Love in the Time of Cholera, Part 2

Lately I've gotten in this habit of looking up a book on Wikipedia after I finish reading it, just to see what other people have had to say and some of the most interesting entries I've found are quotes about the books from the authors.  I read Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh a few weeks ago.  According to Wikipedia, it was recognized by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the 100 best English language novels written since 1923; however, in a letter to Graham Greene 5 years after its publication, Waugh apparently said that he had re-read the novel and was appalled.  Isn't that great to think about an author re-reading their own work years after it was published?  Makes me think about the book in a whole new way, thanks to Wikipedia.

Anyway, I read the Wikipedia entry on LITTOC after I finished reading it this morning and learned that Marquez once said "you have to be careful not to fall into my trap."  This has been interpreted to mean that you shouldn't just look at this book as a love story about a woman who marries another and the man who waits for her for over 50 years.  Does Marquez think we should not be sucked into being sympathetic for this man who so badly wants to be loved?  It's a real testament to the skill with which he lays that trap that he can make us cheer when a character who craps in his pants and molests a 14-year-old relative (who later commits suicide) finally wins the heart of his true love.  But I think that cheering for Florentino should give us hope - if Fermina can love him, then no one is unworthy of love.  Love is redemptive - it might not wash away our faults but if we can find one person to love us, then our faults have no power.  And I think its important that Florentino does not find that love until he and Fermina are both old and near death.  Maybe sometimes we have to grow old before we are lovable.  Which brings us with beautiful irony back to the beginning of the book where Jeremiah de Saint-Amour has committed suicide by cyanide at age 60 out of his refusal to never grow old, leaving the scent of bitter almonds that inevitably reminds Dr. Urbino of unrequited love.  GGM is my hero.

P.S. According to Wikipedia, the 2007 movie version of LITTOC was horrible and did not do the book justice at all.  I have trouble believing that anything with Javier Bardem could be that bad.  Anyone seen it?

Up next: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which comes highly recommended by my friend smgA.