Paperback, 324 pages
Spanish language
Published Feb. 2, 2002 by Debolsillo.
This book left me bewildered as to why so many readers have loved it: I found the plot surprisingly uninteresting, the narration did not grab my interest, the sudden time jumps that seemed to lead... nowhere. I have to conclude that this auhtor's books may just not be for me: I found reading even this short novel tedious, and can only ask for your understanding, GGM.
An interesting exploration of the bystander effect…a premeditated murder is announced to an entire community, yet no one does anything to stop it because they assume someone else will act on the information.
[RTC]
Una tragedia hermosa. García Márquez nos lleva paso a paso por una cadena de malos entendidos, cada cual es tragedia en sí misma: el bárbaro prejuicio sobre la virginidad, el ideal de venganza, la ignorancia, falta de comunicación, y mero accidente.
El genio de García Márquez—aparte de su maestría del idioma, por supuesto—es que relata sin juzgar. Los eventos trascurren, los personajes no son ni buenos ni malos sino simplemente caracteres humanos atrapados en sus circunstancias. Sus acciones no son de ellos mismos, sino que están dictadas por el ambiente en que se han formado. Y asi narrando, el autor nos guia a reflejar sobre nosotros mismos, nuestra cultura e influencias que nos forman. ¿Como podemos sobrepasar nuestro ambiente y superarnos como seres humanos concientes y despiertos?
Chronicle was my introduction to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, some two decades ago. And oh, what a wonderful introduction it was!
This is a short book (this particular English translation was just over 100 pages) in which the narrator tells the story of the assassination of Santiago Nasar, a character in a small remote village.
I found the book to be wonderfully written: the style masterfully combines the events, the first person observations by the narrator, the investigation results, and the results of his research decades later, adding incrementally to the picture of what happened on that day. This makes it intriguing and gripping. The style also includes many locally beautiful descriptions of people, situations, environment and events.
"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a short and spellbinding novella bordering on the hallucinatory. Telling the increasingly complex story of an honor killing in a small Colombian town thirty years previously, "Chronicle" demonstrates the power of literature to play with the senses and takes the reader on a 120-page journey into the darker parts of humanity that leaves far more questions than it does answers. The story centers around the aftermath of a the wedding of a mysterious stranger to the beautiful Angela Vicaro. After a lavish, expensive wedding, the groom returns the bride to her home, claiming that she is not a virgin. She names someone as her lover, leading to his death by her brothers. This however is only the bare outlines of the story. Told in a sort of journalistic style the narrator (a witness to the events) retells the events of …
"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a short and spellbinding novella bordering on the hallucinatory. Telling the increasingly complex story of an honor killing in a small Colombian town thirty years previously, "Chronicle" demonstrates the power of literature to play with the senses and takes the reader on a 120-page journey into the darker parts of humanity that leaves far more questions than it does answers. The story centers around the aftermath of a the wedding of a mysterious stranger to the beautiful Angela Vicaro. After a lavish, expensive wedding, the groom returns the bride to her home, claiming that she is not a virgin. She names someone as her lover, leading to his death by her brothers. This however is only the bare outlines of the story. Told in a sort of journalistic style the narrator (a witness to the events) retells the events of that disturbing day, in each retelling finding new, often contradictory details that complicate the reader's view of the events. Reading this story was thrilling, engaging, and played with my perceptions in a way that few pieces of literature have. What gives the events of this story particular resonance is that how from the beginning of the story everything that happened seemed predetermined and most people seemed resigned to the unfolding of the events, doing little to stop it.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a short novel I would never have picked up if it hadn't been good advice from Ariel and Doug. This is a cautionary tale of the kind of senseless horror that happens when an isolated community makes harsh demands on women and then demands accountability when these demands are not met. It's brutal revenge in the name of honor, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez reaches out of the page and makes everyone an accomplice. It is an artful allegory and an excellent example of the magical realism style for which the author is known.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold can be read in a day, so if you have a day, it's worth the read.
Raconter un crime en commençant par la fin, en dévoilant le nom des coupables dès le début est une idée tout à fait géniale. j’ai adhéré à ce concept étonnant et j’ai attaqué le livre avec curiosité. On ne peut que s’effarer devant la tournure des événements, s’interroger sur la fatalité, la part de responsabilité de chacun. je m’attendais toutefois à plus trépidant. Lecture sympathique et agréable, malgré la fin (ou le début ?) légèrement sanglante.
