There's something bothering me about the translation now - last night I read that the doctor fell for 'plebeian charms'. What's that all about? I won't work it out for certain until I the Spanish version of the book arrives.
I'm a third of the way through now, and it feels like it's been a fast propelled journey despite the richness and detail of the prose. Smells and exotica. There's always animals everywhere, either rotting corpses of of kind or another, or chained dogs in houses - the three crows in a cage. Perfumed crows as well. Picking up on that parrot theme. And I suppose you could look upon cholera as another kind of life from, just a little further down on the continuum of life, as far perhaps from the mules as the poor are from the rich in this society. And of course there is the perfect link in the waterworms - the mosquito larvae that inhabit their water supplies.
And why are the crows perfumed? Google doesn't help but gives some interesting leads - perfumes often associated with whores - women = crows??? seems a bit harsh. There's another blog, a book group, that writes up its discussions. I loved this:
"Mary found this exoticism makes the book one to wallow in as it meanders through the story using evocative, rich description such as the honeymoon, boat trips and perfumed crows."
Hahahaha.
They did like the book though: We thought that the book was beautifully written with interesting, quirky and well developed characters.
(http://www.chilternsreadinggroup.net/books.php)
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