EW #61

I picked up this book because one of my friends is a huge fan of Marquez and I had heard this book mentioned on a podcast a while back. I had no idea what this book would be about going into it - I didn’t even read the summary in advance!

It was my first book by Marquez and his writing certainly did not disappoint! There were passages so beautifully written I read them over and over again.

The story itself, though, I was a less of a fan of mainly because I found parts of it rather disturbing to read, especially because they were romanticized and not seen as problematic within the book’s world. I found many of Florentino Ariza’s “love affairs” to be really disgusting, particularly when he began having sex with the child he was the guardian of. Even his love for Fermina, to me, seemed more of an obsession than love. I’m not sure how anyone could possibly stay in love with someone for fifty years of barely interacting - especially when the other person clearly rejects you at every corner! The lack of consent in a lot of the love/sex in this book, perpetuated by men and women, was just icky to read.


Morals aside, I thought the characters in this book were very vivid and detailed and interesting. I loved the good parts of Florentino’s compulsive romanticism - like him selling love letters and being wholly unable to write an unromantic business letter. The same was true for the setting - it all seemed very real! My favorite parts of the book were more towards the end, when Fermina and Florentino were becoming introspective about their old age. I found something meaningful in their musings about whether the different relationships/affairs they’d both had in their life were actually love. They seemed to decide that they were all in fact love and that love could be anywhere really. There was no one love or one way to love and multiple loves could coexist simultaneously.

I think there was a certain value in showing the ugliness of a love story as a grand as Fermina’s and Florentino’s. On paper, it seems incredibly pure and romantic (and Florentino often lies to this end as well), but in actuality, many people were taken advantage of, betrayed, and even killed for the sake of his obsession with Fermina. Even towards the end, as they sailed off into blissful forever, I appreciated that their love was tempered by old age - they had to deal with the non ideal fact that their bodies simply weren’t what they used to be! Overall, it was a pretty good read but I’m a bit disturbed by anyone calling the story romantic given all the non consensual nature of it all!