by
3.89 of 5 stars
A mysterious and haunting tale of romance and murder, that begins with the marriage of a man and a woman in love. But when he inexplicably mistreat... read full description

reviews

Dec 05, 2011
Gavin rated it: 4 of 5 stars
What would you do if everyone around you knew you were going to be killed but were doing nothing to stop this? For me, more than paranoia and terror would rake my mind. This is the premise of CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD. The whole village knows that Santiago Naser is going to die by the hands of his wife's brothers. Their reason for killing him is simple: they believe he is to blame for their sister being returned after her marriage to a wealthy foreigner because she is not a virgin. As t More...
0 comments like (8 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Ian rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I own about 70 copies of illegally-photocopied versions of this book so I can use it with my students in class. And unlike most books I teach, I read this one every year.

Why? 'Cuz it's an unbelievable text.

I firmly believe that Santiago Nasar is one of literature's greatest Christ-figures. Many of Garcia's books have Christ-figures, of course, but Santiago is Jesus with a twist. When the book starts, Santiago is portrayed as a bad man who is wasteful and immoral and viole More...
4 comments like (21 people liked it)
Feb 07, 2012
Rola rated it: 5 of 5 stars
يقولون أن ليلى مريضة بالعراق ········· و يقولون أيضا أن ماركيز أكثر من مبدع
:)
لا أدرى عن ليلى المريضة و لكنى تأكدت اليوم من إبداع ماركيز.
فى تجربتى الأولى معه يتحدث ماركيز عن مقتل أحد أبناء القرية فى جريمة شرف و يتولى الراوى مهمة الحكاية و عرض آراء سكان القرية فى الجريمة , أسبابها , و نتائجها.

تأتى الرواية و أحداثها كقطعة "بازل" كبيرة , يقوم الراوى بتحميعها الواحدة تلو الأخرى لتتضح الصورة أمام ناظريك بأكثر من زاوية , و كأنها لعبة المخيمات القديمة حيث يحكى More...
2 comments like (2 people liked it)
Jan 13, 2012
Jesse rated it: 5 of 5 stars
While he is certainly a giant among writers, Marquez is also a master story-teller. This gift roars to the forefront of the enjoyments found in his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The story itself is simply described: a man is killed by two brothers acting in defense of their sister's honor, while an entire village does nothing to stop the murder. Told in a rather journalistic voice, Marquez's narrative hops back and forth in time as it captures the memories and thoughts of the popula More...
2 comments like (3 people liked it)
Nov 09, 2008
Charity rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Based on an actual incident, this novel dramatizes the story of a young bride whose husband returns her after their wedding night because she's not a virgin. Subsequently, her brothers set out to murder the man whom she names as the "perpetrator". A former resident who has returned to reconstruct these events narrates the story, which is as much about the townspeople as about the main characters.

I find it to be a true testament to García Márquez's storytelling abilities tha More...
0 comments like (5 people liked it)
Jul 03, 2007
Irina rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I read this book piecemeal, but even though I would be away for it for days at a time, I had to come back -- and the last 30 pages or so made me drop everything to read them. *Chronicle* is one of those books that left me confused, but convinced of its beauty. Unlike a detective novel (a genre it is playing against), in which the people killed are devoid of personality -- in which we can barely bring ourselves to care about them -- the prolongued death of Santiago Nasar, as seen through everyone More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Sep 22, 2010
Mai rated it: 4 of 5 stars
ما الذى يسعنى قوله
مُبهرة وممتعة

حادثة القتل المؤلمة التى مضى على وقوعها اكثر من 20 عاما
يبدا ماركيز فى تجميع خطوطها على يد الراوى الغامض حتى مٌنتصف الرواية تقريبا من عدة مصادر وشهود..بلدة بأكملها للدقة
تعتقد انك ستصاب مؤكد ستصاب بالملل لأنك ادركت اللعبة ويكفيك فقط ان تقرأ اول روايتين لشاهدين ثم تُلقى بالكتاب بعيد-وخصوصا إن لم تكن من قراء ماركيز المخضرمين-فتُفاجئ بان هناك المزيد مع كل صفحة
وان كل سطر يعطى لما بعده جاذبية لا توصف ولما قبله اهمية بالغة
وفى More...
2 comments like (5 people liked it)
Oct 16, 2008
Nicole rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I'm fairly certain that if I tallied up all the times friends and co-workers have told me that I must read a certain author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez would hold the top spot for sheer number of recommendations. I'm a little surprised it's taken me so long to get around to reading one of his books, and a slender one at that. But it's a start, and better late than never, and probably another cliché or two I just can't think of at the moment. But on to the book itself.

One of the most inte More...
0 comments like (5 people liked it)
Feb 20, 2010
Tasneem rated it: 5 of 5 stars
هذه هي تجربتي الثانية مع العظيمين ماركيز/ علماني
و للحق فإن هذه الرواية القصيرة قد تركتني مذهولة بالرغم من أن النهاية معروفة من الصفحة الأولى فيها و ربما من قبل ذلك .. من العنــوان.

