97. ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I was asked by a friend a couple of days ago, (shout out here to the lovely Goz), whether I’d ever received a love letter. After thinking about it a little while I concluded that No, I hadn’t. So lets bypass how unromantic this is for me (a boo hoo!) and tell you that this made me think about the latest book on my list - which is ALL about the love letters, with the main character writing one at least everyday. Love in the Time of Cholera in fact could probably not be written by Mr Marquez if he wanted to write again and set it in the modern day, as I’m not entirely sure if love letters are still even written these days? This is not a rhetorical question, if any of you readers have either written and sent a love letter, or received one, I’d like to know. And I mean letter letter, not a love ‘email’, or a love ‘text’, or any other form of written romance via a social media network. Anyone? Or have you all received hundreds and its just little old tragic me?!

So anyway, I seem to digress. Yes, this book is in its most simplistic terms, all about love. First love, married love, illicit love, lost love, fast love, old love, new love, and of course everyone’s old friend, unrequited love. Love is at the very heart of this tale which follows three characters over a span of more than 60 years, as they experience love in all its lovely deliciously heartbreaking forms. Florentino is the epitome of a hopeless romantic, which at different times is sweet, disturbing and annoyingly frustrating. He is besotted with Fermina and basically lives his life to love her but is denied the opportunity and so often looses his way.. As long as we bypass the bordering on paedophilic relationship he has at one point in the book (which is somehow not as disturbing as it sounds), he is painfully romantic, and just a little bit OTT. Set in the Caribbean, this book takes you on a wonderfully vivid journey through the lives of these characters as they grow and change along with the world around them, and into their different roles throughout their lives.

If I am learning anything as I make my way through this reading list, its that the old adage that ‘you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ is proving quite true, although in my case I shouldn’t judge on its title. I wasn’t looking forward to reading Love in the Time of Cholera at all - thinking that it would be epic, dusty, heavy and for some reason full of soul searching and death. And it’s not. It’s poetic, wildly romantic and even funny. I can see why so many people voted for this one – I’ve literally just finished it on the train (see pic below – wonderful lighting courtesy of Arriva Trains Wales) and as I write I’m already looking forward to reading this again in the future. I expect as it covers all forms of love, as the reader you’d enjoy and identify with different aspects of the story at different milestones in your life making it one to keep re reading until you can no longer find your old lady reading glasses. So, a good one. Hurrah!