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Review
No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing (Sunday Telegraph )
A love story of astonishing power and delicious comedy (Newsweek )
An amazing celebration of the many kinds of love between men and women... among Márquez's best fiction (The Times )
One of this century's most evocative writers (Anne Tyler )
A delight. The interlocking of the stories, the fantastical and obsessional aspects of Márquez have never been better shown. (Melvyn Bragg )
Few have written so passionately about the power of love (Independent ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
A love story of astonishing power and delicious comedy (Newsweek )
An amazing celebration of the many kinds of love between men and women... among Márquez's best fiction (The Times )
One of this century's most evocative writers (Anne Tyler )
A delight. The interlocking of the stories, the fantastical and obsessional aspects of Márquez have never been better shown. (Melvyn Bragg )
Few have written so passionately about the power of love (Independent ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
Florentino Ariza has never forgotten his first love. He has waited nearly a lifetime in silence since his beloved Fermina married another man. No woman can replace her in his heart. But now her husband is dead. Finally - after fifty-one years, nine months and four days - Florentino has another chance to declare his eternal passion and win her back. Will love that has survived half a century remain unrequited?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is truly one of the most spiritually uplifting books I have ever come across. Garcia's usual breathtaking scope, covering a lifetime in what seems like amazing detail, carries the reader through the book with the feeling he or she is in a dream. Once I started the book I found myself constantly thinking about it when I was doing other things and as with many of Garcia's books the reader almost feels a sense of loss when the end is reached.
A calm, poetic journey through the tortures and joys of love that is almost a life-affirming experience, even for the most hardened cynic...
A calm, poetic journey through the tortures and joys of love that is almost a life-affirming experience, even for the most hardened cynic...
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this beautiful love story about two people over seventy Marquez explores a kind of love that may seem indecent in the eyes of some, but is in fact portrayed as the most beautiful and pure kind, "when they can expect nothing more from life". This book does not described a cliché about two young people falling in love and marrying despite the opposition of some antagonist or other, but is in fact a story after the story. The most important thing is not the winning of the maiden's heart but what happens after the maiden's heart has been won.
The author shows love as has rarely been portrayed in books before: the inevitable flaws in a marriage, the lurking infidelity, the squabbles over futilities, the pain of rejection and unrequited love, the perseverance of the heart. No perfection here, but human love with all its flaws, fears and misgivings.
Described in such detail as to bring characters to life, with passages that are hilarious as well as heartbreaking, this book is such a compelling read that you hardly notice the scarceness of dialogue and chapters. Marquez's style is very readable and comprehensive, full of rich descriptions through which you can not only see and hear what is happening in the story, but also feel, smell and taste it.
After you finish reading you may feel as if the heartwarming ending is nothing but the beginning, filling you with hope and wisdom, and may even look at love through different eyes.
However romantic this may seem, there is one catch that adds further depth to Marquez's work: the protagonist, the lovesick Florentino Ariza for whom the author creates a role of love victim, may be just the opposite. His duplicitous character is a source of constant discomfort to the reader. On of one hand we may appraise him for his perseverance and pity him for his need to be loved, on the other you are confronted with his perverse behavior: taking on an incredible amount of lovers whom he often lies to, including his 60 year younger relative placed under his guardianship by her family. Is he to be pitied, is he to sympathized with or is he to be loathed?
A note on Everyman's Classic edition: This edition contains an enthusiastic introduction by Nicholas Shakespeare, and although it's interesting to read, I recommend that you read this after you have finished the novel. The introduction gives away a large part of the story, and some of his comments are better understood once you have read the book.
The author shows love as has rarely been portrayed in books before: the inevitable flaws in a marriage, the lurking infidelity, the squabbles over futilities, the pain of rejection and unrequited love, the perseverance of the heart. No perfection here, but human love with all its flaws, fears and misgivings.
Described in such detail as to bring characters to life, with passages that are hilarious as well as heartbreaking, this book is such a compelling read that you hardly notice the scarceness of dialogue and chapters. Marquez's style is very readable and comprehensive, full of rich descriptions through which you can not only see and hear what is happening in the story, but also feel, smell and taste it.
After you finish reading you may feel as if the heartwarming ending is nothing but the beginning, filling you with hope and wisdom, and may even look at love through different eyes.
However romantic this may seem, there is one catch that adds further depth to Marquez's work: the protagonist, the lovesick Florentino Ariza for whom the author creates a role of love victim, may be just the opposite. His duplicitous character is a source of constant discomfort to the reader. On of one hand we may appraise him for his perseverance and pity him for his need to be loved, on the other you are confronted with his perverse behavior: taking on an incredible amount of lovers whom he often lies to, including his 60 year younger relative placed under his guardianship by her family. Is he to be pitied, is he to sympathized with or is he to be loathed?
