Let's imagine Columbia in the 18th century, with its strong cultural and religion influence from Spanish colonial government. Alongside with the colonial government, there was also African slaves society with their religion and their own culture. There was also indigenous tribes with their own hatress towards colonial.

In the middle of those complicated lives with no one understand their own soul, Sierva Maria was born. She was the daughter of an old Marquese, Ignacio, with white-and-indigenous mix woman named Bernarda Cabrera. Her mother hated her, while her father only thought Sierva Maria is not his daughter. She finally was being raised by the African slaves and didn't understand the comfortable wealth she should had.

No one understand Sierva Maria as they didn't understand their own self. But people were being prejudiced towards the girl, and believed she was possessed by the demon after she was bitten by a rabid dog. One atheist doctor, Abrenuncio, told him that Sierva Maria was fine, yet Ignacio chose to send her to Santa Clara Convent when they could do the exorcism.

Because of the exorcism, Sierva Maria met Cayetano Delaura, the priest who would do the exorcism. Yet, he was fond of her until it was too dangerous for them both. The love had become the evil itself.

I think the most important message from this book is that your ego to chase good deeds and purity love is the evil itself. ( )

This was a book club selection.

Although I can see that GGM is a talented writer, I have never warmed up to any of his books. This one was no different. The novel is about a dysfunctional quasi-aristocratic family that damages their daughter to the point of her behavior appearing demonic. In come the bishops and nuns to "help", ending up in an exorcism. During all this, one of the churchmen falls in love with the daughter (who is TWELVE YEARS OLD). Gross.
The style was allegorical; characters seemed to be flat and symbolic rather than authentic humans. And of course GGM's love of the gastrointestinal system and other bodily functions permeates the novel. Also gross. I am honestly not sure what the message or point of the novel is. I am looking forward to book club discussion to help me comprehend. ( )

A beautiful book that fits into its short length perfectly, much like Thornton Wilder's 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey'. I love how Garcia Marquez takes one idea - that it is impossible to escape a verdict, whether right or wrong (in this case of contracting rabies in a time when medical tests were nigh-on impossible, and then, of being suspected of demonic possession in a time where the Catholic church ruled supreme), and then unwrapping the lives of those affected by the verdict. Brilliant stuff. ( )

What a weird and brief book! Lucky for us, it was also gorgeous, grotesque, and belly-laugh funny. ( )

I so wanted to love this book. Touted as a captivating, enchanting and even "edgy" work of storytelling hinged with elements of magical realism, "Of Love and Other Demons" seemed like a promising novel that would haunt me psychologically and emotionally.

Instead, I ended up dreading everything about it.

Quick plot review (spoilers contained): Young girl gets bit by a supposed rabid dog. Said girl is subsequently believed to be possessed by a demon. Girl is sent off to a convent to be "healed"? exorcised? Many strange occurrences seem to follow in the wake of the girls arrival at the convent. There is an overarching theme of assigning evil to that which is not clearly or scientifically understood. Some adult priest becomes enraptured by the young girl and their relationship hints at pedophilia. Eventually, everyone dies.

Maybe I missed the deeper meaning of the story because I got so impatient with the long-windedness and near overwhelming number of characters thrown into the mix (which was rather difficult to keep straight). Or maybe I've just become shallow in my old age and need a little more gratuitous action in my novels to hold my attention. In any case, I found myself constantly distracted by the never-ending introduction of the newest Marquis, Bishop, Dominga or person-from-some-Holy-Office. I felt like I needed a character guidebook to accompany the reading of this novel because after a while, I couldn't remember who was who and what their relevance to the story was supposed to be.

The prose in which Marquez writes is admittedly gorgeous, but that wasn't enough to save this piece from the depths of the infernal flames in which I felt like I was burning during the entire read.

"Of Love and Other Demons" is a short book, (less than 150 pages in my edition), yet it took me an entire month to get through it. I just didn't find myself caring much about the characters and never felt swept away by the plot (*was* there one?). It is highly likely that the essence of the story was lost in the English translation from its original Spanish text; I will allow the benefit of the doubt for that. Nonetheless, I found this novel a painful read that left me unmoved.



( )