I have spoken at tedious length about the narrator’s voice in “Love in the Time of Cholera,” best beloved. (I’ve been wanting to write “best beloved” all along—a favorite Kipling reference). It is an authoritative voice, sure of itself—the narrator is never in doubt as to her/his grasp of the story and characters. And the narrator is not Garcia Marquez, best beloved, just as the person writing this post—who has been described by a friend as a landowner in the New Hampshire co

Here’s that first line again—"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” The reader opens “Love in the Time of Cholera,” and the first page presents her/him with a charming puzzle—who is speaking? Whose is the voice that tells the story—the storyteller’s voice? Let’s consider the suspects. Is it one of the main characters—Dr. Juvenal Urbino, Fermina Daza, or Florentino Ariza? Nope—because the narrator is able to report