Translated from Spanish to English by Edith Grossman
What does it mean that my thrifted copy of Of Love and Other Demons had a photograph of a dog tucked into it? The photo has a white border and features a semi-rotund husky type dog in the centre, its eyes glowing in the flash of the camera. The dog stands on a leafy path in a green forest. The setting is clearly West Coast to my eye and entirely different from the lush tropics of South America that Garcia Marquez writes about. But the photo is off-putting to be found in a book that begins with a young girl potentially contracting rabies after being bitten by a dog in the marketplace.
Sierva Maria is a young girl, practically feral in her upbringing in her father’s mansion. As we learn more about her parents, we see what has brought her to this point of neglect, living in the slave quarters of her family’s plantation. After she is bitten by a dog who then dies of rabies, Sierva Maria is subjected to treatments that amount to a kind of a torture until eventually she is imprisoned in a convent. There she comes under the care of Father Cayetano Delaura, a priest sent to exorcise her. Delaura has his own story and we witness him as he becomes obsessed with this girl, willing to risk everything to be with her.
This is not a romance. Are there, perhaps, scenes that might be viewed as romantic in a different novel? Yes, I think so. But the story here is one of two deeply broken people who are drawn together in their loss and weakness. Most of the time, their scenes together are deeply uncomfortable to read, not least because Servia Maria is about 12-years-old and Delaura is a grown man. They are drawn together and at times they look to each other for some sort of freedom but there is little suggestion of real love between them or possibility of anything like a normal life. You might argue that neither of them could exist within a normal life.
I like Garcia Marquez’ work and I like the way he uses language and particularly setting. While I wouldn’t list this among my favourite of his work, his skills are certainly on display here. Overall, I wouldn’t describe this is a work of magic realism but that might depend on your view on exorcism.
Karissa Reads Books 
I haven’t read any of Garcia Marquez’s work except his nonfiction book about Miguel Littín, which I understand is quite different from his other work. Love in the Time of Cholera has been on my TBR for years though!
I haven’t read that one but it does seem quite different than the rest. I really like his work – some of it can be uncomfortable, like this book, but the language is always beautiful and he always takes you somewhere unexpected.
All I’m getting from this review is a creepy vibe between a man and a child. I’m not sure I want to read that right now. Much like Lou, I have Love in a Time of Cholera on my tbr, and it’s been there forever.
There is a definite ick factor and it was weird to me that that wasn’t addressed more within the book. Their relationship isn’t played up as sexy or anything but it is gross. It’s been years since I read Live in the Time of Cholera but I recall it as his more approachable novel.
I can see why this book would be so uncomfortable to read about, and yet it still sounds very beautiful, and readable! That dog picture would unnerve me too, yikes! I’ve never read any Garcia Marquez and I’m deeply ashamed of that fact as a reader, I need to remedy this LOL
I wouldn’t start with this one if you decide to read him. Love in the Time of Cholera is probably the most accessible, I think. I brought this book to Ontario with me in the summer and also found someone else’s boarding pass from Vancouver to Toronto in it.
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