Love in the time of cholera is a beautiful love story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez..It takes you through a whirlwind of emotions..Happiness, longing ,fear, pain, hatred and a whole lot of confusing situations..
Set in an unknown Caribbean city, the book takes you through the changes through out the life of Florentino Arizo, Fermina Daza and Dr. Juvenal Urbino..It starts at a stage where all are in the eve of their life and then certain circumstances push on the story to a 50 year flashback to the time of cholera..
Florentino Arizo,only son of an unwed mother,and a young apprentice telegrapher with a flair for love poems..fell head over heels in love with Fermina Daza ,The daughter of a mule driver who became rich by unscrupulous means, first time he saw her...and he started his pursuit to gain her attention and love,in which he succeeded and Fermina too started longing to read his long and hopelessly romatic letters and to catch his glimpse on her way to school...till the day her father discovered their secret affair and took her away.. They maintained their correspondence through secret telegrams..and Fermina felt that she was burning in passion and longing to meet her love..By then they had even decided when and where they will get married... But when she returned back home and he was there in front of her..It just took her a glimpse to realize that what she mistook to be love was just a childish infactuation and a stupid confusion that was cleared by the freedom of thought the journey away from home had given her and she told Florentino that this was the end..She later married Dr. Juvenal Urbino , not out of love but convenience...But was not the end of their love story but the beginning of fifty one years, nine months and four days of Florentino 's wait to win her back...
The author then takes you though time and events that took place in next half a century in the life and minds of these three characters.Fermina and Juvenal finds and loses and then again finds love and contentment in their marriage that was a little diminished in the last years of their life due to the confession of an illicit affair by the doctor..but they reunite and find peace in coexisting and searching to find traces of their love..while Florentino searches for peace and freedom from thoughts of Fermina in the arms of many beautiful women..young and old ,unmarried,married and widowed including a very disturbing relationship with a 14 year old (For whom he was supposed to be a guardian!)when he was in his 70's..but in the end realizes that he is too selfish in his love for Fermina that he can never accept anyone else or be faithful to anyone else ...
And when Dr. Juvenal Urbino passes away in an accident while trying to retrieve his prized parrot from the mango tree ... Florentino Ariza,who by now was the chairman of RCC shipping company, seizes the opportunity and proposes to Fermina Daza at her husbands funeral...Wrong timing right? Well..Fermina shut the door at him asking him never to return( in her own words.. "don't show your face again for the years of life that are left to you . . . I hope there are very few of them."..)..But it does not end there... he continues with his letters and slowly Fermina realises the intensity of his love and maturity of his thoughts(well i still debate this.)..and she accepts his proposal...
I call it a strange love story because I am not sure if someone can love anyone with so much passion that they fail to notice the passing time..they fail to notice their greying hair..they fail to notice the injustice they do to others in their selfish pursuit of love....It took me a long time to complete reading this book....if you ask me how it was..though I dont agree with the glorification of Florentino's affairs and would never ever want a lover like Florentino...I loved the story and emotions it took me through....it was a beautiful..strange love story..
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