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Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel García Márquez,

Gregory Rabassa (Translator)

3.97 · Rating details · 150,671 ratings · 7,748 reviews

A man returns to the town where a baffling murder took place twenty-seven 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 intent ...more

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Paperback, First Vintage International Edition, 120 pages

Published October 7th 2003 by Vintage (first published April 1981)

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Lists with This Book

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Jul 08, 2007 Ian rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone

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 violent. When he is fingered ...more

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Jun 25, 2019 Jim Fonseca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spanish, colombian-authors

Truth in the title: the title tells us exactly the plot of the novel.

A man is stabbed to death. He’s a fairly wealthy young man (he’s 21) who runs a cattle ranch inherited from his father. There’s an interesting ethnic twist: His father’s family speaks Arabic at home and his family's housekeeper on occasion calls him “white man.” Although the locals call his family ‘Turks,’ because they are Catholic, it’s likely they were Lebanese and arrived in Colombia (where the story is set) from the great Truth in the title: the title tells us exactly the plot of the novel.

A man is stabbed to death. He’s a fairly wealthy young man (he’s 21) who runs a cattle ranch inherited from his father. There’s an interesting ethnic twist: His father’s family speaks Arabic at home and his family's housekeeper on occasion calls him “white man.” Although the locals call his family ‘Turks,’ because they are Catholic, it’s likely they were Lebanese and arrived in Colombia (where the story is set) from the great mixing and melting pot of the Caribbean.

description

The title tells us all we need to know and very early on in the story we know why he was killed, so I’m not giving away any plot. Another wealthy man in town has just had the most extravagant wedding ever seen in the town. But the next morning the bridegroom ‘returns the bride’ to her family because she has been deflowered by the young man who will then be killed by her two brothers.

The day of the murder the brothers make no secret of their intentions. They wander around town telling people what they intend to do. By mid-morning just about everyone in town has heard them say they will kill him.

So why is nothing done? Everyone has an excuse. There’s a big commotion in town because the bishop is coming by riverboat to wave at folks and give the town a blessing. So even the priest thinks ‘this is a criminal matter that doesn’t concern me.' Most folks assume it’s just ‘drunk talk.' The mayor has the police chief take away their hog butchering knives when they are seen sharpening them. (But they have plenty of knives.) Also it’s assumed they are talking to so many folks that someone will stop them --- and maybe they want to be stopped.

description

The story is told retrospectively from almost 30 years later. A fascinating read that under the author’s masterful writing, makes the entire story perfectly plausible. “We killed him openly,” Pedro Vicario said, "but we’re innocent.”

A good read.

Small town in Colombia from arrangedtravelers.com
Photo of the author from npr.com ...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, latin-american, magical-realism, 20th-century, novellas, spanish, literature, colombian

Crónica de una muerte anunciada = Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981. It tells, in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction, the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the two Vicario brothers.

Characters: Santiago Nasar, Ángela Vicario, Bayardo San Román, Pablo and Pedro Vicario

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز اول ماه می سال 1994میلادی

عنوان: گزارش یک مرگ، نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ متر Crónica de una muerte anunciada = Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981. It tells, in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction, the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the two Vicario brothers.

Characters: Santiago Nasar, Ángela Vicario, Bayardo San Román, Pablo and Pedro Vicario

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز اول ماه می سال 1994میلادی

عنوان: گزارش یک مرگ، نویسنده: گابریل گارسیا مارکز؛ مترجم: لیلی گلستان؛ تهران، نشر البرز، چاپ دوم 1362، در 119ص، شابک9646952643؛ چاپ سوم 1369؛ چاپ چهارم 1370؛ چاپ پنجم 1373؛ چاپ دیگر نشر نو؛ 1361؛ در هشت و119ص؛ چاپ دیگر نشر ماهی، 1388، در133ص؛ شابک 9789649971902؛ چاپ دوم 1389؛ چاپ سوم 1390؛ چاپ چهارم و پنجم 1392؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان کلمبیا - سده 20م

روابط سنتی اهالی امریکای لاتین، «مارکز» روزنامه نگار بازهم داستان میسراید؛ یک برداشت است از یک رخداد یا جنایت، شخصیتها و نوع رخداد را تغییر داده، و روایت کرده، نوع روایت بسیار عجیب است؛ هم پیچیده و هم ساده است

