"Chronicle of a death foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez translated from Spanish by Gregory Rabassa. This book is published by Penguin India in 2000 and has 122 pages.
Bayardo San Roman, a mysterious young man weds the beautiful Angela Vicario in a Colombian town. On their wedding night Bayardo discovers that his wife is not a virgin. He takes her back to her parents. Her brothers want to know who is responsible. Angela names Santiago Nasar, a rich and handsome young man. Angela's brothers declare that they will kill Santiago. But Santiago is unaware of this. He starts his day like any other.
Will he know about threat to his life? Will Angela's brothers muster courage to salvage family honour? Will Santiago be killed? Will it reconstitute Angela's life?
It's a strange book. The writing style of author is very different. Story is slow but since it's a small book, you sail through. The whole book centers around the killing of Santiago. All the events of the day are detailed in the book. The atmosphere of the book is mysterious. Characterization is also mysterious. A lot of threads remain untold.
Pablo and Pedro, brothers of Angela, announce their intention to kill Santiago to everyone they meet, in the hope that if someone stops them they will not have to kill Santiago and they will get satisfaction that they had done everything to salvage family honour. However somehow no one stops them and they had to kill Santiago.
Some things have been left unanswered by the author. Is Santiago really responsible for Angela's loss of virginity? What does Bayardo do after he leaves Angela? Why does Angela write letters to Bayardo?
It's different, read for a change.
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