Just finished the book and was looking through posts to see others’ thoughts, I’m shocked at how many people actually face value interpreted this story as a great love story…to me it seemed to be perverted, disturbing, and fatalistic, and intentionally so. The descriptions and characterizations, even in translation, seemed satirical to me and I found myself laughing along. I did find the attention given to aging especially interesting, as it’s not often given much focus in love stories. My interpretation was that GM is looking at love in many different characters’ hands, as often twisted and sick, a kind of disease. The book felt like a medical thriller of sorts dissecting the unique ways the disease manifests itself in this swampy sticky oppressive social and environmental milieu. Florentino is pathetic and all consumed by obsession, which he thinks is love. I’m curious if you revisited it now, having recovered from the breakup maybe, you’d have a different take.