Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Of all the women who nurtured and indulged him, but actually meant very little. I grew tired of listening to Florentino's sexcapades for the greater part of the book. Fermina's husband, by comparison, seems to have been the better choice after all, as he does leave one with a sense of his true love and caring.

Only in old age, when his tormented self-convincing 'love' for Fermina settles down into companionable affection is there any sense of realness about it. This would be an indication of a love less false. At no stage does he show any acceptance of Fermina's choice in marriage, or appreciation for her apparent happiness. His emptiness cries out to every lover in turn, and he 'loves' them all, if to a greater or lesser extent. His romantic martyrdom requires no honourable abstinence, no self-negation. At the same time, he's obsessed with sex, and uses up every female who allows him within spitting distance, to the point of paedophilia. I see in him a needy, obstinate and obsessive stalker who also wants his own way, regardless of the cost. Florentino undoubtedly sees himself as a poetically romantic hero who suffers his self-inflicted romantic martyrdom for 50plus years for the sake of his 'love'. In some ways, this could be regarded as high-mindedly selfish. He doesn't consult her feelings, and acts in an autocratic, paternalistic manner which is probably indicative of the times. Her father has different ideas and wants what HE thinks is best for her.

(I hope the following doesn't contain spoilers?!) As adolescents, Florentino and Fermina fall in love. A young person might regard it as romantic. Though it seems never to be conveniently contained, love flows through the novel in many wonderful guises - joyful, melancholy, enriching, and ever surprising. With humorous sagacity and consummate craft, Gabriel García Márquez traces an exceptional half-century of unrequited love. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he does so again. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. 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.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez