After going through some astounding reviews about this book and the author, I picked the book "Chronicles of the Death Foretold". This is a brilliant tale of a plot that's set by two men involved in the complicity to kill a man called Santiago Naser for he had desecrated the dignity of their sister Angela Vicario. The arrival of the Bishop, being the big event of the entire plot becomes the beginning of any new happening that's a part of this tragedy. The lifestyle, culture, festivities and daily routines of the Spaniards are lucidly elaborated in different passages. Being the skirt-chaser that he is, Santiago after the night of debauchery would not have expected the fatal turn of events that were about to happen the next day. With sharpened Scimitars, his perpetrators were waiting to commit the heinous act amidst the delirious crowd. The beguiling and pitiable part is that everyone in the town knew about the plan devised to kill Santiago except him. In defiance to the fact that all his friends, family and fiance heard about the plot, it had also been the reason Santiago did not have any time to think of a quick escape plan.
"What had happened" and "How it had happened" are the focal elements of the whole incident and providing the gripping recount of the same is the biggest forte of the writer. Yet the "Why had it happened" part stands incomplete as till the end, the man in Angela's life is unrevealed. Here the author provides an outlet for his readers to have conjectures on various aspects. The circuit of suspense is left open in the end and it's for us, the readers, to solve the puzzle or let it remain as it is. In the end, the book's content turned out to be worthy of all the praises and acclamations it had received from various evaluators worldwide. Definitely looking forward to reading other works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And yes, "Love can be learned" (as said by Mrs. Vicario to Angela).
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