چکیده داستان: در یک روستای کوچک در نزدیکی دریای «کاراییب» و در یک منطقه ی دور افتاده در «کلمبیا»، «بایاردو سان رومان» ثروتمند و تازه ‌وارد، با «آنخِلا بیکاریو» ازدواج می‌کند، و پس‌از جشن، تازه عروس و داماد، به خانه ی خویش می‌روند؛ در شب زفاف «بایارد» متوجه می‌شود که نو عروس او باکره نبوده، پس از آنکه داماد از این موضوع آگاه می‌شود، به همراه همسرش به خانه ی پدری او می‌روند، و جریان را به آگاهی آن‌ها می‌رساند؛ «آنخلا»، گناهکار را، جوانی به نام «سانتیاگو ناصر» معرفی می‌کند، که از همسایه‌ های خانواده «بیکاریو» در روستا است؛ برادرهای «آنخلا»، «پدرو» و «پابلو»، آماده ی دفاع از آبروی خانواده می‌شوند؛ آن‌ها به اهالی روستا اعلام می‌کنند (برای رهایی از این شرمندگی) به ‌طور یقین «سانتیاگو» را خواهند کشت؛ ولی در آن لحظه هیچکس اقدام کارآمدی برای جلوگیری از کشتن «سانتیاگو» انجام نمی‌دهد، چون بسیاری از روستاییان حرفهای برادران «بیکاریو» را جدی نگرفتند، وعده ‌ای هم خیال می‌کردند، که «سانتیاگو» در جریان موضوع هست، به هر حال دو برادر به سمت خانه ی «سانتیاگو» می‌روند، و او را در کنار در ورودی خانه ی خودش، با چاقو به قتل می‌رسانند، از آن فاجعه بیست و هفت سال می‌گذرد که بهترین دوست «سانتیاگو» که در جریان ماجرا بوده، به بازگویی آن رویداد می‌پردازد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 12/08/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Aug 12, 2018 Amalia Gkavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: colombia, latin-american, favorites, magical-realism, classics, crime, literary-fiction, mystery, world-literature

‘’There had never been a death more foretold.’’

Santiago is murdered in the market of a Colombian town. The perpetrators are two brothers. His crime? The supposed defilement of their sister, whose marriage to a young man was broken because she wasn’t a virgin. Márquez does something extraordinary here. He creates one of his finest works, a crime mystery where the question isn’t who or what but why. Why did everything happen in such a way? Why do people have to resort to such actions? Why are ...more

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Dec 29, 2014 Jibran rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sui-generis, nobel, hispanic

There had never been a death so foretold.

Márquez's oeuvre may be roughly divided into two streams of writing: the magician of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera and the journalist-adventurer of this novel and News of a Kidnapping. The ominous world of magic realism closes shop when Marquez switches his gears to journalistic storytelling. But may be not quite; because right from the opening scene an eerie premonition trails at the heels of Santiago Nasar and, do what h There had never been a death so foretold.

Márquez's oeuvre may be roughly divided into two streams of writing: the magician of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera and the journalist-adventurer of this novel and News of a Kidnapping. The ominous world of magic realism closes shop when Marquez switches his gears to journalistic storytelling. But may be not quite; because right from the opening scene an eerie premonition trails at the heels of Santiago Nasar and, do what he might, catches him unawares to punish him for a crime he might or might not have committed. In this novella the writer-narrator sets himself up to the task of investigating the events that led to the death so foretold.

You may call it a reportage of an impossible and inexplicable murder that could have been prevented with just a shout. You may call it story of a man who must pay for violating the unwritten code of honour when he is suspected of deflowering Angela Vicario, his best pal's sister, hours before she was to get married to another man. Or you may simply call it a story of an honour killing, but unlike other stories of this kind this is not yet another banal attempt aimed at soliciting public's disgust at the horrific practice, told from the moral high ground of an observer's point of view. It does not portray the entire value system backward and barbaric which stories of this kind are wont to do, but operates from inside the culture to report on the dynamics that lead to and make something like this possible. This objectivity sits at the heart of good writing and this sets Márquez apart from a bevy of writers who have produced stereotypical fictional accounts of a culture at war with itself.

