DONE

With:

This is a long, beautifully written, meandering, creepy "love" story that absolutely wasn't worth my time (although I read most of it at rehearsal, and that's where I had a lot of time). Nor, do I think, that it would be worth yours. It has been made into a movie, though, and I bet it could be done very well, because then someone could (and should) cut out all the creepy gross stuff (like enemas and affairs...put together!) and share a pretty story. It's rated R, though, so I'll never know.

What I do know is that I really don't like male characters who cannot seem to find a balance in their emotions, so I did not like lead character Florentino Ariza. The catch phrase for this story is, "How long would you wait for love?" But good old FA didn't have or wait for real love; he merely had a major obsession for possession. Real love wants, hopes, and yearns for the other person to succeed and find joy in their choices. Dreaming and scheming for some one's spouse to die probably wouldn't fall under the category of real love. Having affair after affair to satisfy your physical needs, but never marrying so that you can stay "true" to your love, is not real love. Bettering yourself would be something one would do for real love, but bettering yourself in the spirit of pride and competition...not so much. That's not love. In fact, nothing FA did would fall under the category of real love. He was merely selfish.

So, no, I did not enjoy this book. I absolutely do not recommend this book. I did, however, like Marquez's style of writing. It's detailed and descriptive. It's smart and insightful. It says things like this: "Florentino Ariza always forgot when he should not have that women, and Prudencia Pitre more than any other, always think about the hidden meanings of questions more than about the questions themselves." Ha! And this: "They had just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and they were not capable of living for even an instant without the other, or without thinking about the other, and that capacity diminished as their age increased. Neither could have said if their mutual dependence was based on love or convenience, but they had never asked the question with their hands on their hearts because both had always preferred not to know the answer." Hmmm...sounds like Marquez knows people well. The problem is, I just don't want to know the people he introduced me to.