Well, Fermina's father had arranged the marriage between her and Urbino to get her away from Florentino. During that period, young girls had to repect their fathers and all the males that had the upper hand so she really had no choice but to listen to him.

What really surprised me is that Fermina was the one who barely let out her emotions. She was very contained and that's shocking since psychologically speaking women are the ones who are more in touch with their feelings and they're the one who like to "connect more".

There was a sisterhood between her and her older cousin possibly because her mother died when she was very young and also her aunt who she would read to in the park when she was little also passed away, so she sought comfort and looked up to her older cousin.

I Finished!

In the letter Fermina wrote some of the most hurtful, horrible things a person could imagine to Florentino. But he still mistakened the letter as a token of her love. Meanwhile Fermina is heartbroken and depressed. She is grieving the loss of her husband and doesn't know what to do with herself anymore. Everything reminds her of him, so she decides to get rid of all his things by giving them away to her children in hopes that it will help her forget him and forget that he is no longer with her. She is enranged with the thought that Florentino would have the nerve to announce his love for her at the time of her husband's death and during that same time, Florentino is haunted by the thought of death.

He then decides to take America, the 14 year old out for some icecream and he then tells her that he wants to get married. Well she laughs and says that old men don't get married. After he reads Fermina's letter he writes back apologizing and then sher writes back apologizing to him too. So I guess they're back on good terms.

But America becomes jealous that Florentino no longer wants to be involved with her and swears to track down the other woman but then she backs off and finally accepts his rejection of her.

A year after Urbino's death, Florentino goes to his memorial and Fermina is happy to see him. She seeks comfort in reading his letter because it lightens up her grief.

For two weeks Florentino doesn't write to Fermina but one day he shows up at her house unexpectedly. She lets him in but he suddenly becomes sick and he leaves. The next day he sends her a letter apologizing for what had happened. She accepts and tells him to come back whenever he wants. The next week he comes back and talks about their past, she gets mad and asks him to leave. He comes back the following week once again brings up their past but this time she laughs and they both blush.

However Fermina's kids have a different opinion of Florentino and Ofelia her daughter doesn't like him. One day Florentino falls and breaks his ankle and has to stay in bed for a few weeks. He is then worried that he might die before geting better and before seeing Fermina once again. They still communicate through letters and she then realizes how much she misses him.

Once he's better he invites Fermina to go on a cruise with him on a sboat, she happily accepts excited to finally get out of her house. Once they're on the boat. she suddenly feels sad and wants to cry so Florentino gives her her space. She then suggest that they go to deck and she continues to cry. He asks if he should leave her alone but she insists that he stays. When they are about to come back on land, Florentino then has this idea and makes the captain wave the flag of cholera. Because everyone thinks that the ship is infested with cholera, no one lets them come into any of the ports. Which means that the only place for them is on the ship out on the open water, ans that's where they choose to remain.

This book was long but it truly was a beautiful story. What interests me is that usually the women are the ones who are so intact with their emotions and they're the ones who hold on to sentiments like this, but in this case, it was the man who did it and I found that so sweet.


Anyways, on my recent trip to Blockbuster, I noticed that the movie version is finally out and available to rent so I can't wait to watch it because I have so many images in my head from reading the book that I'm excited to visualize it, so I'll get back to you soon!

To celebrate the century, Fermina and Urbino take the first ride in the hot air balloon. She wants to go visit her city where she grew up in but cant because it is infested with cholera. Anyways, when she comes back, Florentino sees Fermina's reflection in a mirror at an inn and ends up buying the mirror as to preserve her reflection forever. He then watches her for over a year. He wataches her house, where he never sees her at and he also looks for her at mass but he never sees her there either. He has no idea where she could be.

Well the reason for her disappearance is this: She decided to go stay with her cousin on the ranch for some time because she discovered an unsual scent on her husband's clothing and thinks he is having an affair. So she leaves quietly, without a scandal and they only discuss formally about their children.

Well her suspicions were right. She pokes around in his office but finds no trace of an affair. She then deicdes to confront him. Now that Urbino knows that his wife is on to something, he immediately ends his affair with a 27- year old Barbara Lynch. He tells Fermina that he feels as if he is going to die and she responds with, "It may be for the better". He finally ends up confessing to her, telling her everything, and she of course is in rage.

She then leaves for her cousin's house and after some time. Urbino goes after her, well Fermina forgives him, goes back with him, but makes him pay for the pain he has caused her. Then Floretino sees Fermina one day and decides he must renounce his love for her. It then occurs to himn that Fermina might die beofe him so he has to do something quick. He is then promoted both president and manager of his company and decides that he can love more than one person without being unfaithful. So he calls up this girl who is a prostitute and ends up paying for love; something he promised he would never do.

He then floats over to another girl; 14 year old America Vicuna. One day he hears bells signaling a funeral. When asked who had passed, he found out it was Urbino. He didn't feel good about this as he thought he would but rather scared because it dawned on him that it could've been him. He goes back to Fermina and once again promises her his ever lasting love. He then makes himself sick over all this stress and one night he finds a letter from Fermina in a puddle outside of his house.