I won't call it "unreliable narration" but rather a deliberate building up of ambiguity with respect to the victim's role: Was Santiago Nasar guilty of dishonouring Angela Vicario, or was there a big misunderstanding all along, made all the more complicated by a surfeit of circumstantial evidence? Here you have Márquez, the master investigative journalist, with the best implements of his trade, testing your powers of observation and turning you into a witness who is being strung along willy-nilly by a powerful voice. It's one of those novels where the process of telling a story is greater than the story itself. In other words, how it's told rather than what's told.

By the honour of Angela Vicario this is a story unequaled in its telling! ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, classics

Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez who is best known for his One Hundred Years of Solitude penned a novella A Chronicle of Death Foretold based on real life events that he witnessed. In this novella, Marquez tells through the eyes of an unnamed narrator the events that lead to the murder of Santiago Nasar. It is in the characterizations of the personas this short book that we get a taste of Marquez' brilliance which won him many honors during his writing career.

Santiago Nasar is the only chi Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez who is best known for his One Hundred Years of Solitude penned a novella A Chronicle of Death Foretold based on real life events that he witnessed. In this novella, Marquez tells through the eyes of an unnamed narrator the events that lead to the murder of Santiago Nasar. It is in the characterizations of the personas this short book that we get a taste of Marquez' brilliance which won him many honors during his writing career.

Santiago Nasar is the only child of Ibrahim Nasar and Placida Nacido. He is engaged to be married to Flor Miguel, but as his father before him, has engaged in trysts with his housekeeper's daughter. Likewise he has frequented a whorehouse and has an intimate relationship with its matron.

Meanwhile Bayardo San Ramon and Angela Vicario are to be married. Angela is not a virgin and San Ramon kicks her out of their marriage chamber. She is dishonored by her mother, and her twin brothers Pablo and Pedro are determined to kill the man responsible for their sister's reckless behavior. All signs point to Santiago Nasar.

The narrator tells this tale when all principal players have reached middle age. A boyhood friend of Nasar and a cousin of the Vicarios, he is determined to find out if Nasar was really guilty. Angela has paid the price, living like an old maid, yet still professing her love to Bayardo San Ramon after all these years. Yet despite the narrator's attempts to piece all the evidence together, Angela will not reveal the key clue, leaving the reader hanging throughout this short tale.

Even in this short tale, it is obvious to me that Garcia Marquez knows how to weave a story together. I am fan of Isabel Allende and people tell me that her writing reminds them of Garcia Marquez. As this is my first taste of his writing, I can sense the similarities- many characters in a Latin American village, the opening sentences containing flashbacks, and a high level of magical realism. I rate this novella 4 stars for its short length as I look forward to reading Garcia Marquez' opus which earned him international renown. ...more

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Mar 15, 2018 Mutasim Billah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: colombia

"On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on."

A grand wedding. A gruesome murder. And a multitude of lives changed forever. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella which recounts a fictionalized account inspired by an actual incident of honor-killing in Colombia back in 1951, now immortalized in this 1981 novella.

The story is about the series of events leading up to a murder, and its aftermath. I ...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Swaroop rated it liked it

"They've killed me, Wene child," he said.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel GarcÃa MÃ¡rquez is an interesting and a strange "true story", narrated and reconstructed by the author himself, of a murder that took place 27 years earlier in a Caribbean town, where the author grew up.

This novel is a detailed account of the entire incident, with data collected and accumulated from various sources. The author also gives the reader a feel of living in a Caribbean town. ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Steven Godin rated it really liked it

Shelves: nobel-laureates, fiction, latin-america

Stabbing a man to death is not as easy as it sounds, after all, it took 23 swipes at poor old Julius Caesar, but only one of them was actually deemed fatal. It takes a hell of an effort.
Not like that seen in those pathetic slasher movies, where a big breasted peroxide blonde is chased around a mansion by a nutcase bearing a huge blade that only dishes out flesh wounds.

Chronicling the murder of one Santiago Nasar in a small unnamed South American village, Márquez dazzles in a fictional world tha Stabbing a man to death is not as easy as it sounds, after all, it took 23 swipes at poor old Julius Caesar, but only one of them was actually deemed fatal. It takes a hell of an effort.
Not like that seen in those pathetic slasher movies, where a big breasted peroxide blonde is chased around a mansion by a nutcase bearing a huge blade that only dishes out flesh wounds.

