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Siobhan's Reviews > Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
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I learned that I will never be a great writer, because sometimes, there are people like Marquez, who manage to write such an amazing piece of art without making it ponderous, pretentious, or difficult.
It's not really about the plot, is it? A guy is in love with a girl, and waits for her for 50-odd years, while conducting his own affairs.
Here's the thing, though. The way the story is told is segue-free, almost conversational, but with such sumptuous detail and description, that it can only be explained as an absolute justification specifically for the written word. No other format for this story would be good enough.
It made me crave to read it in the original Spanish, though. There were paragraphs that I knew did not carry the same weight in English (and this translation is really beautiful) that it would have in Spanish.
Amazing book. Really. Please read it.
It's not really about the plot, is it? A guy is in love with a girl, and waits for her for 50-odd years, while conducting his own affairs.
Here's the thing, though. The way the story is told is segue-free, almost conversational, but with such sumptuous detail and description, that it can only be explained as an absolute justification specifically for the written word. No other format for this story would be good enough.
It made me crave to read it in the original Spanish, though. There were paragraphs that I knew did not carry the same weight in English (and this translation is really beautiful) that it would have in Spanish.
Amazing book. Really. Please read it.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
May 1, 2007
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Finished Reading
June 26, 2007
– Shelved
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Nicole
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 11:23AM)
(new)
Jun 26, 2007 09:18AM
I read 100 years of Solitude a long time ago and was so sucked in I felt like I was in a romantic vortex dream that I never wanted to wake up from. Not a bad place for a book to take you...
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Yes, I agree about the feel of this, seemingly free of artifice and segues, and I too felt the same - it is probably amazing in Spanish.
I spent several months reading this in Spanish with an copy in English to help me through it. Definitely better in spanish. I wish I had tackled "A 1000 Years Of Solitude" instead. A much better book.
I read it in italian, my mother tongue, and I was really curious to hear how it sounded in spanish, so I went on youtube looking for the audio book version. Fortunately, for us italians is very intelligible, so I was able to follow with the italian version in my hands. It's a whole another experience
i agree with you that the author of thios book uis a great !!!!! i like this book!!!!!!!
What a gorgeous review, Siobhan! I agree that Marquez is a magnificent author.
You hardly need segues when you have incessant digression
I wish my Spanish was better!! How lovely to be able to read in intended language!!
As it is I’m afraid I’ll have to put it down on page 147. There are so many phrases that are repetitive and I do not think they would be if I was reading in Spanish. But I don’t read Spanish that well. Sad.
Exactly. I am starting to learn Spanish next month and Marquez (and I. Allende too, to be honest) is one of the reasons. It will take some time for sure but I really need to read it in Spanish one day�
