2666: A Novel
by Roberto Bolano
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Book Reviews of 2666: A Novel
Book Review: Life's too short, people...
Summary: 1 Stars
I'd like to think of myself as reasonably literate, but I find myself stupefied by the critical circle-jerk which has fomented around 2666. I appreciate that taste is subjective, but I was hard-pressed to find a single passage, clever parallel, insight into any facet of the human condition or turn of phrase -- in over 800 pages -- that made me feel like the reading experience was worthwhile. (That, in itself, is almost impressive.) In all honesty, I've never experienced a book which was so devoid of reward. I don't need the bad guys to get comeuppance, I just want a sense that my life has been somehow enriched by the time spent in the world offered by the book. Or even a sense. Of anything. All I found were endless culs-de-sac, bloated streams of consciousness which negate themselves, multiple interpretations of the dreams of distant relatives of unimportant side-side characters. There is the slimmest interconnection between the five books here, and even the title which unifies them is of nil significance: it takes the editor's note, appended to the end of the book, to explain that Bolano makes a reference to the year 2666 in an earlier novel. How anyone but the most devoted Bolanophile would pick up on that is anyone's guess.
I barely made it through, fueled only by some masochistic sense of completism, and a rapidly ebbing hope that there was some reason for the whole endeavour. Is there really that much demand for a sprawling, formless, utterly pretentious bloated drudge? Is it merely that the backstory of the author's awareness of his impending mortality as he wrote imparts the book itself with some credibility? If anything, I think that there's a morbid comedy to be found in the idea of Bolano racing against time to pack his novel with as many red herrings as possible - really, that's all I felt there to be here. Even books which I've found frustrating reads -- Eggers' "You Shall Know Our Velocity", Sebold's "The Lovely Bones", Easton Ellis' "Glamorama", Ballard's "Crash" -- have had some quality which propelled me onwards. Guess I'm destined not to get Bolano, like I don't get Jean-Luc Godard...
Sorry - just had to vent.
Just so you know I'm not a full-on hater, I'd like to give props to Daniel Alarcon's "Lost City Radio", which I read last week and whose unpretentious style I found exquisite. In my opinion, a young talent worth following...
Book Review: 2666 is a rich and luxurious set of stories
Summary: 5 Stars
Deeply rich with points and counterpoints, side stories, main stories, and a host of ways to explore this 900 page book the reader can often get lost thinking about the counterpoints that they are reading. This is not a typical book, there are no happy endings here, nothing gets tidied up, and few things get resolved. What the book does provide though is a rich context, nearly luxurious in its writing, it is like slipping into an alternative universe where we are both better than we really are and stranger than we really are.
The book is written in the third person, we learn the story from the view point of being told what the points in the story are. You don't have to think about what is being said, rather you starting thinking what you would do in a similar situation, how you would do the same thing. That is the beauty of this book, it is deeply internalizable, you sympathize, you learn with the characters. There is nothing monotonous about the book, but you will find yourself getting emotionally involved with the characters throughout the five stories in the book. That is what great literature is about, getting involved, finding a connection, understanding where the characters are coming from because they hit an emotional nerve on the part of the reader. This book certainly did that for me, I found myself becoming emotionally involved, and rereading sections of the book to see if I could find more, learn more, understand the situation better as the story line becomes your own.
Overall I found the book compelling, long, thought provoking. Few books reach this standard, and unfortunately this is the last book from Roberto Bolaño. Sad, but if you are going to leave a legacy, this is the book you want to leave. Well worth buying, make sure you have the time to read it if you do. Some will fade out after the first story, but if you want to stretch your imagination, and have a book that you can lose yourself in, this is the book you want to get.
Book Review: Strange and Wonderful (3.5 stars)
Summary: 4 Stars
2666 took me a long time to read. I found it difficult to take in large doses but worthy all the same.
It had a very cinematic effect on me in that I pictured the scenes very much like I would view a film. The first part had a very European art film feel, the second through 4th a very raw "No Country for Old Men" feel and then the final part was less visual for me and more like a standard novel.
The novel is very well constucted, the 5 parts are well connected and it's very original.