Chronicling the murder of one Santiago Nasar in a small unnamed South American village, Márquez dazzles in a fictional world that is as pungently sharp as the knives used to kill, it's a murder everyone in town knew was coming, yet no one wanted. ''Never was a death more foretold.'' says the the novels narrator, recounting the events of that fateful day, in fact, it's many years later where the story is told from, using the recollections of various townsfolk, a picture is slowly built up of just "who" and "why" this horrendous act took place. The purpose is less to do with trying solve any mystery, as the deed was committed in broad daylight, by two brothers, who understood their sister had been dishonored by Nasar, it's more based on the determination to try and understand why no one was able to prevent the death from happening. Spare in tone and somewhat bizarre it's a clever piece of writing that explores the nature of complicity and fate, and of how an act of savage intent can effect so many lives over time.

Márquez utilizes mysticism and spirituality in his writing that represents culture, and symbolizes meaning within the context of the work. The death of Santiago may not have been avoided, partially due to the strange inabilities of his characters to connect with their spiritual powers. Both Santiago’s mother and his god-mother are unable to ‘truly feel his demise’. Mostly random thoughts and actions of several different people contribute to altering the course of that murderous day, with the fate of Santiago totally left in the hands of others.
Although a quick read, what I admired the most was the fact it's a deeper story than you think, it's not just the death of one, but the suffering of many, those who are burdened with failed responsibilities, the knives may have been in the hands of the killers, but seemingly the whole village also has a tight grip around them, this makes the story all the more powerful and ultimately
sad in the end, leaving an open wound on the people, unlikely ever to heal. ...more

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Oct 25, 2015 Kevin Ansbro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: family-dynamics, magical-realism, gorgeous-covers

I read this short masterpiece ages ago, but it only recently resurfaced in my mind, like a forgotten dream. It's a tense drama of murder foretold, written in the magical realism style for which Columbian novelist, Marquez, was lionised.
I really need to read it again to reacquaint myself with its succulent excellence.
(Ditto, Don Quixote, and so many other exquisitely-written novels that are now consigned to the backroom of my cluttered mind). ...more

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Jan 01, 2017 Jokoloyo rated it it was amazing

Before I started reading this book, Goodreads have already recorded 73,000 ratings and 3,500 reviews.

When I was reading this book, I found out some friends had read this book at his/her school age. How lucky you are, my friends. This is a good novel.

There are thousands correct ways to write a story. This novel used one of the rarely used ways. It was using non-linear timeline story, move back-and-forth between multi POV from a same morning when the incident occurred. It was not the first story ...more

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Feb 09, 2020 Baba rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: latinolit, magical-realism

So wading my way through my 10-book Gabriel García Márquez collection and having read 4 and given them each 2 stars or less - this is where where perseverance awards me, as undeterred, I read this and lo and behold, I really enjoyed it!

Why? One word - storytelling! This is just a wonderfully immersive and captivating story, of a death foretold! Now my Gabriel García Márquez curse is broken I hope the dam is bust and that my mind now 'gets' his work. A well deserved 8.5 out of 12.

...more

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Jan 09, 2021 Luís rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: g-classics, g-magical-realism, n-colombia, e-4

They had decided he had to die, yet they wished someone had stopped them. The assassins of Santiago Nasar had gone, but in vain, beyond the imaginable not to kill him.
Among the villagers who heard the two Vicario brothers say that they were going to wash away their sister's honour, some did not believe it, and others who tried something failed with a lot of goodwill. Santiago Nasar died from multiple blows from his murderers.
Will, chance or fate, did the death of a man depend on a tradition of h ...more

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Jan 13, 2016 Χαρά Ζ. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

_Chronicle of a Death Foretold_

oh God, I love Marquez

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Jul 29, 2020 Paul Bryant rated it did not like it

Shelves: novels, worldlit

There’s a kind of cheap thrill to dishing out one star to a Nobel prize winner and a guy I previously gave 5 stars to for the brilliant One Hundred Years of Solitude, but it has to be done because on a sentence by sentence level this this thin story in a thin book is as dull as ditchwater which has lost the will to live, all about some honor killing but of a guy not a woman, the alleged deflowerer of a returned bride. Yeah, we are in a society where if the bride isn’t a virgin she’s returned – “ ...more

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Sep 11, 2013 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: a-buck-and-change, latin-lovers, big-hair-the-1980s

It's possible that Gabriel Garcia Marquez's grocery list is better written than most of what stands on your bookshelves.

