On her twelfth birthday, Sierva Maria - the only child of a decaying noble family in an eighteenth-century South American seaport - is bitten by a rabid dog. Believed to be possessed, she is brought to a convent for observation. And into her cell stumbles Father Cayetano Delaura, who has already dreamed about a girl with hair trailing after her like a bridal train. As he tends to her with holy water and sacramental oils, Delaura feels something shocking begin to occur. He has fallen in love - and it is not long until Sierva Maria joins him in his fevered misery. Unsettling and indelible, Of Love and Other Demons is an evocative, majestic tale of the most universal experiences known to woman and man.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Bitter Tears:
Of Love and Other Demons / 0-14-025636-9 Painful and Bitter, Of Love and Other Demons explores the life and mind of a young girl abused, neglected, and persecuted to death by the adults around her. Her father ignores her as inconsequential. Her mother resents her intrusion into her casual affairs so intensely that she places a bell around the girl's neck (like a cat) so that she can avoid the child at all times. The few small kindnesses she receives - from servants who attend her - set her further... more info
Of Love and Other Demons...:
A superb, exquisitely woven novel from Garcia Marquez. The master of magical realism enchants with another great tale of love, passion and woe. Please savour and enjoy!
A Pleasant Read By Most Standards, but Not Quite on Par with Marquez's Other work:
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... more info
The oppression of religion:
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.'... more info
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