Love in the Time of Cholera

One of the things I like about following 'The List' is that it encourages me to finally read books by authors whose work I am familiar with, but have not read. Toni Morrison was one such author and Gabriel Garcia Marquez is another. I read his non-fiction News of a Kidnapping several years ago and enjoyed it very much, but this was my first foray into his fiction.

Love in the Time of Cholera is one of Marquez's best known works. It has been an Oprah choice, a major motion picture, and is the book people seem to mention most often in relation to this Colombian writer. The story literally covers the lifetime span of the major characters, the lovesick Florentino Ariza and his fifty year obsession with Fermina Daza. The book takes place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in an unnamed city on the Mediterranean. Florentino Ariza was the youthful suitor of Fermina Daza who took great pleasure in clandestine correspondence and hopeful talk of the future with Florentino. However, maturity and events lead her instead to marry Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a well-connected local doctor and philanthropist. Florentino Ariza decides to 'wait' for Fermina Daza, hoping that someday, should the good doctor die, she will eventually be his. Florentino has 600 'temporary' flings while waiting for her and leads what appears to be a conventional life to the outside world. However, his entire existence is based around waiting. And waiting. And waiting for Fermina Daza.

The book is a beautiful but challenging read. There is almost no dialogue and the detailed descriptions can be off-putting for some readers. I found that as long as I had a solid chunk of time to devote to it, the novel was great to read. This is definitely not one to pick up in dribs and drabs.

The best thing about this book for me was the subtext. On the surface, it is a relatively straight-forward meditation on the power and endurance of love. Still, I feel that there is a lot more happening than that. The character of Florentino Ariza inspires our sympathy, but when his actions are looked at objectively, he comes off more like a deranged stalker and terrible user of women- not the romantic figure he cuts on a surface reading. The book also tackles some of the enduring questions about old age and the many different faces of love. Definitely worthwhile to read, and one I've spent a lot of time thinking about since I put it down.

2008 Roundup

By my calculations, I read 26 books from 'The List' this year, plus another half dozen or more that were not on the list. Not bad considering I didn't get started in earnest until late spring. This year I'll need to make up for some lost ground. I'm most of the way through 'Love in the Time of Cholera' right now and received several more books for Christmas.

I am working from the first edition list of 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die. There was an updated version this year that changed several of the books, but I figure I'll stick with the one I started with.

It has been a great year of reading and I'm looking forward to seeing what new authors I'll discover this year.

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison is another lion of modern literature. Although her output is modest compared to some others of her generation, the quality of that output was high enough for her to earn just about every literary award there is, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. Still, as with many other authors of her caliber, I had yet to read any of her work until this year.

Song of Solomon is an amazing book and I'm glad it was the first Toni Morrison novel I read. The book is really about identity, especially identity for African Americans who are only able to trace their lineage back so far. The dedication reads, "The fathers may soar And the children may know their names".

The story concerns the Dead family: Macon, his wife, his son, and his two daughters in addition to his sister and her daughter and granddaughter. The main character is son 'Milkman' Dead (so named because of the fact that he breastfed until he could stand on his own feet). The story follows Milkman throughout his life from his younger days as a constant source of disappointment to his father through his joining and maintaining the family business and finally through his search for his grandfather's true identity. Along the way we meet an amazing cast of characters: First Corinthians and Magdalene called Lena, Milkman's sisters; Pilate, his semi-divine aunt; her daughter Ruth and her granddaughter Hagar who falls hopelessly and dangerously in love with Milkman.

Milkman's best friend Guitar offers a contrast to Milkman in both mission and temperament. While Milkman spends the majority of the book thinking of his own needs and trying to get ahead, Guitar has been led to a different path. Guitar belongs to a group that is trying to level the playing field between whites and blacks, with a surprising way of how to accomplish that.

The ending is somewhat ambiguous, but very satisfying. Milkman, facing Guitar down, learns to truly embrace the legacy of his grandfather's people as he learns to fly.

The story of this novel is excellent, but it is Morrison's prose that makes it so fantastic to read. It takes a couple dozen pages to fall into her cadence, but once you do, the story flows by like a river. I read a lot of books this year, but this one will definitely stand out in my mind for many years to come.