What Marquez does feels less like writing and more like the conveyance of a mood or a dream that imprints itself on paper as you read, then disappears behind you.

It's hard to find fault with him as a writer.

This is a particularly fascinating "skinny read," a little book with a lot of bang for your buck.

It is highly literary and also incredibly thought-provoking. I highly recom ...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Ben Loory rated it it was amazing

usually when i read garcia marquez i love it at first but then it just keeps circling and circling and eventually my brain shuts down and i pass out, but this time it just kept building and building and by the time i hit the end i thought i was going to explode. just one of the tensest and most mysterious books i've ever read in my life. also it was nice because i always read about marquez talking about how much he loves kafka but then i never see it in his books; this time around it was all rig ...more

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Mar 07, 2021 Matthew Ted rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ml-reads, lit-latin-american, lit-writ-spanish, 20th-century, translated, read-2021

[22nd book of 2021. Artist for this review is Argentine figurative artist Antonio Berni.]

This is one of Márquez’s novellas, at only 122 pages long. Santiago Nasar is going to be murdered and the whole town knows it—so why isn’t it stopped? There had never been a death more foretold, so it says. The town knows where it will happen, why and when. And yet, Santiago is still murdered. And thanks to the structure of this short novel, he is murdered multiple times— Márquez has structured the story wit ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 Cheryl rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: mystery lovers seeking a short thrill

Shelves: latin-america, short-shorts, fav-authors

I should start by confessing how Márquez's words have often flirted with me and I've fallen for his elongated, somewhat eccentric, prose style. In The Autumn of the Patriarch he took me on a satisfying and bewildering journey that secretly made me question his sanity. So I've come to expect that part-dizzying, part-dazzling style that makes this short work feel different, almost as if it was written by another Márquez, maybe a more controlled Márquez, but certainly not the same one who wrote One I should start by confessing how Márquez's words have often flirted with me and I've fallen for his elongated, somewhat eccentric, prose style. In The Autumn of the Patriarch he took me on a satisfying and bewildering journey that secretly made me question his sanity. So I've come to expect that part-dizzying, part-dazzling style that makes this short work feel different, almost as if it was written by another Márquez, maybe a more controlled Márquez, but certainly not the same one who wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Strangely, this book is more Márquez than the others. He had a friend who was murdered because he supposedly "deflowered" a woman (there are so many thoughts running through my head with the oddity of this, but I won't linger on the inhumanity of people). Since the victim's mother was a close friend, Márquez's mother didn't want him to use his journalistic skills and conduct narrative nonfiction or investigative reporting. In the end, he decided to explore his grief and conundrum through this work of fiction.

I can't remember a book I've read where in the first paragraph, the author tells me the character will be murdered, and yet there is still tension to drive the rest of the scene for me. With the complex and circular story structure, one is gracefully introduced to the dead Santiago Nasar, one nods at his killers, one meets the strange and mysterious groom,Bayardo San Roman, (view spoiler) but one never truly understands Angela Vicario, the woman at the center of it all.

She only took the time necessary to say the name. She looked for it in the shadows, she found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this world and the other, and she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written.

Sure, the mystery is never truly solved because in real life, there was always lingering doubts. But storytelling maneuverability is something one can always lean on in a Márquez novel. I enjoyed reading this story that manipulates time and place, where characters are developed in such artful ways that the years slip by within two to five pages and I'm so enchanted that I don't notice how much these characters have changed, until later. Yet there is so much to be saddened by, so many people to feel pity for; each character seems to be the victim of the kind of conformity that strangles and butchers and turns good into evil. As in most of his novels, Márquez investigates the ways of an entire community, a culture, a country; he elucidates absurdities that lurk in common ways of thinking and the story seems to not only seek answers for the crime, but answers to the bafflement of complacency that allows murder without someone having the decency to say enough. ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Vanessa J. rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, psychological, mwahaha-gore, magical-realism, 2013, latin-american

I can't believe I had not written a review for this book. Since I'm constantly recommending it to people, I should have written a review at some point... but I didn't. Now is the time when I try to do it justice with this, as it is one of my fave books.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold... that's exactly what this book is about: A death foretold. You may be asking yourselves, wtf is that? Well, that was pretty much my reaction in 2013 when I read this for the first time.

