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 Love Machine (novel) only one which has at its center a male character. It was, Susann stated, an "attempt to get inside of men's ids." It's also the only Susann novel with an ostensibly happy ending. Susann dedicated the book to her friend Carol Bjorkman, a columnist for "Women's Wear Daily", who died of leukemia in 1967. Critical reception of "The Love Machine" was not positive, but it was slightly better than that of "Valley of the Dolls." Although Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of "The New York Times" wrote that the novel "is popcorn... the kernel of an idea, the seed of an inspiration, exploded