Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

When Bayardo San Roman returns his new bride, Angela Vicario, hours after their wedding, her disgraced family demands that she name her first lover. Her twin brothers set out to kill Santiago Nasar for the shame he has brought to their family. There is no evidence to support Angela's claim, in fact, nobody can remember ever seeing Santiago and Angela together. The twins make no secret of their plans to murder Santiago, and yet no one in the town intervenes to stop the murder from happening. In the end, Santiago ends up dead, leaving more questions than answers.

This was an interesting novel for me. It has a very journalistic style, and the story is told in a very straight forward manner. The facts are laid out with little to no emotional commentary. It reads more like a newspaper article or crime report than a novel. Although it is clear from the beginning what was going to happen, this book leaves more questions than it answers. I found it interesting that no one intervened to save Santiago, especially when there were questions surrounding the validity of Angela's claim. In fact, other than her saying it was Santiago, there seems to be little evidence that her claims are true.

There are several instances where others could have intervened and prevented the crime from happening, and yet they don't. What was puzzling to me about these instances was that the reasons for their lack on interference are silly when two men are running around with knives, clearly content to carry out a murder. Santiago is not painted as a bad man, someone who people would be glad to see get his comeuppance, yet no one intercedes on his behalf.

This was an okay read for me. I found the style and story intriguing, but I was left indifferent in the end.