes to deliver telegrams to her father and for Florentino it was love at first sight with Fermina. Florentino, whose only talent at that time was to write love letters, uses his talent to the fullest, writing love letters to Fermina without break, and soon she also started responding to the poetic love letters of Fermina.

Fermina realizes that her attraction for Florentino is the love of teenage illusion, leaves him and per her father's wish she marries Dr. Juvenal Urbino.

And here starts the realy story - the story of the wait of Florentino Ariza for Fermina Daza. He waits for the death of Dr. Urbino, so that he can marry Fermina, and his wait does not last for years or decades it goes on for 51 years, nine months and four days ….. Marquez depiction of a loveless marriage marred by old age and the haughtiness of Fermina will make you chuckle. The story is sensual and his narrative gives you a “high” with his description of the numerous physical loves of Florentino, during his half century long wait for his first spiritual love.

The story makes you familiar with numerous kinds of love, relationship and characters. Florentino Ariza searches for love everywhere in whorehouses, in extramarital affairs with women twice her age, in beds of widows ..... everywhere. His affairs start with carnal desires and end in love, and some time vice versa.

Like other books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this novel took it's time to grab my attention ... but once it did, I had a hard time putting it down .... BEAUTIFUL piece of literature!

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