Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Love in the Time of Cholera

My sister recently began reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Nobel Prize author Gabriel Garcia Marquez so I decided that I would join her. It has recently been turned into a movie and was choosen as an Oprah book club pick. I had already read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez, which I found to be rather long and difficult to get through. Love in the Time of Cholera, however, I whizzed through....well I really didn't have a choice since I borrowed someone's book and I promised to have it back to them by a certain day.

The book was written in wonderful prose that at times were lyrical. It relays the story of Florentino Ariza who is in love with Fermina Daza for over 60 years of his life. Their love is kindled by love letters. Florentino has a knack for writing poignant and truly beautiful letters that envelope one's soul. The novel jumps back and forth between the lives of Florentino and Fermina. Fermina ends up marrying a well to do doctor and Florentino bids his time between many women. In fact he has a total of 644 affairs. However, Florentino never forgets Fermina, his first and true love. This is a unique love story that I would recommend reading.