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collinaj's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
Not my style of reading. I always wanted more closure with the characters and more explanations of the plot twists. I was often confused about what was happening and if I was understanding the plot correctly.
ramonaleanna's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.25
Chronicle of a Death Foretold was my favorite novella from this collection. The former two paled in comparison to One Hundred Years of Solitude's recollections of Macondo (this was the first story I read by him like many others) and I wonder if I would have the same opinion if I had read these first.
sdlehmann89's review
5.0
All three novellas were wonderfully structured. It showed a deeper, truthful side of humanity. It was overall great.
lucieloureads's review against another edition
4.0
Having read 100 years of Solitude early this year, I was keen to read more by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and found this collection at the Last Bookstore in LA. The three stories all involve a death, however present them in different lights.
Leaf Storm: (3*)
The death of a hated but mysterious doctor in Maconda is told through three generations of a family, also featuring the change in a town after the banana trade comes and goes. It was difficult to track the change of narrative especially to begin with as the change seemed random. Untold secrets are revealed throughout but rarely shared with the other characters.
No One Writes to the Colonel: (4*)
The Colonel is living in poverty with his wife, struggling to feed themselves as well as a rooster that they inherited from their murdered son. Waiting for fifteen years for his war pension to arrive with no indication that his wait will ever end, the Colonel is delaying any proactive changes. This novella is a study in passiveness and survival. The elderly couple go through the motions to portray a dignified life, while they privately struggle to survive. Having sold everything of value in their home, the rooster is the embodiment of their hope in a future, keeping the rooster alive in the hopes that it'll win a cockfight in the future.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (4*)
An investigation of a murder some years later by which the whole town was witness and knew of the crime in the hours before yet failed to prevent it. The most gruesome of the short stories by far with lots of intestines and stabbings featured. I felt this story conveyed the various points of view better than the Leaf Storm, and was therefore easier to follow.
Leaf Storm: (3*)
The death of a hated but mysterious doctor in Maconda is told through three generations of a family, also featuring the change in a town after the banana trade comes and goes. It was difficult to track the change of narrative especially to begin with as the change seemed random. Untold secrets are revealed throughout but rarely shared with the other characters.
No One Writes to the Colonel: (4*)
The Colonel is living in poverty with his wife, struggling to feed themselves as well as a rooster that they inherited from their murdered son. Waiting for fifteen years for his war pension to arrive with no indication that his wait will ever end, the Colonel is delaying any proactive changes. This novella is a study in passiveness and survival. The elderly couple go through the motions to portray a dignified life, while they privately struggle to survive. Having sold everything of value in their home, the rooster is the embodiment of their hope in a future, keeping the rooster alive in the hopes that it'll win a cockfight in the future.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (4*)
An investigation of a murder some years later by which the whole town was witness and knew of the crime in the hours before yet failed to prevent it. The most gruesome of the short stories by far with lots of intestines and stabbings featured. I felt this story conveyed the various points of view better than the Leaf Storm, and was therefore easier to follow.
krpollard's review
4.0
This is the first collection of stories that I've read my Márquez. My first introduction to him was through a magic realism course in college in which I read One Hundred Years of Solitude. That work is still my favorite, but I liked how Márquez began populating his fictional town with characters in "Leaf Storm", which was my favorite of the three stories. I just love the way Márquez brings his characters to life with all their imperfections and oddities, and I often wonder how he chose a specific combination of words or how he thought to use such a mundane description or fact to bring the character to life.
cubehead27's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
adrianlarose's review
4.0
Nothing I can say that hasn't been said; loved the way he describes ordinary life and, in some of the stories, the multiple perspectives on the same scene (told one after the other), amongst other non-traditional narrative structures (to this Western eye).
clarkness's review
3.0
I really need to stop reading any of Marquez's early works. It was staggering how boring and uneventful Leaf Storm and No One Writes To The Colonel were, ESPECIALLY when you read them back-to-back with Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The latter is absolute genius; the former ones...well, Shit Storm and No One Writes Anything Interesting About the Colonel would have been better titles.
nb_leftist's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My ranking is:
1. Leaf Storm
2. No One Writes To The Colonel
3.A Chronicle of a Death Foretold
I really liked the writing style and I couldn’t put it down.
1. Leaf Storm
2. No One Writes To The Colonel
3.A Chronicle of a Death Foretold
I really liked the writing style and I couldn’t put it down.
katiem0201's review
4.0
Note: I only read Chronicle of a Death Foretold and not the other two stories in this edition.
This was a pleasant surprise for a required reading.
I was expecting a novel that was about trying to figure out who the murderer was, but that's not what the story about. Who is killed and who killed that person was revealed in the first chapter. What the story is actually about is why that person is killed and the connections to the murder with various people in the town and the town's reaction to that murder, both right after it happened and years after.
Out of the two short stories I had to read for my class this quarter ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead being the other), this was definitely my favorite.
This was a pleasant surprise for a required reading.
I was expecting a novel that was about trying to figure out who the murderer was, but that's not what the story about. Who is killed and who killed that person was revealed in the first chapter. What the story is actually about is why that person is killed and the connections to the murder with various people in the town and the town's reaction to that murder, both right after it happened and years after.
Out of the two short stories I had to read for my class this quarter ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead being the other), this was definitely my favorite.