Love in the Time of Cholera

By: Gabriel García Márquez

Narrated by: Armando Durán

Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Classic, 2014

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude comes a masterly evocation of an unrequited passion so strong that it binds two people's lives together for more than half a century.

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he does so again.

With humorous sagacity and consummate craft, Gabriel García Márquez traces an exceptional half-century of unrequited love. Though it seems never to be conveniently contained, love flows through the novel in many wonderful guises - joyful, melancholy, enriching, and ever surprising.

©1988 Gabriel García Márquez (P)2013 Blackstone Audio

Love Explained

This masterful story tells us about a love affair that starts when the paramours were teenagers, is derailed when others interfere with love’s natural course, and takes you on a fifty-year journey for each of the lovers until . . . well, until their story resolves itself. Love in the Time of Cholera, By Gabriel García Márque, narrated by Armando Durán.

This is a master tale in Latin style, which examines the man/woman, woman/man rapport from dozens of perspectives. The story returns endless times to visit our heroine, Fermina Daza, throughout her childhood and married life, and finally into her aging years and examines her thoughts on love and intercourse not only from her mind but that of her husband, offspring, friends, and relatives. The novel tells endless vignettes (literary sketches) of small happenings in her and her family lives that give you a perfect dissection of why we act like we do when it comes to sex. It does the same but even more so for our hero, Florentino Ariza, who is smitten with Fermina from the first and takes a lifetime vow to be there when she becomes a free woman again, i.e. upon the death of her husband. Where Fremina’s vignettes tell us about the many emotions of married life, Florentino’s life was that of a bachelor and vagabond, so we learn of love between co-copulates.

Gabriel García Márque gets it all down on paper for your consideration (and much of the time consternation). There isn’t a situation between lovers he does not consider, analyze and provide us with a better understanding of human actions in affairs of the heart.

There is a ‘but’ here and it references back to my use of the phrase “tale in Latin style.” My reading of Latin American literature leads me to believe its essential ingredient is an endless review of every minutia of a story. Written in beautiful prose, but interminable isolated facts and resulting thinking by the characters. It can become tedious. Nevertheless, some of that is overcome with the very good reading by Armando Durán.

I suggest the read (hear) only if you wish to study human love and are a student of masterfully constructed literature. If you are looking for high suspense, well go elsewhere.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez style of writing is unique

I truly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed Gabriel Garcia Marquez style of writing. I may read more of his books. The book had a little bit of everything and it did go back to each characters past to explain their story. Overall it was a great book will definitely recommend to anyone.

Timeless Romance, brought to life by Armando Duràn

This story is one of the classic romances that will live on forever. I have read it more than once, but it had been a while and I needed some romance in my life, so I went in search of it again. I was so pleased to find it had finally been made into an audiobook, my life is busier than it used to be, so I was able to listen to it wherever I went. The narrator, Armando Duràn, was a perfect fit for this story. I mean perfect. The animation in his voice captures the passion of their love, the excitement and the sorrow. Every emotion was conveyed with such conviction, you would believe he wrote the story himself and was recounting from his own memory. His performance was impeccable and the story was lovely as ever. I would recommend this audiobook to everyone who wants the experience of a masterpiece novel, played out by an exceptional narrator.

Wildly entertaining but vaguely troubling

I pestered Audible so long about this book, having heard nothing but glowing things about it for so many years (and no time to read the paper version). So I rushed to put it in my queue as soon as it came out. Garcia Marquez has said that you have to be very careful not to fall into his trap. I wish I knew what he thought his trap was. Is it about love in old age? Is it about immorality disguised as faithfulness? Is it about the unreliability of the characters' appraisal of people and events? Is it about something else entirely? I will probably never know.

First of all, the prose is beautiful. Even in translation, you get the sense of an author with a gift for finding the right word and the felicitous phrase. The book is simply littered with insightful observations about life and humanity. Second, the characters are solidly created. We are interested in them, even as we sense that they may not be people we personally would like to know. And therein lies my uneasiness with this book. The more we get to know these characters, the more ordinary they seem, and--especially with Florentino--the more troubling their moral outlook on life becomes. Garcia Marquez leads us step by step down the proverbial primrose path, and I can follow as long as I suspend disbelief. I have more of a problem with it in the cold light of day.

Perfection! Sad that it ended!

The only bad thing I can say about this audio book is that it ended!
Gabriel Garcia Marquez brings a masterful work in this one, and I was hooked from the first words.
The narrator does a superb job on this and that is a credit as well to the translation into English. It is not too hard to follow, which was my initial concern.
The characters are deep and the story line is fabulous.

Pick this one up if you are looking for a wonderful listen!

What a sad story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really- I did not enjoy the story and found a lot of it to be quite sad and at times disturbing. I know this book takes place in a different time, but the yuck factor was there for me on several occassions.

Would you be willing to try another book from Gabriel García Márquez? Why or why not?

Several friends have suggested I try 100 Years of Solitude. I might give it a try but will definitely read a lot of reviews first.

A classic to be read

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would not change anything. The book is beautifully written. Shows cholera and the affects it has over generations in society and loving relationships.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Love in the Time of Cholera?

The last chapters were heartfelt and beautiful, showing aging and its remarkable qualities concerning love and its timelessness.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

There was a sing-song quality about his voice that was most annoying. High pitched to low pitched in most sentences throughout the whole book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes!

Any additional comments?

Please do have the book re-read by a different narrator. This book deserves to be read well. ( a suggestion would be the narrator that read the audible One Hundred Years of Solitude, by the same author. It was read beautifully)

A fascinating meditation on love and aging

This book is a meandering slice-of-life style story of a slow love triangle over three long lives. So it takes a bit of patience. But it's melodious and witty, and narrated with a lovely musicality. Thoughtful, meditative, and vivid. Good stuff if you can get into its rhythm.

This Story Sucks

These characters make bad decisions and are wishy washy. They are not admirable people. I just plain didn’t care who ended up with whom, and I sure got tired of hearing the sordid details of the Numerous sexual liaisons. bleh

One of my favorive books of all time.

Very nice performance of a classic book that I personally think is one of the best books ever written.