'Love in the time of Cholera' is the first Gabriel García Márquez book that I picked up. I saved it for many days just for a perfect day to start reading it. After one year the perfect day did arrive and Marquez's writing did not leave me grudging.The story's a love triangle between Florentino Ariza (the jilted lover), Fermina Daza (who dismisses their relationship as just a teenage crush and moves on) and Dr. Juvenal Urbino (the man who woos and marries the lady). Undaunted, Florentino waits for 51 years, 9 months and 4 days for Juvenal Urbino to die; so he can propose again to his one and only true love. He even claims that all these years he had 'saved' himself for Fermina - 622 casual relationships not withstanding. Thankfully for him, love is rekindled.
It's moving, the way Marquez strings along the inevitability of old age and the daily trifles of ageing couples. As you put the book down, it just leaves you with one thought - that even at 80, love might feel the same as it did the first time at 16.
[Original pic by tricia ward photography]
