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Of Love And Other Demons (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Product: Of Love And Other Demons (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
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List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $14.00
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book written by: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Product Description: Of Love And Other Demons (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 863
EAN: 9780140256369
ISBN: 0140256369
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: 1996-06-01
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Reviews about Of Love And Other Demons (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century):
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From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Love in the Time of Cholera, a startling new novel -- the story of a doomed love affair between an unruly copper-haired girl and the bookish priest sent to oversee her exorcism.
Of Love and Other Demons is set in a South American seaport in the colonial era, a time of viceroys and bishops, enlightened men and Inquisitors, saints and lepers and pirates. Sierva Maria, only child of a decaying noble family, has been raised in the slaves' courtyard of her father's cobwebbed mansion while her mother succumbs to fermented honey and cacao on a faraway plantation. On her twelfth birthday the girl is bitten by a rabid dog, and even as the wound is healing she is made to endure therapies indistinguishable from tortures. Believed, finally, to be possessed, she is brought to a convent for observation. And into her cell stumbles Father Cayetano Delaura, the Bishop's protege, who has already dreamed about a girl with hair trailing after her like a bridal train; who is already moved by this kicking, spitting, emaciated creature strapped to a stone bed. As he tends to her with holy water and sacramental oils, Delaura feels "something immense and irreparable" happening to him. It is love, "the most terrible demon of all." And it is not long before Sierra Maria joins him in his fevered misery.
Unsettling and indelible, Of Love and Other Demons haunts us with its evocation of an exotic world while it treats, majestically the most universal experiences known to woman and man.
Natasha Richardson's film credits include Nell, Widow's Peak, The Comfort of Strangers, and The Handmaid's Tale. She has appeared on stage in Anna Christie, High Society, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others.
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Spotlight customer reviews about Of Love And Other Demons (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century):
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Read By Most Standards, but Not Quite on Par with Marquez's Other work
Comment: Any work by Gabriel Garcia Marquez can really only be compared to his other works, as there are few, if any, contemporaries who capture the mystical spirit of the South American experience as does Marquez.
This was one of the few books of his I had yet to read. Having struggled with Autumn of the Patriarch I have loved nearly all his other works (though his nonfiction News of a Kidnapping barely managed to hold my interest, stylistically speaking).
Of Love and Other Demons was in the same vein as all others, yet missed the spark that I so normally adore. With most of his other pieces there is a sense of returning to the home of the tale; everything feels full circle though time has passed.
Though themes of cross generational amour are staples of Marquez's works, this particular story didn't quite get the right vibe. While Father Delaura's part was well played out, that of young Sierva Maria was often too disengaging. She truly was the demon of love to the human torment Delaura and other characters suffered. And perhaps that was the point.
Overall, this was a quick and enjoyable read. Had it been any other author than Marquez I would have likely given it a 5-star, but when one has written as well as he has and can he sets his own standards for comparison.
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Summary: The oppression of religion
Comment: In this bitter and emotional tale, G.G. Márquez exposes the `narrowness of mind' and the concomitant fanatical oppression by the Christian authorities, who put a straitjacket even on a perfectly normal child.
The history of the Christian Church is one of death, of anti-life: `The Holy Office is even worse than the witchcraft of the blacks. The blacks only sacrifice roosters to their gods, while the Holy Office is happy to break innocents on the rack or burn them alive in a public spectacle.'
Speaking here is G.G. Márquez's alter-ego, the atheist (`You can't forbid what I think') doctor Abrenuncio, a clairvoyant, not a stinking, healer: `You have a religion of death that fills you with the joy and courage to confront it. I do not. I believe the only essential thing is to be alive.'
He expresses also another recurrent theme in G.G. Márquez's work: `Sex is a talent, and I do not have it. ... Love was an emotion contra natura that condemned two strangers to a base and unhealthy dependence, and the more intense it was, the more ephemeral.'
In his characteristic imaginative and brilliantly colorful style (`the more transparent the writing, the more visible the poetry'), G.G. Márquez painted a dark world dominated by an oppressive religion, the only light coming from those who oppose it.
A must read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: very well written story
Comment: Very sad story of a poor rich girl with messed up parents and disturbed religious figures. This is a very well written story with great descriptions. At times I felt that I might be reading a true horrific family secret. It was also like reading something like a myth created to explain misunderstood tragedies in a time when religion and spirituality was the waking moment of everyone's life. It was almost very real to me. This is the first book I have read from this author and cant wait to read more. I have to say, that I did read it in English and though I can read some what decent Spanish I believe that the story was very well translated. I normally buy books that are written in Spanish and English so that my mother who reads only Spanish and I can share our comments of books and authors. I have no doubt that Gabriel Garcia Marquez will very fast become one of our favorite authors . His talent is so great to have been able to cross languages and has and not lost a bit of its meaning and strenght.
Customer Rating:
Summary: can't get enough of him...
Comment: this book is very well written...great visuals, rich prose and a fantasy like concept... the characters are deep and passionate and live to believe in something...beautifully sad, sadly beautiful...it plays well to the very end...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vivid, dark, beautiful
Comment: In just a few pages, Mr. Marquez manages to captivate the reader. The canvas he paints with his words is vivid, dark and beautiful. The characters are tragic and brilliant. A very tragic love story set in a time of narrowmindedness and the confines of a church and beliefs inflicted on others by the self appointed righteous. Very very good, compelling and moving. LOVED IT!
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