Of Love and Other Demons


I just finished Gabriel García Márquez's book Of Love and Other Demons. It's only the second book of his I've read. The first was One Hundred Years of Solitude which is quite amazing and one of my favorite novels. That's a hard act to follow and I have to admit some disappointment with this newer novel. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, I just was hoping for more.


Of Love and Other Demons is the story of a girl who is accused of being possessed by demons. The story takes place in an unnamed Latin American port city in the time of slave trade and Spanish colonialism. As the story unfolds the girl is imprisoned in a convent to await her exorcism. There she encounters a young scholarly priest and an illicit and tragic love affair follows.


What really makes this book isn't the story, however, it's Gabriel García Márquez's writing. Even though it's translated from Spanish the sentences are alive and full of color. I can only imagine how good it must be in it's orginal form.


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