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Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

List Price: $11.00
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very good book...
Review: Chronicle of a Death Foretold is an account of the killing of Santiago Nasar. He was stabbed to death by twin brothers Pedro and Pablo Vicario for a perceived offense against the honor of their family. The day before, their sister Angela had been married to Bayardo San Román, a wealthy but enigmatic young man, then returned to her family during the night when he discovered that she was not a virgin.

García Márquez occupies most of this short novel with detailing the actions of the Vicario brothers and Nasar in the hours leading up to Nasar's death. The novel is not really about either the killers or the victim, however, it's about the people of their small Caribbean village.

As we quickly learn, the Vicario brothers felt honor-bound to try to kill Nasar, but they would have been perfectly satisfied not to succeed. They told everyone who would listen of their intentions - thus making Nasar's a "death foretold" - and it is apparent that they were hoping someone would stop them. No one did. The mayor of the town came the closest, taking their knives away. When told that the brothers had simply acquired new knives, he went to confront them again, but stopped first to check on a date for dominoes that night, and by then it was too late. Similarly, few of the villagers did anything to try to warn Nasar that two men were out to kill him. Instead they all gathered round to watch the exciting event.

The villagers' conduct is bizarre, very different from how real people would behave. I suspect that García Márquez believes the villagers' pattern of behavior is one real people follow all too often.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: terrible book that leaves me with a bad taste afterwards
Review: I had to read this book for my eleventh grade honors english class. I love to read when given a good book, however this has been one of the worst books that I have ever had to read for school. This year in class we have read The Great Gatsby (5 stars out of 5), Death of a Salesman (3/5), Fences (4/5), Winesburg, Ohio (1/5), and now this. It has no conclusion, is immensely boring, and I could not stand reading it! With books like these, it's no wonder that so many kids prefer video games and television to reading (with the exception of Harry Potter). Save your time and money and do not read this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent novella
Review: While Gabriel Garcia Marquez shows is impeccable at filling his lengthy novels with a wide variety of important aspects of the human experience, his novellas show that the Columbian master also has a knack for rooting out a single facet of human nature and exploring it in a certain and direct manor. One of his best novellas is undoubtedly 1981's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, in which an entire town is an accessory to murder. The Vicario twins' sense of family pride is brutally wounded when their sister, Angela, is returned home on her wedding night because the groom had discovered that Angela's virginity had already been broken. When their sister identifies a local bachelor named Santiago Nasar as her first lover, the brothers sharpen their knifes for the next morning. As they set out to complete their gruesome task, the twins are not at all secretive of their plans, making references to the forthcoming homicide in friendly banter with their fellow townspeople. Yet none of those with whom they speak carry out any attempt to prevent the slaughter. Some doubt the Vicarios will actually go through with the slaying, some consider such conflicts of honor something not be meddled with by an outsider and some are downright apathetic to the peace of their community and the safety of their neighbor. Mr. Marquez builds a shocking, yet utterly conceivable scenario in which members of a cultured society are given amble opportunity to prevent an appalling evil yet do not even try (One need only remember the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City to understand the universality of this subject matter). In less than one hundred and fifty pages, Chronicle of a Death makes the reader rethink his or her assumptions concerning societal decency and community responsibility.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: newwgaaatt
Review: "We're going to kill Santiago Nasar"
The flighty, mixed sense of pride and dignity of this novel engulfs you from the very beginning and proceeds to lead you in a dance through the intriguing story of a noble man's last moments, as seen from the many eyes of a small Columbian village.
Twenty-seven years after the murder, the narrator (who grew up in the village) returns as a journalist to combine and clarify the many stories and rumors that flew about around the time of the murder of Santiago Nasar. Wealthy and powerful, Santiago remains the gentleman of the town, until a returned bride blames him for her impurity, turning her brothers loose on the hunt for revenge and the restoration of her honor.
With the air of a long night of wedding celebration still lingering, the word spreads throughout the town of the Vicario family's intentions of killing Santiago. It spreads to almost every ear but one; Santiago Nasar's.
The author brilliantly blends together the individual stories and opinions of the townspeople and witnesses, portraying every aspect of the situation. It is not a very easily read novel, and it isn't very hard to get lost if you don't devote yourself to it. It's the type of book you'd have to read in one stretch, because Marquez keeps laying the information on you. If you put it down for a long period of time, you might loose the context of the situation.
Narrated from the first person, the narrator lets you get to know the characters very personally, but his voice is that of a third person, and thereby lets you form your own opinions and judgments on what you will. The story tells of passion, pride, confusion, and power, the town; culture, bonds and relations between it's people, and many of the strange ways of this world.
Although the murder is no secret, it's stories grow like a fisherman's tale; every ear conceives it larger than the one before, as the sun shines in one, it may pour in the other, it keeps you hooked till the very last page.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Review: Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Martha Southgate [$$$]...Because much of this book is spent reminding the reader of the main character (Santiago Nasar)'s death, it somewhat loses its impact. However, it moves you all the same, though it's possible that the anticipation of his death somewhat contributes to the astounding impact of the end. This book is a journalistic interpretation of one man's murder and the events surrounding it. It begins at the wedding of Angela Vicario, a local beauty, and Bayardo San Roman, a well-to-do millionaire who is a new arrival to the small Colombian town where the story takes place. Upon discovering on wedding night that his wife was not a virgin, Bayardo returns her to her family. When asked who had taken her virginity and soiled their family honor, she quickly replies Santiago Nasar, though some say she lied. Her two twin brothers, Pedro and Pablo Vicario, decide to uphold family honor by murdering Santiago. Santiago's death is imminent by the first sentence, so you soon realize that there is no chance of a last minute reprieve. Though much of the book reads like a news article, Gabriel Garcia Marquez will suddenly throw in a beautiful description, or a quick character judgement, despite his tries to be impartial. Also diminishing from this book's appeal is the time; irregular at best, which turns this book into something of a jumble of time and names we truly don't need to know. My only other problem with this book was that of the lack of direction, however, in almost any other book it would take away from it. Whereas, in this case you are given the impression that the narrator is painting a picture, beginning with an outline. And I must admit that the colors swirl together well in a finished picture, though somewhat stiffly. This is a break from the standard storytelling form. All this information comes at you in a surprisingly cohesive form, though still not as easy to read as something straightforward. I find it somewhat ironic that it is titled a "chronicle", as I see it more as a "Portrait of a Death Foretold" (I'll be sure to write Gabriel Garcia Marquez and pitch that to him for later publications) Also, the powerful ending image of the death of Santiago Nasar leaves you stunned. All in all, a good book, marred by few and far between discrepancies

