I tried. I really tried. But the story didn’t grab me.

This was the second of Marquez’s books that I have read. I am now convinced that he maybe one of the top three if not greatest literary minds. He created mysterious yet still familiar worlds where every story that we all know about life plays out. But like all his books the title misrepresents the sweeping magnitude of what it encompasses. This one is a story of love in every phase and type. From the classically romantic to the utterly disturbed. How it is birthed, nurtured, smothered, and reborn. It is a story of war, in the heart, in the land, as old as time. It is a story of aging and the regrets born of it. It’s madness, fantasy, bitter reality, and the relief of life all in one experience. I feel all the more human having read it. The madness in his books is what makes them all the more endearing to me; in a Big Fish kind of way. Much like in science fiction, these fantastical tales and settings are just a back drop for a deeply human story. The fact that Marquez reaches back into the past and not into the future for these awe inspiring stories is even more impressive. They also make some of the more disturbing parts more manageable because of the plot purpose they serve.

Though it took sometime to read, I loved the ending of this book. Marquez’s writing is so descriptive I was transported to Columbia with the oppressive heat, humidity and animals. It is a book to savor not gulp. (as if one could). In the time of our pandemic, there are so many parallels.

This is the most boring book I’ve ever read. Little dialogue, all about an obsession, and a creepy one at that. The whole book is just boring and lengthy description.

Greatest love story ever...

I really enjoyed reading this book.

This novel not only tells a compelling narrative chalked full of historical references and political undertones but it explores the nature of love. Western culture is polluted by superficial, half hearted narratives about love, it is refreshing to read about love with the lucidity or Marquez's writing.