Santiago Nasar is found de ...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Traveller rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magical-realism, latin-america, translated, favorites

Brilliantly told....

I've just re-read this novel; and I've just remembered why it stuck with me after reading it the first time.

I have since learned that the novella is based on a true story, in which the author himself had been involved. This caused the book to carry even more of a disturbing impact for me.

The novel (novella? it's rather short) starts off in detective/journalistic investigative fashion; at first it seems casual and desultory; the narrator seems to be merely reporting. However, Brilliantly told....

I've just re-read this novel; and I've just remembered why it stuck with me after reading it the first time.

I have since learned that the novella is based on a true story, in which the author himself had been involved. This caused the book to carry even more of a disturbing impact for me.

The novel (novella? it's rather short) starts off in detective/journalistic investigative fashion; at first it seems casual and desultory; the narrator seems to be merely reporting. However, in spite of the text having the discipline and surface appearance of a journalistic style, when you realise that the author himself was emotionally impacted by the events, it dawns on you that the author has been attempting to work through his own horror and grief and helplessness at the events described in the book. The disciplined style in which he narrates, and the way in which he arranges the seemingly eclectic (but upon reflection obviously thoughtfully arranged) recollections, adds to the haunting and reflective qualities of the narration.

It is only at the very end of the book that the author exposes one to the more visceral horror of the events, and here the journalistic, almost dispassionate narrative style serves to very effectively portray the horror inherent in this death that was so thoroughly foretold.

The material has been so cleverly arranged that the narration picks up in emotional impact as the "investigation" develops, and the story finishes off with a visceral climax that leaves you feeling as if you had been punched in the solar plexus.

It is a brilliant look at a set of events that was precipitated not only by acts, but by a certain mindset, - a single sexual act ended up affecting an entire town, and the effects could still be felt twenty seven years later.

At the start of his investigation the author sets out to seek answers as to the "why" the death happened. Throughout the book he presents a thousand "if only's"; - of instances of how the death could have been avoided if only this or that had happened slightly differently.

The townspeople seem to believe it was a fait accompli because it was either ordained by fate, or, since it was a deed of "honour" within a certain religious mindset, it "had to" be done.

I get the feeling that these are not the sentiments of the author himself though, and that at the end, he is left with the same rage of helpless incomprehension; which is yet subtly laced with a certain fatalistic acceptance, that he leaves the reader with. The most ironic twist for me was that it was the victims' own mother, who, at the very end, while actually trying to save her son, unwittingly finally sealed his fate.

PS. It would seem that whomever did the Goodreads description introducing the novel, got hold of the wrong plot. It doesn't describe quite the correct set of events that take place in the novel, or even the actual POV of the novel, but oh, well... ...more

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Dec 10, 2017 Fran rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, magic-realism, latin-american

Death will catch us all, grab our bones and run, but few as unaware as those whose deaths have been foretold.

Everybody knew this will be his last day on earth. Everybody knew why they will kill him. Everybody but him. This is one of my favorite short novels from Garcia Marquez. From the title to the last word we know what will happen and why but the surprise is hidden in the was it right?

If you want a book that will leave a endurable mark in your subconscious ramblings (you know, those little t ...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Kalliope rated it it was amazing

This is such a well-crafted book in its structure and language that I may have to re-read it now that I just finished it.

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Mar 08, 2020 Antonomasia added it · review of another edition

Shelves: colombia, crime, 2020, decade-1980s, novella, nobel, latin-american, hispanosphere

It's around 25 years since I last read a whole book by Márquez - the only one before this - yet his style, and what made it characteristically his rather than that of countless imitators, felt as familiar, too familiar, even, as if I'd read half a dozen of his books. Perhaps that's how the imitations agglomerate, or I suspect, because the novels one reads as a teenager imprint most strongly. Back then I didn't quite see what all the fuss was about, and I still don't, except that it's worth readi ...more

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Dec 26, 2021 Bob Newman rated it really liked it

Shelves: latin-american-literature

Pork Brothers Knock Off Santiago!