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Chronicle Of A Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Review: In this book the narrator brings us back twenty seven years and introduces us to Santiago Nasar, a respected and wealthy man still living by his father's model in a small town in Columbia. The story begins on the day of Santiago's death. The night before had been a long one with the marriage of Angela Vicario and Bayardo San Roman. The husband, angered by the new knowledge that his wife had not been a virgin at the time of their marriage, returned her to her family. Angela's brothers were left stuck in the position of defending their sister and set out to kill the one said to be guilty of stealing Angela's virginity, Santiago Nasar. While the town is awaiting an infrequent and impersonal visit from the Bishop, the Vicario brothers conspire to take revenge ("homicide in legitimate defense of honor") on Santiago. They attempted to make the murder be known publicly, flashing their ten inch butcher knives as a way to make the revenge understood, or maybe as a way for them to be stopped, but they were disregarded "Their reputation as good people was so well founded that no one paid any attention to them 'We thought it was drunkards baloney'". And as a result of this confusion Santiago was the last one to find out about their plan, despite the threatening letter that the brothers had placed on his doorstep. It seemed that his close friends and relatives simply neglected to mention that the Vicario brothers were planning to kill him. In this peculiar town the facts have been blurred into opinion and nothing is certain from the weather on the day of the murder to whether Santiago was guilty. As the book spirals through the haze of events surrounding the murder the traditional hero and villain characters become less and less distinguishable and all of the characters seem humanly justified. Some characters may even seem familiar such as Maria Cervantes who also appeared in his short story "I Only came to Use the phone". It leaves us to wonder whether this story (based on real happenings) is just one of many slightly factual stories. As always Gabriel Garcia Marquez ends the story somewhat abruptly, leaving the questions unanswered. The magical realism present in much of his writing shifts to sheer oddity in Chronicle Of A Death Foretold as the improbable becomes strangely convincing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Chronicle of a death foretold review
Review: Gabriel Garcia Marquez applied his special tatic of mystery and confusion just like the famous boo, ¡°One Hundred Years of Solitude here. It describes a story of the murder case that happened 27 years ago in a town where the narrator, ¡°me¡± of the book grew up. It is based on a true story which the author heard when he grow up. But, the story was modified and fictionalized by him. There are so many characters in the book that the readers have to pay special attention to keep track of all of them; it is very easy to get confused.
Santiago Nasar who is murdered brutally had not even known the reason for his death. He was confused when he was informed that the Vicario brothers wanted to kill him. ¡°I don¡¯t understand a God-damned thing¡±(p.135) The Vicario brothers, Pedro and Pablo feels that they were obliged to kill Santiago since their sister, Angela confesses he was the one who took her virginity. Without any future investigation or proof, they decide to kill Santiago. Angela marries a rich guy named Bayardo San Roman who has just come in to the town looking for a girl to get married. Unfortunately, Bayardo finds out that Angela is not a virgin after the wedding and then returns her home. Angela takes a little time and tells her brothers that it was Santiago. The Vicario brothers feel that Santiago has dishonored their family and that they have to kill him. This news gets spread between townsmen, but nobody dares to take it seriously. The death, which could be prevented, then occurs when the Vicario brothers meet Santiago in front of his house.
The narrator interviews all the people who were involved in that incident 27 years later, but never explain or clarify whether Santiago actually took Angela¡¯s virginity or not. Also, it is not clear why people did not help Santiago.
There has been controversy over whether it rained or not on the day in which Santiago is brutally murdered. Some claims that it rained when the others say it was a beautiful shiny day. Santiago could avoid the murder if he had sat down with his future father-in-law and talk about the murder plan of the Vicario. Extremely confused, he just wanders around and finally finds his house when the Vicario brothers have been waiting for his appearance. It is a mystery who actually took Angela¡¯s virginity. ¡°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¡¦¡±(p. 53) The Townsmen claim that Angela picked Santiago since he was pretty powerful and wealthy guy in the town. They think that there is a secret lover she protected. Santiago faces his death without even knowing why he had to be killed.
Chronicle of a death foretold has a lot of mystery which arouse people¡¯s curiosity. The readers want to read more and more, however, at the end nothing gets clarified. The inhumane `murder of Santiago is the only thing that is explained well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD
