Book Review: Love in the Time of Cholera

I suppose I cannot begin a review on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1985 novel Love in the Time of Cholera without acknowledging that it has a dreadful title. Such a bad title in fact, that I almost didn't read the book because of it. And although Marquez's love story was originally published in Spanish, calling it El amor en los tiempos del cólera does little to improve my thoughts on the unfortunate title (although many things do sound better when spoken in a romance language).
There is rationale in the author's naming techniques, however. Not only does his title begin to describe the story's setting, but it serves as a metaphor, comparing the symptoms of love to those of cholera.

Set in the 1800's, in a Caribbean port city, the beginning of Love in the Time of Cholera begins following the secret romance between Florentino Arizo, a humble apprentice, and the beautiful and shy Fermino Daza. Both are young and inexperienced in love and spend months communicating through secret letters. Fermina's father is furious when he learns of their relationship, wanting a better life for his daughter than he thinks Florentino can provide. He takes Fermina away on a long voyage, wanting her to forget the passion she feels for Florentino. Eventually Fermina marries the well established and successful Dr. Juvenal Urbino. Through over 51 years of marriage, Fermina believes herself to be happy with Dr. Urbino. But after her husband's sudden death, Florentino returns to "repeat to (her) once again (his) vow of fidelity and everlasting love".

I should mention at the point that this book has been made into a movie. This baffles me. While reading this book I would in no way come to a conclusion that it would transition well to the silver screen. Love in the Time of Cholera contains extremely vivid descriptions of emotions, scents, tastes and scene. It offers detailed imagery that would frequently span many pages while the plot stood still. So much of the beginning of the book especially is dedicated not to story line, but to providing a verbal painting that creates an atmosphere for the reader and sets the tone for the rest of the book. A skilled set designer and director may be able to recreate the author's intended vision, but I doubt if they could match the pictures evoked by Marquez's words. I have waited to see the film until being finished with the book and review, so I will soon see for myself a movie adaptation was in any way successful.

I touched on the fact that Cholera indeed has a rather simple plot. Marquez covers many of his 348 pages with metaphors and statements about life and love. He in fact uses his 3 main characters to express different ways in which love can be understood and experienced. Florentino portrays idealized, poetic love; Dr. Ubino approaches love rationally, as he does life. Although Fermina seems to represent a mixture of philosophies, she seems at the end of the book to be unsure of what love really is and if she has ever truly experienced it.

I was left disappointed at the end of Cholera. I expected there to be a defining statement on the existence, truth and power that love has. Marquez likely wants to be elusive through his failure to arrive at conclusions about love. I, however, disagree with his unspoken statement that being unclear must be part of love's nature.

Do I recommend this book with the terrible title? I do, not because I agree with it, but because it made me think and even second guess myself at times. Don't bother with it if you cannot put up with pages of description and frozen story. I myself found it quite annoying at times and think Marquez's points could have been made without so much effort for drama. It does offer interesting observations on life and human motivation, so for that, I found it worth wading through Love in the Time of Cholera.