Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Ratings188
Average rating3.9
This was a quick and enjoyable read! The writing is beautiful (as expected). It's also interesting to learn a bit about life in Colombia (or at least how Garcia Marquez portrays it); the fact that one of the main characters is Arab is not something I expected.
I'm honestly not sure what I just read. I'm used to fiction plots having twists, or making you wonder what's going to happen, or having a moral lesson. This – didn't really do any of those things. You're told what's going to happen in the first sentence of this novella. There's only one question, and it's never answered. I'm not really sure what the lesson is, if there is one. I'm just baffled at the entire thing.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Nobel prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is a novella about a man's death. A woman gets married, her bridegroom discovers she's not a virgin, returns her to her family, and her brothers kill the man who stole her virginity. That's really all there is to the story. The brothers are completely open about what they plan to do – the narrator thinks they didn't really want to carry out the murder and were hoping the townspeople would prevent them from doing so. The narrator is one of the townspeople, a friend of the victim, who is investigating the entire incident some twenty years later, trying to figure out why it happened and why exactly no one was able to prevent it.
Garcia Marquez writes well; his descriptions flow beautifully, his characters are interesting. Chronicle of a Death Foretold was not very linear, starting on the morning of the man's death and hopping between the events of that day and twenty years later. I don't mind slightly non-linear books, but this one annoyed me a bit. (Strangely, I loved The Time-Traveler's Wife, which is not linear in the least.)
I'll be reading another Garcia Marquez book soon – Love in the Time of Cholera – and plan to watch the movie, too, before I review it here. So I'll give him another shot. But Chronicle of a Death Foretold just...confuses me.
This was a quick and enjoyable read! The writing is beautiful (as expected). It's also interesting to learn a bit about life in Colombia (or at least how Garcia Marquez portrays it); the fact that one of the main characters is Arab is not something I expected.
Nice perspectivist story with some religious and character subtext that adds unique layers to the story. A new favorite of mine. 9/10.
Una buena historia que practica el perspectivismo, con detalles de transfondo con conotación religiosa y personajes con psicología tridimensional. Márquez creó una nueva obra favorita mía 9/10.
The rating is kind of small but I would still recommend reading this book, especially if you're a writer. You can probably learn a thing or two about foreshadowing and working with the reader's expectations.
9.0
A maneira com a qual Marquez constr??i o universo de maneira paulatina, com descri????es acuradas e realistas para contextualizar o leitor da ordem de eventos e pontos de vista, e a maneira com a qual ele usa essa constru????o contra o leitor na segunda metade do livro, com a reconstru????o do assassinato e dos eventos ap??s o mesmo ?? de uma maestria inigual??vel. Eu segurei minha respira????o pelas ??ltimas dez p??ginas, praticamente.
Minha primeira leitura em espanhol, espero que primeira de muitas.
Interesting and strange story. So strange, in fact, I'm not sure what to really think or say. I did like it enough to want to read something of greater length from Márquez, so maybe 100 Years of Solitude is up next.
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?
Update: 10/22/2015
If you'd like to read this review on my blog.
Rating: 5/5 stars.
English version soon.
En Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada, conocemos la historia de Santiago Nassar, que fue asesinado aquel día de la llegada del obispo, después de todos, menos él, supieran de que iba a suceder. Poco a poco, nos cuentan la historia de como llego a suceder, por qué y como se enteró todo el mundo menos él.
Amé este libro con cuerpo y alma. Lo leí con tanta pasión y desesperación, y estaba tan sumergida en la historia que por mucho tiempo no pude dejar de pensat en ella. Todo estaba tan bien construido y tan bien planeado, que no había otra que amar la historia.
Empezando por que amo las historias que no empiezan en el principio, ni en la mitad, sino que te dicen de una vez lo sucedido, y luego van saltando estratégicamente en el tiempo para contarte la historia. De ésta manera, no sufres pensando porque crees saber que va a pasar, sino que ya lo sabes, pero no sabes como, o cuando, o por qué. Esta historia fué exactamente eso, y fue extremadamente bien hecha. Primero te cuentan que murió, y que hizo Santiago Nassar esa mañana, mientras te hablan de su vida. De allí en adelante saltamos de adelante para atras entre lo sucedido ese día, las razones que habían para matarlo, y en puntos de vista de la gente del pueblo. Lo amé.
Poco a poco me iba enterando de cosas nuevas, y con eso, la historia iba cambianda de tono. Primero era algo terrorifico, pero intrigante. Luego se torna algo cómico, al ver a la gente del pueblo y como iban enterandose. Luego, se torna triste, al saber la historia que viene detras de todo ésto. Y por última, deprimente, con un sentimiento de impotencia total, y de desesperación. Pero a la vez, obtienes algo de alivio también.
La historia en si es absolutamente intrincada, pero, sorprendentemente, no es díficil de entender. Por supuesto, me pides que te la cuente, y me pierdo, pero si estoy segura de lo que pasó, en general. Y realmente, su complicariedad se debe a que se está viendo el punto de vista de muchas personas, y todos tienen un versión diferente, del mismo cuento. Y realmente, García Marquez hizo un gran trabajo creando la historia, viendo como hacerle los nudos.
Realmente amé ésta historia, para siempre en mi. El final es uno de los mejores finales que he visto, y me encantó.
Initial Reaction
That was a very gruesome ending. But in general I thought the novel was amazing. So many things happened, and all of it seems incredible and fantastic, but it's so great that no matter how fantasical it seams, it feels like one of those news that are completely crazy and insane, but you know they did happen. Amazing.
Long review to come.
Simplemente genial, un libro atrapante que no vas a querer soltar hasta llegar a su conclusión. Muy recomendado para una persona que busca una lectura corta pero de gran calidad, ideal para leer con amigos ya que se presta a divertidos debates de opiniones y teorías.
I read this book in Spanish years ago in college. Years later I saw it in the bookstore and decided to read it again in English and read it in two days. I just could not put it down.
Undecided between 3 and 4 stars. I'm going with 4 stars and kneel humbly in front of the great Gabriel García Márquez.
This is a small story with a short timeline. The Spanish is amazing and the city and the people are described so vividly and intensely that I really felt like I was in a movie. He could write about anything and be mesmerizing.
Vaya narración de la historia de Santiago Nasar. La última parte me envolvió con emoción y un sentido de expectativa aún y cuando sabíamos que iba a pasar. Excelente historia y muy recomendable, nada menos de lo que puedes esperar del maestro GGM.
Challenge: Read a book a friend recommended
This is my third García Marquez book and I still can get into his writing. In this particular book, there are no divisions other than the indentation of the paragraphs, which made me feel overwhelmed with the amount of information I was getting.
Everyone in town had something to say about the death and we get flashbacks here and there. It was way too much confusing for me. The more confused I got, the less interested in the book I was.
The idea and the plot were interesting but the way it was executed didn't go well with me.