"Of Love and Other Demons" Book Review

I read an interesting book called, Of Love and Other Demons written by the talented author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book was originally published by the company Mondadori in 1994, and after it got translated into English it was published by the Alfred A. Knopf Inc. in 1995. This is a magical realism story that takes place in Santa Maria la Antigua in Darien during the time where women wore ball gowns, and people rode in carriages. The main character is Sierva Maria de Todos Los Angles who is a young, talented teenage girl who can sing and dance. The second main character is Father Cayetano Delura who is in his thirties. The story begins on the day Sierva Maria turns twelve and is bitten by a dog. After several weeks after been bitten, Sierva Maria starts to get sick, and her father thinks she has rabies. Her father then changes his mind, and believes the Sierva Maria does not have rabies rather is possessed by demons. Therefore, Sierva Maria is sent to convent where she is to get exorcised in order to free her form her demons. It is at the convent that Sierva Maria meets Father Delura and both their lives are never the same. In this story there is this idea of a recurring dream that both the Sierva Maria and Father Delura have. “..Having lost her will to endure any more, she dreamed again of the window looking out on a snow-covered field from which Cayetano Delura was absent...” (147). This is a dream that repeats itself in the story and has a big significance in the story.

 

In all, I thought this was a good book. The author has a unique way of engaging readers by writing in poetic kind of way. I personally liked the book because one of the main themes in story was love, and I am big fan of love stories. The message of the story is that you don’t always pick who you fall in love with because love is a natural feeling you can’t control. In the same way, the theme teaches you to always fight for your love, and to never give up on love. Like Sierva Maria fought for her love till the end. In the story when “The warder who came in to prepare her for her sixth session of exorcism found her dead of love in her bed…” (147).Sierva Maria always guarded the love she felt for  Father Delura, and never lost hope of one day being happy with him.  Furthermore, this book reminded me of two other books I have read. One of them is the classical story of Romeo and Juliet since Romeo’s love for Juliet was forbidden just like the love Father Delura felt for Sierva Maria. This book also reminded me of the popular book, Twilight, since Bella’s and Edward’s love is also forbidden. In the end, I liked this book, and I like the message this story teaches.  I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading love stories. Like I said, the author makes the story interesting, and has a unique way of writing stories.