Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1981)

A novella about an honor killing, which almost everyone in town knew would happen, but almost no one tried to keep from occurring.

Book Review: Chronicle of a Death Foretold takes us back to the world of One Hundred Years of Solitude, written in a similar tone, with a few similar events, and the legend of Colonel Aureliano Buendia. The main plot points in Chronicle of a Death Foretold are quickly revealed: 27 years ago there was a wedding, that night the bride was returned to her family for lack of virginity, and early the next morning the bride's twin brothers intended to kill the man who had deflowered their sister and shamed their family. Gabriel Garcia Marquez apparently based this story on real life, included some actual incidents, and then spun the events of these few hours into a confusion of facts, time, morals, friendship, responsibility, culpability. Just as in a real crime, witness versions vary wildly, so the characters in Chronicle of a Death Foretold dispute what occurred 27 years before, can't even agree whether there it was raining or sunny that morning. Similarly (this is the mastery of Marquez), the book's readers themselves see many false facts, tell the story different ways, express details that do not occur in the book. These 118 pages (Spanish version; the English version ably translated by Gregory Rabassa) are a confusion of religion, twitches of time, old hatreds, families, customs, change, those who didn't do enough, those who did more than they wanted to, chance, coincidences, fatal irony. Garcia Marquez describes a willingness to stand, watch and be silent as violent death approaches. There is no hero in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, no one with clean hands, no one to save the day. Much of the crime consisted of sins of omission, failure to act. The bride decided not to feign virginity as she'd been taught, the groom decided not to ignore a common wedding night surprise, the townspeople know but do little. The brothers don't even question whether they have the right man, although Garcia Marquez answers that question three times in the book, by my reading. There is so much here to ponder that this book could be taught in an Ethics class, a criminal justice course, a seminary. Friends could go through many pots of coffee discussing, perfect for a book club. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is short, simply and quietly told, with depths upon depths, well worth reading, and re-reading. [4½★]