"2666" by Roberto Bolaño
This is timeless literature.
Read Review Below
A colleague at work found out I like to read and so we agreed to do a book swap. His first book for me was “2666” by Roberto Bolaño. I will definitely admit that receiving this was daunting - not just because of the length but because of what it was about. I was prepping myself for a murder/mystery because this book was about murdered women in Mexico. In truth, there actually were about 370 women murdered in northern Mexico from 1993 to 2005 - with no one brought to justice.
First off, the book is published posthumously and is in 5 parts. I’ve rated them each out of 5 stars:
The Part about the Critics - 5 Stars
The Part about Amalfitano - 5 Stars
The Part about Fate - 3 Stars
That Part about the Crimes - 4 Stars
The Part about Archimboldi - 5 Stars
The Part about the Critics
This was exactly not what I was expecting going into the book. It’s a group of literary scholars obsessed with either finding this German author Benno von Acrhimboldi or having sex with one another. But here is where you are also introduced to Bolaño’s poetic writing style and his way of capturing a reader with the most off tangent thoughts. He does this constantly - veering off into obscure moments. Typically this type of writing style extremely annoys me, but his writing had me wrapped around his finger this entire part of the book.
The Part about Amalfitano
We are introduced to Amalfitano in the first part of the book - but I honestly didn’t care much for him then so I was confused why he got to have his own part. Perhaps he was Archimboldi? But again, Bolaño somehow transformed a mundane character to one of my favorite characters in the novel. He had a way of intertwining a sadness and madness into Amalfitano that I couldn’t help but get absorbed in.
The Part about Fate
My least favorite part of the book. Not that it was bad - it just felt too real and more of a sequence of events rather than the train of thoughts spilled out beforehand.
The Part about the Crimes
Intense. Honestly, at some points it was too much and I felt like Bolaño was just trying to have that shock factor at this point in the story (definitely wakes us up after “The Part about Fate”). At the same time, it was needed to see the blatant indifference by authorities in response to the murdered women. It was an upsetting realization and, although amazing, I was glad to finish this part of the book.
The Part about Archimboldi
Ah, I want to call this part the crux of the novel but it wouldn’t make any sense without the other 4 parts. I’ve read many reviews with people complaining that this novel was unfinished and had no resolution. I disagree with them. At least for me, the storyline is resolved enough to sate my curiosity about Archimboldi. Was it wrong to want a resolution on this author rather than the murders of the women? Probably - and now I’m asking myself why it was that part of the story that was more important to me.
Overall, I’m glad that colleague of mine had enough faith in me to get through this book. It was dark, rough, but beautiful throughout.
| Pub Date: | September 1, 2009 | Page Count: | 893 Pages | ISBN: | 9780312429218 |