When I was a young thing, I read A Hundred Years of Solitude, and it was amazing to me. It made me read a lot of South American literature I probably would never even have heard of. So I was so excited to buy Love in the Time of Cholera when it was first published.

I was so disappointed. It was such a slog. And tbh, reading it at that time, I was all “old people! in love! eeeww!”

Fast forward. I picked up a copy in a thrift store last week, and started reading it. I was only about maybe 20 or 30 pages in before I started crying. The description of how Fermina Daza, after many long years of marriage, bathed her husband (who’s not even her One True Love!) and helped him dress — it’s so simple, and was so completely meaningless to me when I first read it.

But now.

When my dad’s Parkinson’s was really advanced, my mom did these same things for him every day. When I read these pages, I had that feeling that this big hand just reached out of the book right into my chest and squeezed.

I stayed up all night to finish reading this book again. If you are like me, and 20 or 30 years ago, this book was boring as hell, give it another chance. You’ll appreciate more now.

Comments

crixx93 t1_j41s0lz wrote on January 12, 2023 at 4:13 PM

#1,342,010

GGM said that the biggest inspiration for the book was his own parents's marriage.

Cultured_Ignorance t1_j41u9cg wrote on January 12, 2023 at 4:27 PM

#1,342,140

I really enjoyed the book too. The contrasting depictions of love really reaches for something deep in the human heart. It also masterfully illustrates how love operates as a Platonic ideal, where our actions and circumstances must fall short of our desires.

SAT0725 t1_j41xivb wrote on January 12, 2023 at 4:48 PM

#1,342,320

My only exposure to this book was the mentions in the movie "High Fidelity." I keep meaning to check it out.

One of my favorite short stories of all time is "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel García Márquez.

alexn0ne t1_j423dnj wrote on January 12, 2023 at 5:24 PM

#1,342,585

Omg last time I showed sympathy for this book on this sub I was called a pervert and downvoted to hell. Btw, are you familiar with The Decameron?

HamiltonBlack t1_j42vxtq wrote on January 12, 2023 at 8:18 PM

#1,344,024

It's an exquisitely written book.

Load_Altruistic t1_j42ywfm wrote on January 12, 2023 at 8:36 PM

#1,344,153

Sometimes you read a book when at a certain time of your life and it doesn’t appeal to you. Then you read it later, when you’ve experienced different things and are in a different mindset, and you get it

Catcher in the Rye is another one of those books. Some people hate it, but if you read it at a certain point you’ll understand it all