The first part concerns 4 academics who are obsessed with the enigmatic and secretive author Benno von Archiboldi. They are joined by their obsession and as they search for Archiboldi, they develop interesting relationships and connections. This is the very European art film part.
The second part is a good connector but was relatively uninteresting on its own.
The 3rd and 4th parts are the heart of the novel and take place in an industrial city in the north of Mexico. There are a wide variety of largely suspicious characters. These chapters take place in a time when many, many women are being murdered in the city. The police are largely trying to prove that there are not serial murders although it's obvious that something out of the ordinary is going on. These chapters contain many subplots and most, like the murders, are not resolved. The atmosphere of these chapters is paranoia and fear. I find them to be absolutely brilliant.
The 5th and final chapter, I found to be largely self indulgent with many pointless subplots and much philosphical meandering. I enjoyed it far less than the first 4 chapters.
In all, this is a strange and at times violent book that I can understand why people love. On the other hand, little is resolved, most plots lead nowhere and parts of the book are actually a bit boring.
I enjoyed the novel but I encourage others to read more reviews before choosing whether to purchase it.
Book Review: a word from a non-extremist
Summary: 3 Stars
I, like most other readers, was first intrigued by the reviews of this book. From The New York Times and The New Yorker all the way down to my local paper, everyone had something to say about it. Dreamlike, epic, worldly, etc.
I don't normally purchase books, but I purchased this one.
I adored the first part, the second part, the last part, but the third part left me cold and confused and the fourth part, as you may have gathered thus far, is a collage of police response, political response, and personal responses to the hundreds of murders on the Mexico/US border.
I felt as though Bolano was trying to weave together his ability to write the personal narrative of a few characters, his ability to write almost fairy tale-like history, and an objective, raw account of reality. Instead of weaving them together, though, he placed them side-by-side, a sort of sampler plate of Bolano's abilities. It meant that most readers will most likely enjoy only some of the five sections.
His knowledge and perspective are astounding. The prose, when meant to be, is unique, intriguing, whimsical, or completely emotionless and succinct. Definitely written for a modern audience, as, unlike past authors, Bolano doesn't stretch anything beyond necessity, doesn't linger on any side story unless it's something the reader will inevitably feel to be vital. He keeps up a swift pace.
I recommend reading it. I recommend it for the pithy little quotations, for the little things that tie each part together, details from one clarifying mysteries from another, for the feeling that you're being taken on a crazy journey across multiple continents throughout the twentieth century, for the fact that you, as a reader, are bound to adore at least one of the five sections.
It's not perfect. We know that Bolano didn't have the opportunity to give it the time it deserved. But it's worth your time.
Book Review: astounding
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never been compelled to write a review on amazon, until today, upon completing 2666. For those who have difficulty reading 'The Part About The Crimes' - which for me, induced nightmares - I'd like to offer a passage from the fifth section, 'The Part About Archimboldi', in which the Baroness reveals the artistic output of Conrad Halder:
"Occasionally news came of him, always preceded by some small scandal. His Berlin paintings were left in the care of my father, who didn't have the heart to burn them. Once I asked where he kept them. He wouldn't tell me. I asked him what they were like. My father looked at me and said they were just dead women. Portraits of my aunt? No, said my father, other women, all dead." (Bolano, 683)
This passage, among others within the fifth section, helped fashion my appreciation for Bolano's exacting description of death in Santa Teresa: death, upon death, upon death. Such deaths do occur, they have occurred, and their history must not be forgotten; moreover, work that attempts to examine such death, though some may find it 'degenerate' or displeasing, should not be hidden, buried, or burnt. As Entrescu offered, "culture [is] life, not the life of a single man or the work of a single man, but life in general, any manifestation of it, even the most vulgar." (Bolano, 683-684)
Although they may be unpleasant, devastating, and tremendously sad, even the most horrible moments in our history deserve remembrance through our culture, through our literature, through our art.
I hope Bolano's choice to recount the murders of Ciudad Juarez through Santa Teresa does not dissuade you from acquiring the novel or completing it. 2666 was wholly satisfying, often astounding; it deserves a second read. I cannot recall the last time I've been so enthralled by text, and I do hope you enjoy a similar experience.