Florentino Ariza is a hopeless romantic who falls passionately for the beautiful Fermina Daza. Instead Fermina marries a distinguished doctor, while Florentino can only wait silently for her. He can never forget his first and only true love. Then, fifty-one years, nine months and four days later, Fermina's husband dies unexpectedly. At last Florentino has another chance to declare his feelings and discovers if a passion that has endured for half a century will remain unrequited, in a rich, fantastic and humane celebration of love in all its many forms.
A protagonist more malignant than the epidemic
If you care for a hero with a strong character try "One Hundred Years of Solitude" because this book is definitely not for you. Although not in the same vein as Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter or the evil-willed woman in John Steinbeck's "East of Eden", the character of Florentino Arriza is an odd creature to be called a hero at all. While a character without defects may be a boring one, the protagonist in this novel had been peppered with one too many: an introvert stalker, opportunist sex addict, a pedophile and a murderer. Add a conniving mother who even acts as his pimp. The storytelling is great (what else would motivate millions of readers worldwide to finish the book if not for superb storytelling?)Told in the signature tell don't show fashion with hints of wit and a lot of humour the novel is, to me, proof of the true greatness of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as an author. The Nobel laureate will charm - no, beguile - readers into looking the other way through all this for after all he reserves his heart only for Fermina Daza. No wonder the book was referred to as "Love In The Time Of Don't Bothera" in the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" The hero is the malady.
Ely, 11/05/2009
