Chronicles of a Death Foretold

Details of the Book

ISBN                     : 140003471X (ISBN13: 9781400034710)

Edition Language   : English

No. of Pages           : 120

From the book blurb

A man returns to the town where a baffling murder took place 27 years earlier, determined to get to the bottom of the story. Just hours after marrying the beautiful Angela Vicario, everyone agrees, Bayardo San Roman returned his bride in disgrace to her parents. Her distraught family forced her to name her first lover; and her twin brothers announced their intention to murder Santiago Nasar for dishonoring their sister.

Yet if everyone knew the murder was going to happen, why did no one intervene to stop it? The more that is learned, the less is understood, and as the story races to its inexplicable conclusion, an entire society--not just a pair of murderers—is put on trial.

Author

Gabriel José de la Concordia Garcí­a Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garcí­a Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

What I think

The book begins with the gruesome murder of Santiago Nasar. Incidentally, the murder had taken place a good 27 years earlier and the narrator is trying to comprehend the events that led to the crime. Soon, we come to know that Angela Vicario, a poor man’s daughter and Santiago Nasar’s neighbor is married off to a foreigner Bayardo San Roman. On their wedding night, Bayardo San Roman silently brings back Angela Vicario to her house because she is not virgin. An embarrassed mother and agitated twin brothers questions Angela who deflowered her. She takes Santiago Nasar’s name. The twins, Pedro and Pablo, carry knives… sharpens it at a butcher’s shop and announces to everyone around that they are going to kill Santiago Nasar. Some people don’t believe, some don’t understand, some decide to let Santiago Nasar know and some just forget due to the excitement caused by Bishop’s visit to bless the newlyweds!

The beauty of the story is that everyone - the entire village - knew about the death. Nature also warns and Santiago Nasar’s dreams also sends messages. Yet, nobody could stop the death. The incident affects the villagers so much that they fail to forget it even after 27 long years!

What I loved about this book is its narrative style. It is brilliant. It tells you the end first and then goes on a reverse gear, describing the details. Most of the book talks only about what people remember about that incident. But, the climax ghastly narrates how he was stabbed and killed.

The plot is honor killing of course which is relevant even today. This book was written in 1981. However, this book is also about several other intricate details like revenge, Chasity and the big gap between rich and poor.

As the book ends, it still makes you wonder if Santiago Nasar was really responsible in deflowering Angela Vicario? If it is not, who was responsible and why did Angela Vicario take his name? Did the twins kill because they were really angry or were forced to kill as the whole village knew about it? Why did Angela Vicario longed to get back her husband? How did she feel about the murder of Santiago Nasar?

In short, this book is gripping and makes the reader think. It makes the reader to raise question and find answers themselves. Or does the book implies that nothing really ends?

Read it. Experience it.

You will not regret those couple of hours spent on it!

PS: It was really unnerving to learn that the story is based on a real-time incident that occurred to the author knew!

Rating

4/5

Thank you

My cousin for briefing the story… arousing the interesting… and lending her book for a couple of hours!!!

Some words that stole my heart

ü  "He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart."

ü  "They’re perfect,” she was frequently heard to say. “Any man will be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer."

ü  "She would go to sleep only once and that would be to die."

ü  “Honor is love.”