De l'amour et autres démons (original 1994; edition 1995)

Es un excelente libro que logra que el lector pase de la mano de los protagonistas por toda clase de sensaciones y sentimientos. La mezcla de romance y suspenso hace que se quiera leer hasta la última página y se disfrute cada momento de la narración. ( )

About:
Ninety three days after being bitten by a rabid dog and still not showing any signs of rabies, twelve year old Sierva Maria de Todos los Angeles is put in a convent for observation. Sierva Maria has been put through a series of painful and uncomfortable remedies in order to try and fight the infection that might take her young life.

Her mother and father dislike each other immensely and have allowed the girl to be raised in the slave quarters near their home. This has led Sierva Maria to speak in an African tongue, adopt African traditions and not be close to either of her parents.
Bernarda Cabrera, Sierva Maria's mother, is addicted to sex, cacao and fermented honey. Bernarda slowly deteriorates due to her way of living. Her father, Don Ygnacio, lives a quiet life and although his daughter has been left to live with the slaves, he tries to amend this wrongdoing and bring her home.

Once inside the convent, thirty six year old Father Cayetano Delaura is assigned Sierva Maria's case and is put in charge of performing her exorcism. Delaura is a quiet intellectual and a lover of books.
He becomes smitten by the young girl and makes it his mission to prove that she is not possessed. By doing so he will improve her living conditions and save her from the grueling ordeal of an exorcism.

My Thoughts:
I have a love hate relationship with Marquez. He pisses me off but I can't seem to break up with him. This time around, he didn't make me too angry, he mostly mesmerized me with this beautifully written, yet strange tale.

Both love and demons play a part in this surreal story. I found Sierva Maria to behave as I'd expect a young spoiled girl abandoned by her parents would. Her behavior as a result of this poor parenting leads her to lie constantly and she even goes along pretending she is possessed.
Sierva Maria's beautiful red hair has been promised to the Virgin Mary, it must not be cut until the day she marries. When loose, it trails down to her feet.

I found Father Delaura's character to be passionate and interesting, this lover of books encloses himself in his room and read for hours every day.

Bernarda, Sierva Maria's mother was another character that had me shocked with her behavior and some truths that she reveals towards the end of the story.
Sierva's father, Don Ygnacio is a strange and complicated man. He seems not to care about his daughter, but then again he seems like he might love her after all.

Exorcisms and being possessed by demons was considered a legitimate danger during the setting of this book and Márquez brings this aspect of the story out divinely. He weaves in magic and realism perfectly and left me wondering what was real and what was imaginary.

I was both shocked and enthralled as I read this sad story about pain, heartache and faith. Highly recommended if you are a fan of Marquez or to those looking for a piece of fiction that will leave them a bit unsettled by its storyline yet mesmerized by its prose.
The final paragraph in Of Love and Other Demons gave me chills. I can't remember a book ever having that effect on me before.

"He had no room in his heart for anything but Sierva Maria, and even so it was not large enough to hold her. He was convinced that no oceans or mountains, no laws of earth or heaven, no powers of hell could keep them apart."
p.122, Of Love and Other Demons

read my full review here
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/2012/07/of-love-and-other-demons.html ( )

An excellent book. Marquez -apparently in his work, in general - gives us a story focused not on the main character so much as coming from the perspective of those individuals whose lives revolve around the main character.

Although Marquez may seem to be writing in an extremely accessible style, I think the cautious reader would do well to look between the lines - GGM is a masterful creator of personalities, and produces characters who deserve every bit of reflection one can give them. ( )

Of Love and Other Demons is hard to describe. While the main story is about a girl who was bitten by a rabid dog, the book is more about love, beliefs, and death.

The story was interesting overall, if not a bit depressing in spots. It definitely was thought-provoking. The images and cadence in the writing were outstanding.

My main complaint relates to the translation -- some passages seemed to be confused with peculiar word choice. I wish I had enough Spanish to read this in the original. Also, and this is just because of my personal situation, I found the subject dark and depressing.

Would I read this again? Yes, especially when I'm in a better place mentally. Was I glad I read it? I guess. ( )

Just finished reading Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (the last and possibly best book I read in 2011). It is a wondrous tale of demonic possession and exorcism of a beautiful young girl in a decaying 18th century South American seaport. “Love is an emotion contra natura that condemns two strangers to base and unhealthy dependencies, and the more intense it is, the more ephemeral.” ( )