Re: Love in the Time of Cholera

 

It took me a considerable amount of time to read this book, hindered by exams, deadlines, and outings with my friends, oscillating between complete engrossment and utter boredom; all of which culminated in last week, where I couldn't put the book down. The story elicited a range of emotions in me, from the obvious romantic ‘heart-eyes’ to the outright disgust over the protagonists’ actions. I am certain that the author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, intended for all readers to experience these contrasting feelings. He deliberately crafts his characters to be deeply layered, spending extensive paragraphs ensuring you comprehend how their minds process everything, only to surprise you when the context shifts their actions.


In my view, the story features three protagonists: the two alleged lovers who have been separated by various people and circumstances, and lastly, a man who presents as the most significant reason for this separation. The outcome of the highly detailed writing is that the author leads the characters to make choices that distance the narrative from a typical rosy romance; this approach allows the story to stand out while serving as a period piece that reflects how people likely were back then. I struggled to continuously support a character’s motivations throughout the book. I witnessed them make decisions that I knew would not end well, and as I progressed, they indeed did not. The author also dedicates a level of detailed storytelling to the side characters who influence these three protagonists, each facilitating substantial shifts in their motives and helping push the story forward. I observed nearly every character commence with good intentions, only to witness their downfall as they made poor decisions or had unfavourable pasts, which contributed to the protagonists' experiences.


The author does not adhere to a linear timeline while writing; thankfully, I was able to grasp this relatively early on. My initial re-reads were crucial for understanding precisely where we departed from a situation, moved to the future, and returned to the past to conclude the present. This structure renders the book slightly more complicated yet gives it a more expansive feel than the story itself might suggest. The world-building undertaken by the author—through making his characters so rich, along with the cities they come from, wish to visit, or inherit; demonstrates a commendable level of care in crafting their authenticity for the reader. I found myself closing my eyes, imagining the characters and their surroundings with vivid detail. Unfortunately, I also caught myself drifting into daydreams during these elaborate descriptions, which created slower moments while reading the book.


Fermina Daza, one of the two lovers in the story, is referred to by her maiden name throughout the narrative. Even though she marries and is eventually widowed, we see that the world changes her name, but the author does not, and consequently, neither does the reader. I argue that the primary protagonist is Florentino Ariza; however, the author never fails to portray Fermina Daza as an equally bold, sensitive, and strong character worth following throughout the book. Although she has her own share of wrongdoings, she possesses the fewest among the three. Florentino Ariza, while initially presented as the perfect boy-in-love archetype, gradually transforms into a demented stalker with a perverted sense of love as the story progresses. The conclusion seems abrupt, as we observe them turning their love into a dream-like state, yet my mind struggles to move past all he had done before this. Dr. Juvenal Urbino was my initial frame of reference in the book, and as I read on, I began to see him as a hindrance not only to the lovers but to who he had married. Marred with unfaithfulness to forcing Fermina Daza to marry him; didn't make me root for him either. And the death that comes to him at the start of the book is made easier to digest by the end.


As I allude to in a paragraph above that the book ends with the lovers back in each other's arms, living on in almost a dream-like state, away from the world that had tried to separate them. I cannot help but feel betrayed as the author seemingly deceives me again. The author primes me with the birth and deaths of so many characters, including Dr. Juvenal Urbino; I only hoped that I would get to see the ends of the two main characters as well. Expecting a Romeo and Juliet-like conclusion for them, only to be surprised in the end. Now the decision is up to my comprehension of the protagonists, the people or the state of the disease that decides an end for them. However, does their death even matter? The whole time the book primed me into expecting them to be in love and stay with each other, the author promises me that and delivers it. For all I know, they could die of cholera, or hunger, or weather upturning the houseboat they’re in; but that cannot hold a candle to how they broke out of the chains that held them apart and live their lives without a care about anything else.