Yeah, you haven’t read too many review titles like that on GR and I doubt you will in future.

But this isn’t a mystery story. You know Santiago is going to cark it from line 1. On the other hand, very few murder stories have the great style and perfectly etched background of this one which takes place in a Colombian town in the first half of the 20th century. It’s not about “if”, “how” or “when”. It’s about the reasons “why”. Complex family relationships, power w Pork Brothers Knock Off Santiago!

Yeah, you haven’t read too many review titles like that on GR and I doubt you will in future.

But this isn’t a mystery story. You know Santiago is going to cark it from line 1. On the other hand, very few murder stories have the great style and perfectly etched background of this one which takes place in a Colombian town in the first half of the 20th century. It’s not about “if”, “how” or “when”. It’s about the reasons “why”. Complex family relationships, power webs in a small town, the disinterested Church, the Arab immigrants, weddings and separations, machismo and virginity—all these fill the pages written in indelible prose by one of the 20th century’s greatest writers. Can you go wrong here?

And there remains a question, which Garcia-Marquez left for the reader’s imagination. Was Santiago actually guilty? Had he deflowered the bride of the fabulously rich and handsome man who appeared in town some time before? After the extravagant wedding, five hours later, the groom returned the bride, who, when questioned, uttered only Santiago’s name. “Did he actually?” is not answered. It was insinuated, whispered, and understood by everyone in town. Santiago was no doubt a ladies’ man capable of the deed. He was thereby doomed. The pork-butcher brothers of the shamed bride had to save the family honor. The whole story is revealed during an investigation thirty years after the events by a narrator whose mother had ties to Santiago’s family and that of the rejected bride. Can we really get to the bottom of all crimes, can we really decide who is guilty, who is innocent on the basis of a few, but not all the facts? And, another thing: why is the death foretold? I would say it’s because the author is saying, “Given this society, in a case where a bride is discovered to not be a virgin, violence and probably murder are predictable.”

With way over 7,000 reviews already on Goodreads, I think I will stop here. Don’t miss the book.

...more

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Sep 29, 2020 Asma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, short-stories-novellas, classics, century-20th, translated, nobel

A slim volume but not a quick read. Márquez deftly managed to pack so much in less than 150 pages.
The narrative structure is particularly interesting where we see the perspectives and recollections of a huge cast of characters about the foretold death - When, why and how Santiago Nasar was killed. This Chronicle of a death Foretold is ironic, a bit eccentric and head-spinning if you try to remember all the bits and pieces of details; sequence of events as seen and perceived by each person in ord ...more

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Dec 17, 2020 Lorna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magical-realism, essays-short-stories, latin-america, classics

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a non-linear telling of the murder of Santiago Nasar. A man returns to the town where the baffling murder occurred twenty-seven years ago and is determined to figure out exactly what happened all those years ago. But his investigation is complicated by the realization that all of the townspeople somehow were complicit in the crime. After talking to many, he begins to realize that the townspeople each had had some kind of foreshadowing but did not intervene, often ...more

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Mar 05, 2017 Helga rated it it was amazing

Initially i gave this book 4 stars, but last night it got me thinking and a book that makes me think and prevents me to sleep deserves a 5 star in my book.
This is the story of Santiago Nasar's murder. This literally is a story of an Appointment with Death. Despite almost everybody in the village knowing that Santiago is going to be killed, whether through ignorance, superstition, lies or malice (lets face it Santiago isn't a very nice guy) his death could not be prevented. ...more

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Nov 22, 2018 Petre rated it really liked it

The parody of life.

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Apr 01, 2010 TK421 rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary

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 the st ...more

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Chiave di Lettura: Cronaca di una Morte Annunciata	1	1	Oct 04, 2021 08:23AM
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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Spanish Drama/Murder Mystery/Thriller in small town (lots of gossip), graphic description of stabbing. Spoilers ahead. [s]	4	22	Nov 09, 2020 07:34AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Fictional drama novel about machismo in Latin America. Spoilers ahead.	3	19	Aug 27, 2020 12:56PM

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About Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez

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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.

He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian 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.

He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.

Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.

(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) ...more

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