و لكن لـ ماركيز/ علماني أسلوب آسر لا تملك حياله إلا أن تُذكر نفسك بالتنفس خوفاً من تنسى أن تتنفس في خضم انجذابك للأحداث.

بعد الحب في زمن الكوليرا .. كنت أعرف أن علاقتي بــ ماركيز/علماني .. ستظل للأبد

أوجعتني هذه الرواية و بالرغم من النهاية المؤكدة من السطر الأول أو من العنوان لو More...
0 comments like (4 people liked it)
Sep 04, 2008
Elizabeth rated it: 4 of 5 stars
True to its title, "Chronicle" re-investigates a murder that takes place 27 years earlier. What seems at first a cut and dry case, becomes an interwoven tale of abrupt accusations and tragic misunderstanding. As the reader discovers, the entire event almost never happens, numerous times, and by the time it actually takes place, it seems that in all the town, only the victim himself is unaware that it is his day to die. This is achieved with nothing less than Marquez's affinity for dark More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Aug 14, 2008
Laura rated it: 3 of 5 stars
As is typical in Garcia Marquez, you know what is going to happen plot-wise (Santiago Nasar gets murdered) in the first sentence of the book. However, what happens is not quite as important, or interesting, as what has happened to every other person in that town around this event, moving backwards and forwards in time. Santiago's murder is merely the event around which the entire character of the town is put into relief.
I gave this three stars, because it felt a little formulaic. The way More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 04, 2012
Heather rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This book was really good. The authors writing style is a bit backwards. Marquez tells the story almost from end to beggining. He reveals the death of the main character in his first few lines of the first chapter. From then on the book consists of commentary on how the death unfolded. The consensus of the characters in the story is that the death of the main character could have been foretold had the characters realized it wasn't all just a joke. By the time you reach the end of the story you More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Dec 28, 2008
Paula rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has written two wonderful books: Love in the Time of Cholera and 100 Years of Solitude. All of his other books, in my opinion are an amalgam of these two wonderful books. If you've read those two, you're good to go.
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
May 22, 2009
Nicole added it
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a short and sweet novella that is a must-read for the magical realist genre. Its opening paragraph is an attention grabber that makes the mind ponder to read more.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez narrates the story from the perspective of a native small town boy, returning twenty seven years after the brutal murder of Santiago Nasar. Throughout the story, the events leading up to Santiago's death are replayed over and over again by differ More...
Jan 26, 2009
Alex rated it: 3 of 5 stars
we read in class for english
english hw
Bayardo San Roman is a strange man remarked by all this way. He appears one day in the town every one thought he was mysterious. Although in the town “nobody knew what he’d come for”(26). He came to the town to search for a wife. Every one described him as enchanting and the best at everything. He was in this thirties but it was hard to tell by the way he was built. He stayed in the town looking for a person that could be his wife a one day w More...
Feb 06, 2012
ميّ أحمد rated it: 5 of 5 stars
...أعتقد أني قرأت في مكان ما ربما في ذاكرة ماركيز عشتُ لأروي عن أن هذه الرواية كتبت عن جريمة حدثت في بلدته الصغيرة وما أوقعني في سحر ماركيز من جديد علما بأني لم أخرج منه حتى الآن خاصة بعد أُخذتُ بمائة عام من العزلة هذه التفاصيل التي يغرق فيها وهو يصف الأحداث على لسان راوي من عائلة القتيل ويحكي فيها قصة شاب من أصول عربية و يدعى (سنتياغو نصار) كان يعيش فيها وحيداً مع والدته في مزرعة وقد قتل بطريقة وحشية بسكاكين لذبح الخنازير على يد أخوين توأمين بسبب الإتهام الذي وجهته شقيقتهم أنجيلا لسانتياغو حيث More...
12 comments like (4 people liked it)
Jan 22, 2012
Andrea rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I love Marquez, but this book was extremely disappointing. It just seems like Angela and Bayardo threw away Nasar's life, without a thought for what they were doing. How could they live with themselves, and eventually reunite as a couple, knowing that a man died because of their antiquated views on female purity?

I also feel like it focused on the least intriguing element of the story: what the murderers did before they committed their crime, and all the ways the townspeople failed to r More...
Dec 31, 2011
Deborah rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Loving Marquez more and more with each work I pick up. Once again he effortlessly pulls the reader into the story. The character we end up knowing least about is the one we know will die from the first few lines and pages - Santiago Nasar. Set as a murder mystery but more of a 'why did they really do it' than a 'whodunnit' because we are quickly aware that the Vicario brothers are responsible for the crime itself in revenge for their sister's lost honour. The narrator reveals the story piece More...
Nov 13, 2011
Javer rated it: 4 of 5 stars
"Chronicles of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a brilliant piece of work by the author. A story about love and honor that included a murder, a wealthy foreigner looking for love, the virgin bride and many more aspect and peculiar circumstances that make this a brilliant novel. The bride's brothers, twin, Pedro and Pablo Vicario take upon themselves to make amendments to the honor of the family after their sister is sent back to the family by her husband, Bayardo San Roma More...
Aug 11, 2011
Jeff rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A novella by the author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera"



This is the story of a man getting murdered by twin brothers avenging their sister's honor. Essentially, the entire town knows that it is going to happen, but a variety of circumstances prevent anyone from preventing the killing.



