Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Santiago Nasar is going to be killed, and everyone knows about it, except him, until that final moment of course. This book follows the story of how and why it happens, as seen by an unnamed outsider. Somewhat like a journalist he goes around the town and gets each person's version of the events in question, and along the way gives a fascinating insight into the culture and attitudes of the community. The two young men who commit the murder do everything in their power to avoid doing it, they really don't want to kill him, they agonise over the prospect, but feel bound by duty and honour to do it. They tell people wherever they go of their intentions in the desperate hope that someone will prevent them, and all the other people seem to know they must prevent it, that it would be a simple matter to prevent it, but mostly assume that someone else will take the responsibility for preventing it. The book is almost funny it is so surreal. You find yourself willing someone to intervene because you can see the whole picture and where it is inevitably leading. As an outsider I could not relate to the way the people act and react, but you are not invited to judge what happens, only to observe that within the context of their cultural background their actions and reactions cause the events to take the course they do. I liked this book because it deals with the minutiae, and that is what makes the story and the characters so real. The style is very informal, you feel as if you are listening in on conversations. You feel as if you come to really understand people's concerns and motivations. It also raises bigger questions about actions and consequences, and the idea of inevitability; the death is inevitable, because of course it has already happened, but as you watch the story unfold you can see that it is also inevitable because of the characters in the story and the culture they are part of. The word 'foretold' brings to mind in me the idea of prophesy, and that is almost what it is, that the death is an inevitable consequence of the course of events and the choices of the people, and as such was unavoidable. Interesting stuff, and Marquez won the Nobel Prize in 1982 which I would consider is recommendation enough.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Published by Picador
ISBN 0 330 28095 3
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