Rating: 
Summary: Love and Exorcism in Latin America
Review: The animals live in a "state of nature" but the
people live in a state of anxiety, fear and panic
because of their myriad "demons." A 12 yr old girl who may or may not be possessed,
sends her town into an uproar, and becomes the object (at the same time) of blind, uncontrollable love, and blind, uncontrollable fear. It sounds bleak perhaps, yet it is a funny and tongue-in-cheek book, with much wicked humor
derived from the pronouncements and actions of the local officials of the Catholic Church, medical wisdom, parental "love", married love, lust in the dust, superstition, and book-learning. For me it did not have the impact of 100 yrs of Solitude, but GGM is older and slowing down a bit, but still
a book that is finely written (even reading
in translation).
Rating: 
Summary: I was never emotionally engaged...
Review: The writing was beautiful - though I could tell something was lost in the translation. The author's characters are unique and vibrant - but the writing only allows us to know them from a great distance. I love the premise of the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a lost chapter from Macondo....
Review: This book drew me in immediatley...Marquez is a master storyteller...a girl with rabies taken to be possesed is left caged like an animal amid her own excrement in some monastery....it is a priest who has lived among books that comes to help her and finds himself falling in love...Marquez mixes the grotesque with the beautiful, making this love story unlike any other I've read...the book is an enchanting read like a litlle lost chapter from Macondo....
Rating:
Summary: Garcia has lost his power to grasp
Review: This book was interesting, in that the author turned a cliched myth into a magical story. But he has lost his power to grasp his readers, like in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The imagery are becoming a little excessive in some parts of the book. It was good that it was kept short, as his other novels.
Rating:
Summary: one of the most affecting & profound books in the world
Review: this book was so beautifully written that it hurt me to read it. it was like being deeply in love and getting my heart broken.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: This is one of those books that you don't want to put down, I think most people who read it did so in one sitting. I don't really know how to describe it, there isn't some evident charm in the writing, actually it is quite direct. But while you read it you realise that it is captivating and enchanting, the words draw you in like a magic spell and you don't discover how much you like it until when you put it down for good with much sadness. This is a story of a Columbian girl of noble backround. We learn early on that her parents are actually unworthy of their nobility, for they are emotionless and hateful, married out of obligation instead of love. And instead of seeing their daughter Sievra Maria as a token of love, they see her as the shackle that forces them together. They abandon her to be raised by slaves.On an occasion, Sievra Maria is bitten by a rabid dog, and in a desperate attempt to make up for his neglect, her father sends her off to be healed by a group of nuns. They quickly interpret her odd behavior as a sign of Satanic possesion, when in fact most of it is a result of her upbringing among slaves. Her healer, a librarian turned priest quickly falls in love with her despite the odds, and the book turns into a love story that breaks the heart. Nice plot, nice writing, very very nice piece of literature.
Rating:
Summary: it's like a dreamy, historical fairytale
Review: this is the first book by garcia marquez i have ever read, and it was impressive. the language is lovely, the storyline is moving. a good read.i give it 5 stars, not because i loved it (i liked it a lot, as opposed to loving it), but because i recognize the quality of the work.
Rating:
Summary: CAUTION: Do not read like a love story!
Review: To all those who will read this novel for the first or even the second time, do not think or assume this is a love story! "Of love" is an extremely interesting tale about myths, customs, and how individuals are singled out by the society that fosters these beliefs. In this story love is an outcome of the situation that the two main characters are forced to be in by society. Dear readers, when reading this story do not forget that every society has its own myths and beliefs. Marquez is exploring those beliefs of a latin american country during colonial era. Myths and customs still plays an important role in the thinking of many latin american countries. In order to understand its central theme, read this novel many times and, if you are able, read it in Spanish. And please do not assume this is plainly a love story!
Rating:
Summary: Trying to find a not so good book by GGM?....keep looking.
Review: When I was half way through the book I was thinking that it must've been GGM's training for writing later "100 years..." or "Love in time of Cholera". However, when I was on the second half, I couldn't help falling in love with the book, it clearly doesn't match GGM's best works, but it is still a book written by one of the best authors ever born, a novel that maintains the author's writing characteristics that amazed us before: his incredible command of Magic-Realism or the charm of his strange and intense various characters, all of this combined with his master in storytelling. Lately in my reviews, I like to recommend what book is good to start reading an author, and I think that "of love and other demons" is a good choice, it's very representative of GGM's style (as opposed to "Chronic of a foretold death" that maybe be awesome but not representative of the whole author's work) but not his best. So after reading and loving this book (surely) "Love in time..." and "100 years..." will be just too much. That it isn't the best of Garcia Marquez doesn't mean anything. Could easily be one of the best books you've read.
Rating:
Summary: Once again a classic.
Review: Whilst 'Of Love and other Demons' deals with an extraordinarily driven yet inherently sad love story, it includes none of the subtle, gentle comedy of 'Love in the Time of Cholera', nor does it include the lengthy, dense atmosphere present in 'One Hundred years of solitude'. The bones of this tale are simple. At the centre of the story is Sierva Maria, daughter of Don Ygnacio de alfaro y Duenas, Lord of Darien, and Bernarda Cabrera, wealthy Lord and Lady of a Colonial Colombian seaport. Sierva Maria leads a bizarre home life. Her father is introduced as a man who 'lives in fear of being alive' whilst her mother is an addict of violent sex, cacao and fermented honey who similarly describes herself as 'a dead woman'. As both estranged parents shun their child because they hate what they see of one another in her, Sierva Maria is essentially raised by the household slaves. Strangely it appears that the only people in the novel not enslaved to the hardship, convention and routine in society are those enslaved to slavery itself. Due to this, Sierva Maria leads a relatively happy childhood, albeit in bizzare and unconventional fashion. However, Sierva Maria's lifestyle is brought to an abrupt end when she is bitten by a rabid dog, introducing the possibility of disgrace falling upon her family. Though there is absolutely nothing to indicate she has actually contracted rabies, her lifestyle is finally noticed by higher authorities and it is believed this seemingly bizarre behaviour (mixing with African slaves) must constitute demonic possession. Hence she is delivered to the convent of Santa Clara, to the 'Pavilion of those interred in life'.
It is here that the love promised by the book's title, an emotion practically extinct in the first part of the novel where Sierva Maria's family is introduced, comes to light. Cayetano Delaura, the chief exorcist, an intellectual and promising young priest, promptly falls madly in love with the young girl.
Primarily, Marquez makes a subtle attack on religious hypocrisy, asking with this novel that if the church, an institution grounded in miracle and mystery, cannot find a way of tolerating what it does not immediately understand, how does society as a whole intend to deal with that which is unusual?
This novel is an undisputed classic, as we have come to expect from Marquez. Not only does he find time to weave a wonderful atmosphere and colourful characters during the novel's fairly short length, he also makes us think upon issues like the role and place of the family unit, childhood innocence, religion and it failings, and of course true love, 'The most terrible demon of them all'.
Hugely reccomended.
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