A letter and a reply - September 1, 2003
Dear XXXXX,
I just finished reading the book “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Contrary to what you told me, the book was a drag. I, quite frankly, cannot understand why you find this author ‘amazing’.
To start with, I was unable to relate, in even the minutest possible way, to the setting. The author’s description of the town in which the story is set evoked images of the adyar river, the slums of Chennai and the madras port trust – each of these highly unlikely places to think about love leave alone finding it.
Even if the author’s objective was to unravel this tale of undying love in the harshest possible conditions to prove that love knows no place, class, or time, he could have done a much better job. The writing style although descriptive tended to get repetitive, tedious in parts and worse, even predictable. He simply failed to hold my attention.
I guess, the descriptions were tedious to accentuate the strife, the sheer monotony of the protagonist’s life and the unfailing patterns that one’s life seems to settle into. I believe that the author could have conveyed the same in about a hundred pages less.
I am absolutely disappointed in the characters in the novel. They are not strong. Not charismatic. Just weak and fundamentally flawed like most human beings. This is probably why the author is so highly regarded. If the author were to be rated on his ability to make the less than ordinary seem heroic and even noble, then he would probably score very high. Nevertheless his characters, in my opinion, lack depth and resolve.
Personally, I prefer characters like Howard Roark and Gail Wynand in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. They were also flawed but they were strong. There were other dimensions to their personality. They were driven by other passions besides love.
There is this one particular scene where the author describes a 72 and 76-year old couple making love – it was revolting and pathetic. Can you imagine your grandparent’s going at it like hormonally charged teenagers? Yuck!!! I just failed to see any beauty in it. I really do not have a problem with septuagenarians finding love, but I expect it to be dignified and mature. I also think that it is physically impossible for a 76-year old man to get it up. (Michael Douglas and Dev Anand will probably be exceptions)
The part I liked best is his description of death. People die in the most unremarkable and even hilarious ways. And the way a person dies maybe completely contradictory to the way one lives. A person can be a hero in real life but he could die having slipped in the bathroom - very tragic and hilarious but very real.
In any case, I didn’t really enjoy the book (as you’ve no doubt inferred). I had to finish it because I can’t leave one unfinished. Maybe, the English translation doesn’t do justice to the Spanish original. Maybe, to say “Gabriel Garcia Marquez is amazing” is the politically correct thing to say (at least to impress girls). Maybe promoting Latin American authors is another of America’s ploys to gain control of the South American economies. At the risk of not scoring brownie points with you, I must confess that I do not like this author. I would be really hard pressed to read another of his novels.
I also didn’t really figure that you liked mushy stuff like this. How wrong was I? If you haven’t already read, “Till we meet again” by Judith Krantz, please do and tell me that it makes far more pleasurable reading than this one.
I feel I should justify my reasons for launching into this book review. Under normal circumstances, I cannot imagine doing such a thing, but as of today, due to the Conditional Access System, all my favourite TV channels are off air.
Love
Vidyuth
P.S.: If you think that this letter is long and boring, you haven’t read anything yet. You should read the book. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this book more than I did.
Reply to my letter
hi
hey you didn't like the bit when the parrot fell into the soup shouting each man for himself it cracked me up. am rereading it and have enjoyed it terribly.
well am going to brave another long letter ripping a novel apart from you by suggesting that you read ‘alchemist’ and ‘By the river piedra i sat down and wept’ both by paulo coellho. you will probably hate both but i loved them and hey your letter carcked me up thanks again for the book
i then maybe should not ask you to read a hundred years of solitude ...ok ok i am grinning frankly strong strong characters piss me off there is just too much hype about personality and shit
heres to trashing more books in my very own readers critic club which includes two members you and me
love
XXXX
I just finished reading the book “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Contrary to what you told me, the book was a drag. I, quite frankly, cannot understand why you find this author ‘amazing’.
To start with, I was unable to relate, in even the minutest possible way, to the setting. The author’s description of the town in which the story is set evoked images of the adyar river, the slums of Chennai and the madras port trust – each of these highly unlikely places to think about love leave alone finding it.
Even if the author’s objective was to unravel this tale of undying love in the harshest possible conditions to prove that love knows no place, class, or time, he could have done a much better job. The writing style although descriptive tended to get repetitive, tedious in parts and worse, even predictable. He simply failed to hold my attention.
I guess, the descriptions were tedious to accentuate the strife, the sheer monotony of the protagonist’s life and the unfailing patterns that one’s life seems to settle into. I believe that the author could have conveyed the same in about a hundred pages less.
I am absolutely disappointed in the characters in the novel. They are not strong. Not charismatic. Just weak and fundamentally flawed like most human beings. This is probably why the author is so highly regarded. If the author were to be rated on his ability to make the less than ordinary seem heroic and even noble, then he would probably score very high. Nevertheless his characters, in my opinion, lack depth and resolve.
Personally, I prefer characters like Howard Roark and Gail Wynand in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. They were also flawed but they were strong. There were other dimensions to their personality. They were driven by other passions besides love.
There is this one particular scene where the author describes a 72 and 76-year old couple making love – it was revolting and pathetic. Can you imagine your grandparent’s going at it like hormonally charged teenagers? Yuck!!! I just failed to see any beauty in it. I really do not have a problem with septuagenarians finding love, but I expect it to be dignified and mature. I also think that it is physically impossible for a 76-year old man to get it up. (Michael Douglas and Dev Anand will probably be exceptions)
The part I liked best is his description of death. People die in the most unremarkable and even hilarious ways. And the way a person dies maybe completely contradictory to the way one lives. A person can be a hero in real life but he could die having slipped in the bathroom - very tragic and hilarious but very real.
In any case, I didn’t really enjoy the book (as you’ve no doubt inferred). I had to finish it because I can’t leave one unfinished. Maybe, the English translation doesn’t do justice to the Spanish original. Maybe, to say “Gabriel Garcia Marquez is amazing” is the politically correct thing to say (at least to impress girls). Maybe promoting Latin American authors is another of America’s ploys to gain control of the South American economies. At the risk of not scoring brownie points with you, I must confess that I do not like this author. I would be really hard pressed to read another of his novels.
I also didn’t really figure that you liked mushy stuff like this. How wrong was I? If you haven’t already read, “Till we meet again” by Judith Krantz, please do and tell me that it makes far more pleasurable reading than this one.
I feel I should justify my reasons for launching into this book review. Under normal circumstances, I cannot imagine doing such a thing, but as of today, due to the Conditional Access System, all my favourite TV channels are off air.
Love
Vidyuth
P.S.: If you think that this letter is long and boring, you haven’t read anything yet. You should read the book. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this book more than I did.
Reply to my letter
hi
hey you didn't like the bit when the parrot fell into the soup shouting each man for himself it cracked me up. am rereading it and have enjoyed it terribly.
well am going to brave another long letter ripping a novel apart from you by suggesting that you read ‘alchemist’ and ‘By the river piedra i sat down and wept’ both by paulo coellho. you will probably hate both but i loved them and hey your letter carcked me up thanks again for the book
i then maybe should not ask you to read a hundred years of solitude ...ok ok i am grinning frankly strong strong characters piss me off there is just too much hype about personality and shit
heres to trashing more books in my very own readers critic club which includes two members you and me
love
XXXX
posted by Chaani at 6:05 AM
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