Love in the Time of Cholera

I got this book from the library because of how much I loved “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Maybe because of my high expectations, I found this book really difficult to get into until the end of the first chapter. Even then, this one wasn’t an easy read, but it’s one I keep thinking about after finishing it.

It follows the stories of two people who meet and start a secret relationship through letters, first because the father of the girl doesn’t allow for suitors and later because the father finds out about said relationship and the family moves to a far away town. The two continue this relationship until the girl returns, at which point she breaks things off. She gets married, he pursues lots of women but insists he’s saving his heart for her. The two of them start a relationship again some time after her husband dies, much to the dismay of her children.

At points, love is compared to a fever, much like cholera, which looms in the background of the story. It’s suggested that this “fever” is seen as scandalous after a certain age, as if at a certain point we should outgrow any desire for romantic love.