Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the time of cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Story of an eternal, obsessive love..

Florentino Arza's love for Fermina Daza was so overwhelming that it was the lifeline and driving force of his very existence. At the age of 20 when he fell in love, he was a  timid, pathetically love stricken bastard son of a single mother. When Fermina Daza rejected him returning all his love letters he was shattered completely. As his mother found out, lovesickness had the same symptoms of cholera, the epidemic of the time..

There came many women in his life for the fulfilment of physical and emotional needs, but none could get him out of his obsession or rather he never wanted to come out of it. He lived his life carefully, staying fit, climbing the social and career ladder to be worthy of her, because he wishfully believed one day she would be his. And that dream came true after half a century when both are septuagenarians. 

  Fermina Daza fell for the intense love of Florentino Ariza as a teenager. Her father took her away  for a year to break her love affair.They kept in touch via telegrams. But when she returned she suddenly found the pitiably love stricken man a stranger. She returned all his feverish love letters and ended the affair. She was always impulsive, unpredictable and with an air of haughtiness.  She married Dr. Juvenal Urbino, an esteemed physician of the city as per her father's wish. The young physician was not only from a notable family, but socially active and a very celebrated personality. They go on to live half a century in conjugal togetherness with official love. As the doctor puts it, What is most important in a  good marriage is not happiness but stability. 

  After her husband's death, when Floremtino Ariza vowed eternal love and absolute fidelity, she was mad with rage. But after a year, his more mature and sensible approach drew her close to him. Fermina Daza found a love at the age of 72, that was more appealing to her, somewhere between the intense and official love. Fermina Daza stands taller than the two male characters. 

    The book is of many forms of love between men and women. Maternal, eternal and obsessive, unrequited, ephemeral, platonic, abusive and loveless love making.. 

Yes, the book is delicious with humour splashed as a topping.. Well, it is the work  of a master craftsman and the taste is bound to linger for a long time..

Preetha Raj