Unlike the other Marquez books I've read, this one is told in first person. The narrator is one of the townspeople, but someone who was not around for the ki More...
Apr 05, 2011
Regine rated it: 4 of 5 stars
After reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's been really hard for me to appreciate other books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I've sat on the river boat with Florentino Ariza, and I was unmoved by his quest for love. I've been a voyeur to the old bachelor who buys himself a fourteen-year old virgin on his 90th birthday. I was mildly disgusted. However, "Chronicle of a Death Foretold", this I like. I really, really like.

For people that haven't read GGM, this wou More...
2 comments like (6 people liked it)
Feb 26, 2011
Angela rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Crónica de una muerte anunciada es un libro que encontré por casualidad mientras buscaba por mi casa algo que leer durante los 20 minutos que dura el viaje en tren hasta mi universidad. Me fijé en él porque es un libro de lo más fino -no llega a las 100 páginas- y porque el autor es más que conocido.
A pesar de su corta extensión, he tardado más de lo que esperaba en leerlo, debido a la falta de tiempo. Supongo que por eso no me ha llegado a gustar tanto como pensaba que me gustaría en un More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 24, 2011
manatee rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Uno de mis libros favoritos es Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada.Me encanta este libro porque es una historia bien contada que te enganche desde las primeras palabras, desde el primer momento. Lo recomiendo para los lectores que les gusta la intriga. La historia esta basada en un pueblo pequeño donde todo el mundo se conoce. Todos los habitantes del pueblo saben que los gemelos Vicario quieren matar a Santiago Nasar porque Santiago insultó a la familia Vicario. Las únicas que no saben son Santiago More...
Dec 22, 2010
Gordon rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
Dec 11, 2010
Elliot rated it: 4 of 5 stars
My favorite line in any work of literature is in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: "Father said that. That Christ wasn't crucified: he was worn away by a minute ticking of little wheels."

Marquez answers (although he never says it quite so explicitly): "Christ wasn't crucified: he was eviscerated, not by swords, but by everyone who didn't warn him."

In this short novel (which I read, furiously, in a matter of hours), Marquez recreates the wrongf More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Dec 08, 2010
Vicky rated it: 5 of 5 stars


One of the most respected and celebrated novella of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It narrates the chronicle of Santiago Nasar and how his dead came to be in the full knowledge of the whole town who did nothing to stop him because his dead was so well known they all assumed he knew it too. Killed for a crime he did not commit his story is narrated by his best friend.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez astonished me unlike any other writer with so few pages. The guilt of the town and the secrecy of An More...
Apr 28, 2010
Mohamed rated it: 3 of 5 stars
que sera sera

أعتقد أن هذا ما يمكن أن تستخلصه من هذه الرواية فعلى الرغم من معرفة الجميع بوقوع الجريمة قبل حدوثها حتى أنت يمكنك أن تدرك أن الجريمة وقعت بالفعل من عنوانها، فإن هذا لا يوقف القدر أو يمنعه ..... و السخرية أن الوحيد الذي لم يدرك ذلك هو سانتياجو نفسه كان هو (آخر من يعلم)....أعتفد أن الرواية تعبر عن فكرة ماركيز عن الإنسان و تسييره بالقدر أو بالقدرة الإلهية و لا يفوت ماركيز أن يطرح تساؤلا أو أحجية عقلية صغيرة هل من جنى على العروس هو سانتياجو حقاً أم لا
و الحقيقة أنه لا ته More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 21, 2010
Dennis rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
Dec 13, 2009
Vivek rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I believe that imagination is the particular faculty artists possess that enables them to create a new reality from the one they live in,” writes Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Coming from the Caribbean, though, has made it virtually impossible for Marquez to depart from reality, even with liberal use of his imagination. Marquez claims, ” . . . nothing has ever occurred to me, nor have I been able to do anything, that is more awesome than reality itself. The mos More...
Aug 02, 2009
kahane rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I don't think the translation was as good as it could have been, but I could perceive some of the language even so, and I can't wait to actually read it in Spanish and understand it. This book is surreal and Marquez really triumphs with the style of magical realism in more than just the obvious ways. Even in his portrayal of human beings he uses magical realism, often interweaving it with cultural sensibilities, social mentality. It's so much more than just about the murder of Santiago Nasar. I More...