A note on Everyman's Classic edition: This edition contains an enthusiastic introduction by Nicholas Shakespeare, and although it's interesting to read, I recommend that you read this after you have finished the novel. The introduction gives away a large part of the story, and some of his comments are better understood once you have read the book.
45 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Marquez's 'LITTOC' is the story of the love that arises between two teenagers, Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza. Over the course of the next half century, their lives follow different paths, and the love that has come into being takes on a life of its own: sometimes growing, sometimes fading, sometimes lying abandoned. As their lives proceed separately, Marquez tells the story of this love.
Those that complained that the book was slow, or that nothing happened, have a point in as far as Fermina and Florentino's lives are largely unremarkable and nothing particularly of note happens to either of them. However, this book is not their stories, but that of the love that they have brought into being, and every episode from their lives is told not with the effect on them in mind, but of the effect on this love. I thought that the idea of love as being the hero of a book was brilliantly realised, and very cleverly done. Every episode from their lives is told only to emphasise how it changes what could have existed between them, and not how it changes them as people. This makes for an admittedly slow read, but for me is the chief joy of the book. Although 'LITTOC' is in some ways a melancholy book, chiefly because of the large amount of time that passes (similarly in '100 Years of Solitude'), it is ultimately uplifting because it is about love and, despite all the pain that goes with it, you can't help feeling that Marquez thinks that love is a good thing.
Fans of magical realism should be aware that, despite being Marquez' trademark, it is largely absent in this book. It is very different in style to '100 Years of Solitude', and fans of one may not necessarily like the other. It is a slow paced book, largely lacking in traditional action. Readers looking for that should definitely go elsewhere. As far as I am concerned, it is one of the best books about love (as opposed to one merely including it) that I have ever read, and I strongly recommend others to give it a try.
Those that complained that the book was slow, or that nothing happened, have a point in as far as Fermina and Florentino's lives are largely unremarkable and nothing particularly of note happens to either of them. However, this book is not their stories, but that of the love that they have brought into being, and every episode from their lives is told not with the effect on them in mind, but of the effect on this love. I thought that the idea of love as being the hero of a book was brilliantly realised, and very cleverly done. Every episode from their lives is told only to emphasise how it changes what could have existed between them, and not how it changes them as people. This makes for an admittedly slow read, but for me is the chief joy of the book. Although 'LITTOC' is in some ways a melancholy book, chiefly because of the large amount of time that passes (similarly in '100 Years of Solitude'), it is ultimately uplifting because it is about love and, despite all the pain that goes with it, you can't help feeling that Marquez thinks that love is a good thing.
Fans of magical realism should be aware that, despite being Marquez' trademark, it is largely absent in this book. It is very different in style to '100 Years of Solitude', and fans of one may not necessarily like the other. It is a slow paced book, largely lacking in traditional action. Readers looking for that should definitely go elsewhere. As far as I am concerned, it is one of the best books about love (as opposed to one merely including it) that I have ever read, and I strongly recommend others to give it a try.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Different!
I really enjoyed this book - a brilliant look at the love, or obsession, of a man for another's wife! Read more
Published 3 months ago by textilet
brill
i bought this book as a friend's birthday present because i had read it and loved it so much. although very detailed, i loved the story. Read more
Published 6 months ago by spyrocoupe
too much ego-centric male libido and dirty old man stuff
such a very well written book even tho it is translated. atmospheric and good characters but i couldn't finish it, re title. Read more
Published 6 months ago by deedeediddlidee
A masterpiece in all ways, but don't fall for the plot trick
This book is by far the best I have ever read, and I am the kind who shirks from making such bold statements. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jacques
An enchanting book.....
This is an enchanting book full of rich language - the whole novel vibrates with the colours and heat of Latin America. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Wynne Kelly
Love in the Time of Cholera
(I would give this review 2.5 stars)
I was really looking forward to reading this book, having convinced myself that it was going to be a timeless love story I would... Read more
I was really looking forward to reading this book, having convinced myself that it was going to be a timeless love story I would... Read more
Published 8 months ago by TeaLover
Heavy going
The book came in good time and in the expected condition. However, I have found it heavy going - too many words and with no chapters it is not an easy read.
Published 9 months ago by P. Trendall
Razor sharp
Reading Love in the Time of Cholera is like undergoing a course of education in life. All human life is here and looks pretty precarious (there are constant themes of aging, class... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. P. G. Mccarthy
Social Satire or Literary Porn?
How should I describe this novel? Beautifully executed. A prose poem set within a historical context of an anonymous post colonial Caribbean island, centering around a triad of... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dean Cowan
deserve every of my penny
though it's a 2nd hand, but honest, it looks new to me, i'm quite satisfy with it, not to mention da dirt cheap price!
Published 13 months ago by water
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