Of Love and Other Demons: A Novel by Gabriel García Márquez (Vintage International)

Amazon Customer: Eclectic eccentric well observed

United Kingdom on Jun 23, 2023

Ann/Blue: I had a very controversial opinion. I was not a fan of Marquez's writing and storytelling pattern until I decided to take another chance and I was wrong. I am now a fan of his writing.

India on Feb 22, 2023

Kushagra Tewari: Read Marquez for the first time and I am sad that I got to know about his work so late. Beside this novel, his stories are worth loving as well. One may come out of reading selective genres after reading Marquez.

India on May 19, 2021

E: 3.5 stars. Surprisingly, this is my first book by Marquez! (Rather ashamed of that actually...) The story is a combination of wild, human and horrible. There’s a lot to be thought of with the connection between the title and events.

But, really, it wasn’t the story that this was about, it was the over the top, brilliant, invocative writing. Someone is not fat they, are ‘titanically corpulent.’ Just Reading this for the turn of phrase was enjoyment enough.

It’s weird thinking of DeLaura and Maria’s relationship, remembering she is TWELVE and he’s in his THIRTIES. Not entirely acceptable... but DeLaura did not feel like a horrible character - I sort of forgot the age difference (interesting in of itself).

I’d like to read some more Marquez - particularly ‘100 years of solitude’ - for the language if nothing more.

I’d this magical realism? Considering he’s practically credited with inventing the genre, and looking at other reviews I’d say yes. But it doesn’t feel like that. It seemed that every ‘magical’ occurrence was more like people seeing what they wanted to see. Very interesting.

United Kingdom on Jan 25, 2020

Amit.lakshya.verma: Hi friends,

This is Gabo @gabrielgarciamarquez this time with his #magicalrealism.
This is my second #gabo book after #100yearsofsolitude both published by #penginbooks.
.🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️
.

This book is about love which can sprout in most unpredictable circumstances and about love ve which can rot in a corner of neglected relationships.
.📕📕📕📕📕

Marquez and his wife are in disillusionment about their aging marriage and right then to exacerbate their poor destiny a rabid dog bites their daughter Maria; who bears the burden of this small bite on ankle throughout the story.
..
🧔🧔🧔🧔🧔.
.

Burden is heavier than rabies. It is burden of dogma, taboo, demons, forced faith and unexpressed truths of human psyche.
.
Story is written in his masterful, effortless prose.
When he say someone walking in ankle deep sewer you can smell it and when he describes bones of oxen in front of rusty factory, you can imagine it; unbearably close.
.⛲⛲⛲⛲.

Book is small, can be read in two days and a good one to converse with master writer who has won #nobelprize in...

India on May 23, 2019

Lauren: My journey with Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márque transitioned from a long and arduous journey to one of appreciation and admiration for a great classic. The book is about the decision of one father to put his daughter into a convent following an incident where she is bitten by a rabid dog at a South American seaport. There, she is determined to be possessed by a demon and a Priest is designated to keep watch over her--only to realize that he is in love with the girl.
When I first picked up this book, it was for the purpose of challenging myself to read it entirely in Spanish. Within the first 40 pages, however, I found that I simply did not have the time to labor over every page and that I would be better off simply reading it in English. Thus, I started over with an English copy of the book. The English copy, surprisingly, did not go much better for me at the beginning, because there are dozens of characters that are mentioned in the first chapter alone that I could not separate within my mind. This was quite a challenge for me, especially because I felt that the characters were often indistinguishable from one another--there were multiple marquis, bishops,...

United States on Mar 22, 2013

A.Kelly: When I first picked up Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Of Love and Other Demons, I did not think that a love story about pedophilia could ever move me. Marquez, a master of his craft, proved me wrong. Set in eighteenth century Columbia, the compact, powerful novel presents Sierva Maria--the child of disinterested aristocrats--and her love-struck exorcist, Father Cayetano Delaura.

Reading Of Love is like floating. Marquez's poetic prose guides you along, and you are lulled by the meditative seduction of his words. He relies on simple dialogue. There are no agonizing sermons here. There are only sparse phrases and acerbic banter, language that stirs you in your gut. Yet, Marquez cannot take all the credit. Edith Grossman's expert translation creates beautiful, natural writing, which says as much about her command of the English language as it does about Marquez's skill.

Marquez taps into themes of love and decay, of spirituality and sanity, and of sex and disgust. His doomed characters "live in fear of being alive," as each confronts demons--some real, some imagined, all burning. The novel is appropriately feverish, as disease itself becomes a leading player in the story....

United States on Mar 21, 2013