Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I had high expectations for Love in the Time of Cholera, based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez' lyrical writing in other words. Sadly, I was disappointed. It's always disturbing to be underwhelmed by a book commonly regarded as a classic piece of literature, but I found this book slow moving, overly descriptive and relatively plot-less. It felt very like this was 350 pages of character sketch -- very developed character sketches, but character sketches. This might not be the end of the world if the characters were likable or understandable, but Marquez really isn't exploring real people in this book. Then there's the ending. I won't give it away, but it's frankly bizarre. The book takes a turn into fantasy at its end. Do I recommend it? Love in the Time of Cholera is definitely worth reading, but don't make it the only one of Marquez' works you read.
Posted by supersusie at November 15, 2003 10:54 PM