I have just finished reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 'Love In The Time of Cholera.' It is the story of Florentino Ariza, who fell in love with Fermina Daza when they were young. Fermina got disillusioned after a few years of carrying a love affair that consisted mainly of letters exchanged through telegraph offices. She went on to live her life, married a rich man, had kids, and loved her husband till he died. Florentino Ariza continued loving her, and while he vowed to wait for Fermina Daza, he had 622 affairs which he meticulously documented (excluding the one-night-stands). Fermina's illustrious husband died an undignified death by falling off a ladder while trying to catch a problematic parrot, and Florentino comes back on the first night of Fermina's widowhood to proclaim (once again) his everlasting love.
It was funny and touching, meticulously written, and never tedious. It is the simplest story, of a love that withstood all possible tests of fate and time, and yet the characters were extraordinary. You could laugh and be aroused at how the virgin Fermina spent her first wedding night, you could commiserate with Florentino and his chronic constipation, you could marvel at the love of Transito Ariza for her son.
The first time I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez was in my sophomore high school year, when I found my cousin's copy of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude.' I had to make notes to remember which character is the child of whom, and still, sixteen years later when I bought my own copy and read it again, I am overwhelmed by the complexity of it all.
How I'd love to be able to write like that. But reading it, and knowing the pleasure that there are millions of books out there, is enough joy.
It was funny and touching, meticulously written, and never tedious. It is the simplest story, of a love that withstood all possible tests of fate and time, and yet the characters were extraordinary. You could laugh and be aroused at how the virgin Fermina spent her first wedding night, you could commiserate with Florentino and his chronic constipation, you could marvel at the love of Transito Ariza for her son.
The first time I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez was in my sophomore high school year, when I found my cousin's copy of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude.' I had to make notes to remember which character is the child of whom, and still, sixteen years later when I bought my own copy and read it again, I am overwhelmed by the complexity of it all.
How I'd love to be able to write like that. But reading it, and knowing the pleasure that there are millions of books out there, is enough joy.
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