46 pages 1 hour read

Luis Sepulveda

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“The sky was a donkey’s swollen paunch, hanging threateningly low overhead.”


(Chapter 1, Page 1)

The author uses metaphor throughout the novel, including here, the first line of the book. By using the image of the donkey—an important work animal before the industrial revolution—he builds up anticipation for the rainy season. The image is visceral, with the “swollen paunch” a visual clue to the novel’s tone, as the impending rain suggests destruction, darkness, and change.

Quotation Mark Icon

“Every Monday—he was obsessed with Mondays—they watched him raise the flag on a pole on the quay, until a storm swept the tattered cloth into the jungle, and with it the Monday ritual that nobody could care less about.”


(Chapter 2, Page 14)

The image of the flag being ripped to shreds by the storm (i.e., the unstoppable force of the jungle), like so much garbage, symbolizes the jungle’s strength over human notions of ownership. In the end, the jungle always wins. The image also demonstrates that the only person who cares about such rituals is the mayor, a puppet of the government.

Quotation Mark Icon

“A grief-crazed Ocelot is more dangerous than twenty murderers put together.”


(Chapter 2, Page 20)

This quote asserts the ocelot’s lethal strength, but it also speaks to grief’s power to cause suffering and even death.