Love in the Time of Cholera

[Dark Muse]

I have recently started reading 100 Years of Solitude which so far I am quite enjoying but now I have found myself with a diliemma. I noticed that Marquez also wrote Love in the Time of Cholera and prior to the movie I did not know anything about the book and I had no desire to watch the movie becasue it just looked like some god-awful romance. I just don't do romance.

But now that I am reading 100 Years and it is interesting and so far enjoyable I am feeling tempted to read LTC and I do not want to completely judge the book based on the trailors for the movie becasue that would hardly be fair, but my insticnts are telling me just to stay away from the book.

So for anyone who has read Love in the Time of Cholara, just how romancy is the book? Does it have an in interesting story outside of the romance? Is it about more than just the romance?

Is there any chance of me enjoying it or should I just not go there.

[Scheherazade]

The Book Club read that one sometime ago if you would like to have a look:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32387&highlight=love

[Dark Muse]

Thank you I might have to check out the link to get a gist of the book to see if I think I might like it or not

[MissScarlett]

I read Love in the Time of Cholera and loved it, and I loathe romances. For me, it was more a tale of a lifelong obsession than a romance. Some people would see it differently, I know, but I didn't think there was all that much romance in it. There was some, true, but there was more lust and obsession than real romance.

[IJustMadeThatUp]

I wouldn't class it as your typical romance either. I agree with MissScarlett, it's more about the lead up to romance, if that makes sense.

[Wilde woman]

I haven't read Love in the Time of Cholera nor have I seen the movie yet, though I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude a few months ago. Obviously I'm a bit biased when I say finish OHYoS before moving on...but I really loved it and thought it was an incredible introduction to Marquez's work. Come to think of it, I should go write a review in the book review section...

As for book-based movies, I try to read the books before seeing the movies. But when that doesn't happen and a movie actually inspires me to read a book (not very often), the book is invariably better than the movie.

[Dark Muse]

I read Love in the Time of Cholera and loved it, and I loathe romances. For me, it was more a tale of a lifelong obsession than a romance. Some people would see it differently, I know, but I didn't think there was all that much romance in it. There was some, true, but there was more lust and obsession than real romance.

It is not like Cold Mountain or Attonement is it? Never read the books but thought the movies were god-awuful

[MissScarlett]

It's not like those movies, not really. It's definitely a movie that could only take place in the tropics, for one thing. However, it does concern a lifelong love, even if there isn't much real romance in it.

Now, I hate the romance novels. I abhor those. Love In the Time of Cholera is not like a romance novel. It's not a bodice ripper, either, but it does center around one man's inability to "let go" over his entire lifetime. I would say love and obsession are the themes of the book. But it's more comical, it's not like "Oh, I'll love you forever," like "Atonement" and "Cold Mountain." It's not sappy or sentimental.

[Dark Muse]

Hehe good, I hate sappy and sentimental

[PoeticPassions]

I LOVED Love in the Time of Cholera.... Marquez writes with so much passion. Each sentence can take your breath away. I think it is about love, about sexuality, about desire, etc. I think it is less of a romance than any Austen novel.. and in my opinion much better than any Austen novel. I also watched Atonement and Cold Mountain (the former was quite long and sappy and the latter wasn't bad) but I definitely think that Love in the Time of Cholera beats these out completely.... it is about a journey, about degradation, about old age.... the tragedy of fulfilled love (in my opinion). If you like Marquez I don't see why you wouldn't enjoy this book!

Give it a try! :)

[Silas Thorne]

Thanks Poetic Passions, I'll give this book a read. It sounds like it's worth it. :) Yes, hate sappy and sentimental too, Dark Muse.

[dmm]

I LOVED Love in the Time of Cholera.... Marquez writes with so much passion. Each sentence can take your breath away. I think it is about love, about sexuality, about desire, etc. I think it is less of a romance than any Austen novel.. and in my opinion much better than any Austen novel. I also watched Atonement and Cold Mountain (the former was quite long and sappy and the latter wasn't bad) but I definitely think that Love in the Time of Cholera beats these out completely.... it is about a journey, about degradation, about old age.... the tragedy of fulfilled love (in my opinion). If you like Marquez I don't see why you wouldn't enjoy this book!

Give it a try! :)

As a Spanish (I have read the book and watched the film in their original language) I definitively agree with you, PoeticPassions. Although the film is good, the book is breath-taking, and Márquez see deeply into the main character´s life, whereas the film focus on romance and lust. But this is one of this rare cases in which both book and film are good.:yawnb:

[mono]

I fear that almost every other Márquez fan will send me death threats for posting this, but I had a bit more of a preference for Love in the Time of Cholera than One Hundred Years of Solitude. I think it reads with about the same difficulty, only there exist less names to memorize, like a reader has to do in One Hundred Years of Solitude, but Love in the Time of Cholera reads with so much more emotion and warmth; the reader ends up feeling caught up in the sorrows, abandonments, appetites, and happiness of the main character.
Having also seen the film adaption, the film in no way resembled even a sliver of the novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, not surprisingly. As always, directors Hollywood-ized it, making it brainless and more romantic; to answer your more specific question, it does not resemble Atonement to any degree - a good story, somewhat clever, but mindless (then again, I have never read the book).
I probably do not seem as superior opinion as some others, as I have only read these two novels by the author, but I consider it well worth the read.

[Pecksie]

It is not like Cold Mountain or Attonement is it? Never read the books but thought the movies were god-awuful

Both books are wonderful... it would be a pity if you passed them up because you didn't like the movies.

[Dark Muse]

Well I am not really into romance

[Pecksie]

Well I am not really into romance

Actually I wouldn't define either of these books as 'romance' --- 'Cold Mountain' is as much about nature (some incredibly lyrical descriptions there), survival, and the horrors of war as it is about love --- and 'Atonement' is about the havoc a child's actions can wreak on the people around her --- or, if you prefer, about the many ways in which we can ruin our fellow humans' lives. Both are as far from the conventional romance story as Dostoyevsky is from Paulo Coelho.

[mono]

Well I am not really into romance
As a warning, Love in the Time of Cholera has a lot of romance, intimacy, and affectionate scenes, but not in the sense of those trashy paperback romance novels that seem to come, not ironically, an average of every 28 days. It contains very poetic romance in a similar sense to Victor Hugo, Emily Brontë, or D.H. Lawrence novels, and often a painful, longing romance, which reminds me of an Emily Dickinson quote ("affection is like bread, unnoticed until we starve for it").
If you give it a chance, Dark Muse, let us know what you think of it. ;)