The Savage Detectives: A Novel
by Roberto Bolano
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Book Reviews of The Savage Detectives: A Novel
Book Review: The worst book I ever read!
Summary: 1 Stars
I kept waiting for something to happen. But, it seemed the same thing just kept happening and it never really went anywhere. The drank, they smoked, they had sex, they thought about having sex, they smoked, they ate, they spouted poets' names as if it was the most important thing in the world, they stole books and wandered in some sort of depressed state. I didn't get the depressed part. I guess to be really really deep, you need to be depressed.
I came to a point when I could take no more. I threw the book into the trash bin and felt compelled to write to the publisher. I was so amazed that this book is thought to be one of the ten best of last year. I admit that I'm not exactly a well read person, but I know the difference between entertainment, art and crap. This was crap.
Book Review: good but overhyped
Summary: 3 Stars
When will the Bolaño craze end? Yes, he was very good - at times -yes, he had a special rhythm and music to his prose - yes, he died tragically midlife and mid career, leaving a big sense of What If, and yet... he wasn't always the genius or groundbreaker critics love to call him. Savage Detectives runs out of steam after the first third, endless catalogues of names and droning passages of this and that.. Sophomoric humor, occasionally funny, often not...He could have used a merciless editor. But yes, some love precisely this, the tremendous self-indulgence of the prose. I would recommend his shorter novels by far: By Night in Chile and Distant Star. You've then read the best of him, and have a sense of the writer he could have continued to be.Book Review: Una Obra Maestra
Summary: 5 Stars
Que inesperada alegria fue encontrarme con el libro mas hermoso que he leido. La forma como Bolanos describe el devenir de un par de bohemios del D.F. arrastrados por una ilusion poetica, y el drama conmovedor con que se forjan los cimientos de esta vision, hacen de este libro una obra maestra.
No pude parar de reirme, de identificarme, de llorar con la astucia con que el autor recrea la realidad incierta en que se tejen las vidas de estos que suenan, luchan y enganan por tratar de definir una nueva estetica que los transforme.
Me dio nostagia llegar al final de este libro, por que por momentos la trama me convirtio en otro adolescente alucinado, y que es la poesia? si no adolescencia destilada.
Book Review: Fabulous Book!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, man, man, MAN.... what a book!This novel is plotted well and moves quickly. It's a great read and it was imposible to put down. It`s a well written book. One of the best Detective titles I`ve red. I have just now read the final words. I closed the book slowly, running my hands all over it, before I held it tightly to my heart for a few moments. I do that after great reads.
I love these titles and I hope you enjoy these ones:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Secret Adversary: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery!
Book Review: Three stars for good writing
Summary: 3 Stars
But I really could not finish this either. I just wasn't interested enough in the story or the characters to stay with a book of this length. It's like a Mexican beat road trip in the middle -- which is only interesting if you're into that milieu, the poets, the times, the people he's basing it on. It's not accessible to me, and though amusing, without the cultural relevance, and no compelling story line, it just doesn't keep you interested enough for the investment in time. Good points: good writing about sex, at least in the first 150 pages. Good writing is rare enough. Good writing about sex is awfully scarce, and usually, I can't stand male authors' attempts. This manages to be charming. Figures - he's not American.