Love+in+the+Time+of+Cholera

=//Love in the Time of Cholera// Comments=



Comments:

I can’t say that I honestly enjoyed reading this book; however, there are a few things that I think are interesting. First, I think a lot of people can relate to Florentino’s broken heart and subsequent sickness after Fermina rejected him. How many of you have gotten physically sick over a betrayal or some sort of upsetting news? I know I have several times in life. Whether it being my boyfriend telling me he wanted to date somebody else when I was a sophomore in high school, getting the call that my dad had rectal cancer and it would be a week before we knew how/if it could be treated, the nurse coming into my hospital room after 28 hours of labor telling me that the monitor around my belly wasn’t showing Davis had a strong heartbeat so they had to put a monitor on his head to see if it was a problem with Davis or the monitor (thankfully it was the monitor!). I had physical reactions to all of these situations; whether it was a stomach ache, headache, or vomiting. It is heartbreaking how physically ill Florentino got after Fermina rejected him. It is hard to believe that Florentine could have been that attached to Fermina. After all, their relationship was practically based on letters solely. Another thing that I thought was interesting was the portrayal of Fermina and Juvenal’s marriage to society as opposed to their actual marriage. It is easy for couples to walk into public and pretend that everything is fine even though their relationship is in shambles. To the public, Fermina and Juvenal had the perfect marriage. However, Juvenal had a couple affairs (only one of which he confessed to) and you can tell that Fermina was never truly happy with Juvenal. Their marriage was convenient for both of them. Juvenal got the beautiful faithful wife and mother to his children whole Fermina got security to live a privileged life. In her old age, after Juvenal’s death and her reunion with Florentino, Fermina got to experience a relationship not based on sex, infatuation, or obligation. By starting out with a friendship and getting to know one another, Fermina and Florentino get a second chance to fall in love again. Mrs. Jessica Schenkel

Initially I chose Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera” as my summer reading wiki book because I thought the overview sounded interesting and entertaining. As Newsweek had proclaimed, “A love story of astonishing power,” I assumed that this novel would be the perfect read for a long lazy summer. Only after I’d signed up on the wiki and bought the book did someone inform me that Marquez’s novel would be a difficult read. When I began to read, the worry brought on by this newfound information washed away as I was lured in by the riveting and extremely detailed story of two young people in the grasp of what they thought was love, and how their lives changed because of it. After years of love letters between the young Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, Fermina ended correspondence, prompted by her father’s disapproval and her sudden revelation that this silly “fling” could not possibly be love, despite their lengthy courtship. The lives of the two young sweethearts resumed, but separately and in very different directions. Fermina went on to marry Dr. Juvenal Urbino, exactly the man everyone expected her to be with, though she never experienced the burning love symptoms of which enveloped her during her time with Florentino. Over the years, Dr. Urbino and Fermina entertained a shaky, unfortunate relationship, yet they stayed together through it all. They made it through affairs, work troubles, and children that poor Fermina felt no love towards. When Dr. Juvenal Urbino died, Fermina realized that she loved him, but in a reliable, platonic way. Meanwhile, Florentino never let go of his obsessive love for Fermina. Over the years he observed silently, for the most part, watching from afar as the years passed by, watching as she led her seemingly joy-filled life. All the while, he wallowed in his own misery. He satisfied himself with a slew of innumerable affairs. He involved himself with women of all kinds; widowed, old, young, middle-aged. Despite their many numbers, he loved each and every one of them, yet in a completely separate way from his love for Fermina. He never married either. He saved himself for Fermina. He bid his time till Dr. Urbino’s inevitable death. When the good doctor did die from an unfortunate ladder accident, Florentino Ariza swept in with the knowledge that he and Fermina were meant to be. They had always been meant to be. Though Fermina resisted and honored her deceased husband, Florentino came back into her life and a friendship flourished, based on their passionate young love. Of course, this strong friendship already based upon so much grew into a love that could have lived for all of those years they had spent separated. In the end, Florentino and Fermina would be together, “Forever.” I greatly enjoyed this novel, though I do think that a long lasting love affair like this one isn’t very realistic. I feel like Florentino couldn’t really love Fermina at such an obsessive level, especially because they didn’t really have much of a relationship to start out with. Any normal person would react negatively if they were treated the way Fermina hurt him. Once I got into the novel, I sped through it -- desperate to discover the outcome of these two people whose lives seem so deeply interwoven yet veered in such opposing directions. However, it ended in a way I had more or less expected. I really liked how even apart and with their completely different lives, they still ran into each other at times, and even after all that time apart, they could still pick up at a good place. I would recommend this book to anyone. Iris Jeffries

 The main reason I chose // Love in the time of the Cholera // was the fact that the author was Colombia. Like myself; this attracted my attention and once I realized it was a love story I decided it would be an interesting book. Not only is this book very important to my culture it was also a unique tale of love. The story represents true love through the hardships of life such as suffering and society. I thought the way the book started in a // Romeo and Juliet //way with the theme of forbidden love. After Fermina’s father, the female main character who falls in love, not allowing or liking the idea of his daughter marrying a lower classman named Florentino. Florentino is rejected at the beginning of the book by Fermina after she realizes their love is only an illusion of the youth. When she first meets her knew doctor she isn’t imminently drawn to him like she was to Florentino. After rejecting him so many times and realizing she was already at her “deadline” of twenty-one she decides that marrying the doctor Juvenal Urbino was the smartest decision for her future. When already being married for so long with his wife Fermina she finds out he has not been completely faithful to her. She does not forgive him and leaves him. Once Florintio becomes aware of this and has still not forgotten his love for Florintina he is able to finally have the life together he always wanted. They are happily together even if their live have mostly gone by, but our grateful they can share their old age together. What makes this book beautiful is that even with only speaking through letters they knew their love was real and what made them happy. Natasha Schettini