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What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> A book that should get more credit for inventing the True Crime documentary? That\u2019s probably not true, and I\u2019ve never really<\/em> read Capote beyond a few short stories, but man. The structure of this novel! Let\u2019s be honest\u2014it\u2019s my second favorite writer, I\u2019m gonna<\/em> find this book magic, and not just because of the magic realism. No, every new chapter, I was struck by how cleverly put together this book is, what a remarkable way this story is told. I\u2019ve started it a few times but somehow never finished it, and it\u2019s somehow better than I could\u2019ve even predicted. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Chronicle Of A Death Foretold<\/em> by Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez.<\/p> It\u2019s a short novel, told in five sections. It\u2019s the story of more than simply the principal players, as is to be expected from a guy so influenced by <\/a>Pedro P\u00e1ramo<\/a>. <\/em>It\u2019s a story where information is doled out carefully and thoughtfully, the way a true crime miniseries or whatever might be like \u201cup front: they killed him, and everyone knew they were going to\u201d and then really elucidating who \u201cthey\u201d and \u201chim\u201d and \u201ceveryone\u201d is slowly. What I want to say about the way information is revealed in this book, I\u2019m not sure, because cliches like \u201cmasterfully\u201d and \u201cat just the right time\u201d keep coming to mind. It\u2019s really, like\u2014idk, Gabo doing a 140-page novel about an honor killing in a small town is sort of like buying a chair, finding it to be incredibly comfortable, and then learning Jesus made it. You\u2019re a first-century Palestinian in this metaphor, btw. <\/p> Do we want to talk about honor killings? Not particularly. They are gross, retrograde, and based on a politics that denies women agency and<\/em> denies that sex is a thing people can do simply because they\u2019re consenting adults and it\u2019s fun. None of this had to happen if you all just read some bell hooks<\/em>, I shout unhelpfully at the pages. There are shades of Emmett Till\u2014some doubt is cast as to whether Santiago Nasar even slept with \u00c1ngela Vicario. There\u2019s a reminder that money cannot buy happiness, with the saga of Bayardo San Rom\u00e1n purchasing his house from underneath a widower. Could you write this exact same story and set it in Smyrna, TN? Yeah, probably. It\u2019s almost like a society where money is king and religious prudishness is strictly enforced is bad anywhere. When you describe the events of the book rather than the technique, it becomes harder to say \u201cI love this book!\u201d But I do. It\u2019s bleak, but with that trademark Gabo magic. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> Something to listen to while you browse? Did you know there\u2019s a new Halloween special of the Lazy & Entitled podcast? And we interview Adam Hinkle, one of the stars of the new movie Haunt Season<\/em>? <\/p>![\"Chronicle](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/3406c954-97d0-4c94-9690-f4850865e54a_3024x4032.heic\")
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