I wonder what it says..

Once Floretino sees Fermina on her return from Europe, in her 6th month of pregnancy, he made it his life long goal that he ewas going to get her, sooner or later, and for that to happen, Dr. Urbino had to die. But not in a violent way, Florentino made up his mind that he was going to wait, even if it meant waiting for a lifetime.

Florentino starts working as a poet in the market place. Meanwhile, his mother redid the whole house in preparation for Fermina's arrival but came down with a disease. Florentino on the other hand, started bringing different women to different places; clearly he's breaking down from everything that's going on around him. He meets a woman, Auscensia Santander and he ends falling in love with her house. Anyways she's married but that doesnt stop them from having an affair for seven years. One day while they were laying in bed together at her house, Florentino heard a noise and when she went up to go look, everything in the house had been stolen. On the wall was a message: That's what you get for messing around". Blackmail; whoever did it knew what she was up to. Her husband thought it strange that she never reported the robbery. He then meets another woman by the name of Leona. he almost begins to tell her about Fermina when Dr. Urbino takes cover in his office from a cyclone. Florentino knows who Urbino is but Urbino doesn't have a clue. Florentino then realizes that they are both the victims of the same thing; Fermina. Urbino is the only many that understands the love that Florentino feels for Fermina because he feels it to. But there's competiton.

I wonder what's going to happen..

I now know the connection between Dr. Urbino and the rest of the story! Remember that arranged marriage that Fermina's father had set up for her? Well he's the lucky guy. But this chapter is written in retrospect so we'll start from the beginning.

So a young Dr. Urbino just stepped off the boat from Paris where he had continued his studies in medicine and surgery. Handsome-looking guy, had all the chicks drooling over him too. He comes back to his hometown, to find it in shambles. His father had died from cholera, which if you don't know what that is, because I sure don't, it's an illness caused by bacteria that infects the intestinal system of the body. So anyways, his father had died of that when he was in Paris. Anyways he comes back home and makes his daily rounds to his patients. He then paid a house visit to take Fermina's pulse one day, kind of like a check-up. He then gave her a compliment and when Fermina heard her friends giggle, she got angry and slammed the door in his face. Her father had heard what happened so he made her apologize to Dr. Urbino and invited him in for a drink. He would talk about his daughter, showing her off and basically trying to fix them two up. But Fermina was still devastated because this was after all that had happened with Florentino; she was still grieving. However, the arranged marriage was set. When Floretino heard the news of Fermina engaged to a doctor, he was devastated, in fact so devastated that he began to sleep with a widow for 6 months.


So now, we know what chapter one is all about. But I still want to know why Dr. Urbino had killed himself.. was it because of Fermina or something else?

Lol okay thanks for clearing that up because I have more to add to the last post.

So anyways they continue this system of secret letters and they end up falling in love for each other. Florentino then decides to stand outside at night and serenaede her with a violin solo. A war breaks out and he is put in prison because he is believed to be a spy. Florentino then asks for her hand in marriage and she accepts. Meanwhile, Fermina's father finds out about their secret love and then tries and talks to Florentino and then to Fermina. To try and split them up, he takes Fermina on a trip to her cousin's house where they spend a year and a half traveling. By that time he figures that Fermina has forgotten about Florentino and sets up an arranged marriage for her for when they return. When they return, Florentino spots her and follows her as she shops around but when he confronts her, she bascially tell him to forget it. But he waits, he waits for 51 years, 9 months, and 4 days where he offers his eternal love for her once again, now that she's a widow.

It's a good book, just kind of confusing, but I deffinitly recommend it. Well I'm not sure, maybe there could be a connection between cyanide and love, something like love is poisonous? Because he did mention that this was the first suicide that Dr. Urbino has seen that had nothing to do with love and it seemed that Armour's mistress had been faithful to him so hopefully that will all be cleared up later in the book.

As I've continued my reading, I've been introduced to the main characters, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. These two were involved in a troubled love affair which had ended fifty one years ago. And Florentino still thinks about her to this day. The way they met was Florentino was working for a Germain immigrant who taught him Morse Code (which I have no idea what that is) but anyways that adds to his mysterious character and all the girls in his social circle practically drool over him. But one day, he sees Fermina, who was in the park reading to her aunt and he fell head over heels for her. He goes home and writes this immense love letter and is panning to give it to Fermina. But his mother gives him the advice to hold back some for he might scare her and come off as an obsessed stalker, so he waits. Meanwhile, Fermina notices him and her aunt tells her that the only reason why he won't come over to them is because she's there and that she predicts he will send Fermina a letter (which is strange). So one day, Fermina is sitting by herself on the park bench when Florentino comes along and offers the letter but she says she can't take it without her father's permission. He insists she takes it so she tells him to come by the park everyday and wait until she changes her seat. One day she does so and he gives her the note again, but it wasn't the big long letter that he was planning on giving her before, instead it was a simple half page note in which he expresses his love and everlasting fidelity. She then tells him to leave and not come back until she tells him to.


So, here's what I'm wondering..

1) How does the whole Dr. Urbino play into this and

2) By the way Fermina reacted to his letter, did she ever love him back?