Chronicle of a Death Foretold
by Gabriel García Márquez · first published 1984
45% recommend45% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
A short, tightly built novella about a murder everyone sees coming. Readers praise its beauty and its picture of the cruelty and self-protectiveness of the human heart. Suits fans of compact literary reads.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
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…the cruelty and self-protectionism of the human heart. Plus, its hysterical! "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Describes the horror of war and the effect it has on the rest of your life. "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marques. Tells the story of a murder that everyone in town knew would happen, but nobody tried to stop.
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗Never read Chronicle of a Death Foretold? In programming, do you have to worry about phonology, slang, or number agreement? The guy's deeper point is that programming is a language acquisition task and we would do well to take the rich set…
on “"My current theory is that programming is quite literally writing."” ↗"Chronicle of a Death Foretold", by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for people unfamiliar. It’s a very good short book.
on “Chekhov's Gun” ↗A chronicle of a death foretold
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) is a beautiful piece of fiction, and hugely influential. When I first read it, suddenly a number of other books and films seemed to spring from this single point of…
on “Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87” ↗…Hundred Years of Solitude seems too long for you, I urge you to look into some of his very excellent shorter books, such as Autumn but also Of Love and Other Demons[3] and Love in the Time of Cholera.[4] (Chronicle of a Death Foretold is even shorter, but I do not recommend it as the first Marquez book you read!) [1] It could be the first 10 or 30 pages, it's been several years, but I am certain it's one of the better (and shorter)…
on “Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87” ↗Completely coincidentally, I just bought the novel by Gabriel García Márquez, "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (in Spanish: "Crónica de una muerte anunciada") today. It's a short novel by the Columbian author that I had read ~10 years ago, and thought of it again today when reflecting on the nature of journalism.…
on “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” ↗I love this opening and it’s one I think about more than I should. I recently read his Chronicle of a Death Foretold and it’s opening felt drawn from this one. Toni Morrison’s Beloved opening is breathtaking as well.
on “How to Start a Novel” ↗"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" also appears in a lot of US advanced (IB/AP) high school English classes, which I suspect many HN users took.
on “Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at 87” ↗I've only read Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Memories of My Melancholy Whores from him, I started The Autumn of the Patriarch, but I couldn't bear it and gave up the book early.
on “Google’s suggestion for a better infinite scroll?” ↗1. "Shadow of the torturer" + "Claw of the Conciliator" -- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe 2. "Chronicle of a Death foretold" , Gabriel Garcia Marzquez 3. "Piranesi" , Susanna Clarke 4. "Ananda Math" , Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