Love in the Time of Cholera in Bound Together

Apr 28, 2008 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, caribbean, magic

Everyone here at GoodReads enjoys reading, but we all like different things. I can only speak for myself. I had read One Hundred Years of Solitude more than 10 years ago and I did not like it. The language, the words chosen were a stumbling block for me. I was intrigued when I read the beginning of Love in the Time of Cholera. I was drawn to give this author another try. I am very, very glad I did. With this book too; it was the exact same thing bothered me: the literary style. Sometimes it was Everyone here at GoodReads enjoys reading, but we all like different things. I can only speak for myself. I had read One Hundred Years of Solitude more than 10 years ago and I did not like it. The language, the words chosen were a stumbling block for me. I was intrigued when I read the beginning of Love in the Time of Cholera. I was drawn to give this author another try. I am very, very glad I did. With this book too; it was the exact same thing bothered me: the literary style. Sometimes it was too wordy, too messy. I would ask myself, what is the author saying, why is he throwing all this at me, what is his point. Sometimes, definitely not always, it feel like the message gets drowned in the words or the convoluted plot.

I don't like "funny" books, but I demand that a book makes me chuckle, brings a smile to my lips. There is humor in everything, even the blackest of subjects. An entire book with no humor is just too horrible to get through and in fact unreal b/c life is funny if you just open your eyes to it. If you don't laugh you cry! This book does make you smile at life's incongruities. OMG that parrot and Femina's battle victory for pets that got the parrot into the house in the first place. And the "soap-argument". All married couples must "feel right at home". There is a lot to laugh about. Characters who do not drink coffee, but who are drinking today. Doctor's that never prescribe palliative medicines, but take them themselves. People that do not smoke, except behind locked doors. And the importance of smells, smells that we all recognize and that play such a central role in our lives, but which we are so often unaware of.

Yes, the book is about love but it is also about people and their foibles. For me the books offers numerous themes, the most important being ageing and death, and thus also what we want to get out of life! How the author depicts ageing is just perfect. He draws it with humor, with sadness with irony and with understanding.

Maybe I like the book so much because I agree with its message. Don't waste life. Don't live in the past.Don't disregard the past but learn from it so you can do better with the future. I really did like the book. ...more

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Jun 22, 2017 Teresa rated it it was ok

A grueling read, uninteresting story, unlikable characters.

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Oct 21, 2007 Esther rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: __borrowed, author-male, zz-2009, gag-me-with-a-spoon, magical_realism, south-america, nobel, prize-winner

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It wasn’t just that I really disliked this book but I also found it offensive.

This claims to be a story of love but for me it is more a story of obsession and a not very healthy one at that.

Our heroine is a spoilt immature child in love with the idea of being in love , in love with the idea of a romantic suitor who writes love letters and in love with the idea of rebelling against her father. However the moment reality impinges she rejects her lover out of hand without a thought for his feelings It wasn’t just that I really disliked this book but I also found it offensive.

This claims to be a story of love but for me it is more a story of obsession and a not very healthy one at that.

Our heroine is a spoilt immature child in love with the idea of being in love , in love with the idea of a romantic suitor who writes love letters and in love with the idea of rebelling against her father. However the moment reality impinges she rejects her lover out of hand without a thought for his feelings.
As the book progresses she rejects romance instead choosing social status and a wealthy doctor. She spends her marriage behaving like a petulant child, throwing tantrums and taking offense at the merest slight. Her story is filled with trivial and petty concerns.

Our hero, on the other hand leads an existence wasted on obsession. After becoming fixated on a teenage girl and his illusion of a relationship with her the thrust of his life seems to be the passing of time until he achieves the object of his obsession.
The rather repetitious tales of his sexual exploits were more than a little wearying; rarely erotic but for the most part boringly pedestrian and crude. When he descended to paedophilia I became rather queasy and repulsed.
I found it disturbing how apathetic ‘our hero’ was to the death and destruction he caused in the lives of his lovers and despite the author’s repeated insistence that women found him irresistible I found it difficult to understand why.

Finally when the couple discover their love they run away, too ashamed to reveal their feelings to their friends and society in general.
Such a great love that it can’t even stand up to the test of a little social embarrassment!!! I was underwhelmed.

Many times I was tempted to throw this book against the wall and only enjoyed the writing when it was describing scenes of nature or landscapes.
I found all of the major characters unlikeable and for me a satisfying end to the story would have involved a massive explosion killing them all. ...more

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Apr 03, 2009 Bucket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: culture, world-lit, 1001-read-all-editions, literary, classic, reviewed, love, sex, nobel

This is a love story, through and through, but it's far more fascinating than I would have imagined. It delves into the way that love manifests itself in a marriage and it's also an extremely interesting look at aging and what this means for love.

The setting is so well-done - I felt immersed in the Caribbean of the early 20th century - and the characters are outstanding. There are just 3 major characters and each is full of depth, flawed, realistic, and likeable. I have no complaints - it's cle ...more

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