Love in the Time of Cholera

This is a challenging book. It feels real, the characters are diverse and divisive. I wound up hating Florentino and I'd argue that none of what he did was love in the sense I'd take it. I mean Gabriel compares love to cholera, right? I don't think we're supposed to agree with his portrayal of love, but it's a challenge to what a conception of love can be. In this novel it seems like Florentino's love is a sickness that affects the entire city. It kills some (which claiming to be a guardian of a 14 year old while secretly seducing her then dumping her is fucked in a lot of ways), cripples others (‘I adore you because you made me a whore'), but it manages to leave Florentino relatively unscathed, happy even in the end. Which is also because he lied to and laid the romance on Fermina, giving her some false impression of his life so they can ride off into the sunset on a love/cholera boat.
I think that's my main problem, Gabriel describes Florentino as a man who gives nothing but takes everything, and it's frustrating to see someone be so self serving and manipulative and then get a happy ending where everyone just buys his obsessive delusion and rides off into the sunset with him. Everything bends to his will, because he needs love. It's more like a tale of sickness than a romance. Ultimately loving yourself is the most important thing so I don't want to knock self service, but when it involves women getting murdered and 15 year olds slitting their throats I wonder if Florentino would think it was all worth it if he didn't get Fermina in the end.