Review: I am a senior in high schoo, taking AP Spanish Literature and for a class assignment I had to read "Chronicle of a Death foretold" noble. This was the first time I read a book in spanish, I realize that most spanish authors use magical realism in order to make their stories interesting. I liked this book because it shows how the characters evolve all throughout the story. At the beginning it shows that every one is peaceful and that nothing ever happens in this town and then things start changing and people become angry and killers.
The reason I really got interested in this story was because the author uses descriptive words to show how Santiago, one of the main characters, is killed. It is as if you can actually see if and it makes you imagine it. There is a scene in the book where you can actually feel like your watching what is happening, is when Santiago is being chazed by the killers and he wants to run in to his house to get saved, but the door shuts right in front of him causing him to get killed, this part makes you want to be there and open the door to save him while the killers are stabbing him.
Another reason is that it relates to the things that arre happening in this world, the authors describes how curruptive the police is and how they sometimes do not take enough action in order to save people. He also describes how morals are not really that important to the people today. This book even though its describing a setting of a long time ago it uses things that today we can actually relate to.
"Chronicle of A Death Forehold" is a story that has no suspence because right since the beginning you know what will happen, but that is not what makes you keep reading, what keeps you reading is to know all the things that happen in just is question of hours.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Review: Chronicle of the death foretold by Gabriel Marquez
Review: Gabriel Garcia Marquez applied his special tatic of mystery and confusion just like the famous boo, "One Hundred Years of Solitude here. It describes a story of the murder case that happened 27 years ago in a town where the narrator, "me" of the book grew up. It is based on a true story which the author heard when he grow up. But, the story was modified and fictionalized by him. There are so many characters in the book that the readers have to pay special attention to keep track of all of them; it is very easy to get confused.
Santiago Nasar who is murdered brutally had not even known the reason for his death. He was confused when he was informed that the Vicario brothers wanted to kill him. "I don't understand a God-damned thing"(p.135) The Vicario brothers, Pedro and Pablo feels that they were obliged to kill Santiago since their sister, Angela confesses he was the one who took her virginity. Without any future investigation or proof, they decide to kill Santiago. Angela marries a rich guy named Bayardo San Roman who has just come in to the town looking for a girl to get married. Unfortunately, Bayardo finds out that Angela is not a virgin after the wedding and then returns her home. Angela takes a little time and tells her brothers that it was Santiago. The Vicario brothers feel that Santiago has dishonored their family and that they have to kill him. This news gets spread between townsmen, but nobody dares to take it seriously. The death, which could be prevented, then occurs when the Vicario brothers meet Santiago in front of his house.
The narrator interviews all the people who were involved in that incident 27 years later, but never explain or clarify whether Santiago actually took Angela's virginity or not. Also, it is not clear why people did not help Santiago.
There has been controversy over whether it rained or not on the day in which Santiago is brutally murdered. Some claims that it rained when the others say it was a beautiful shiny day. Santiago could avoid the murder if he had sat down with his future father-in-law and talk about the murder plan of the Vicario. Extremely confused, he just wanders around and finally finds his house when the Vicario brothers have been waiting for his appearance. It is a mystery who actually took Angela's virginity. "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..."(p. 53) The Townsmen claim that Angela picked Santiago since he was pretty powerful and wealthy guy in the town. They think that there is a secret lover she protected. Santiago faces his death without even knowing why he had to be killed.
Chronicle of the death foretold has a lot of mystery which arouse people's curiosity. The readers want to read more and more, however, at the end nothing gets clarified. The inhumane `murder of Santiago is the only thing that is explained well.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: dishonor
Review: Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book of a Chronicle of a death foretold is a breath taking experience that will mesmerize you. It will make your right guard turn left. It's about how a set of twins must avenge their family name. How dishonoring one's family can foretell a person's death. The author takes you through a rollercoaster of events that are foretold in the beggining of the book. Once you've started you can't put his book down. It's more shocking then a shocker! We felt that we could not connect to the book because it wasn't a book for us teenagers (waise,chirs,gabe,alvaro,J.P., and me). But overall it was ok. Ater emphisizing what the twins went through, we could understand the reason for wanting to get revenge.
amir waise chris gabe alvaro J.P.
P.s. If you wanna be hip and down like us ... ur gonna have to read this book to know what we're talking about


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