Love in the Time of Cholera the reader is reminded repeatedly of his more sinister exploits. The novel examines romantic love in myriad forms, both "ideal" and "depraved", and continually forces the reader to question such ready-made characterizations by introducing elements antithetical to these facile judgments. García Márquez's main notion is that lovesickness is literally an illness, a disease comparable to cholera. Florentino suffers from this just as he might suffer from any malady. At one point, he conflates his physical pain with his amorous pain when he vomits after eating flowers in order to imbibe Fermina's scent. In the final chapter, the Captain's declaration of
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon the age of AIDS. Despite the generally excellent reviews, by 1999 the "Chicago Tribune" had called the novel "unjustly obscure". The "Los Angeles Times" felt the book fell short of "cult" status because it came 20 years too late to be part of the free love and gay liberation movements. The book's status, and Spanbauer's reputation has an author, have both risen rapidly in the last 10 years. One reviewer noted that "Spanbauer made his mark" as an author with the novel. Robert Walter, director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, quoted a portion of the novel as some of the