2666 BY ROBERTO BOLANO

There are three quick thoughts have come into my mind since finishing 2666 by Roberto Bolano….

1.) The five parts of this book would make even more sense told backwards….That is to say part five is first and part one is fifth.

2.) The parts of this book feel like raw ingredients prepared for cooking but not actually added together yet….Each one in its own separate dish or bowl on the kitchen counter waiting to be combined.

3.) The last part of the book is full of clues-to what? Well I don’t know….There are hints that this could all be in the head of the reclusive writer character or that he doesn’t even exist at all or the truth as we are told in the story is very different from the reality

In any event 2666 is the first work of literature written in the last forty years that actually feels like a classic….That is more than navel gazing, smug irony, implausible situations, lack of understanding of the real world and all the other problems have befallen the modern literature.

I can understand why it took Bolano five years to write this book….It’s more complex then I can ever explain here….The plot concerns a reclusive German writer, a group of academics seeking to find him, a college professor assisting them in their search in Mexico, his daughter, a black reporter, various policeman and the writer’s family members….The linking factor is the fictional town of Santa Theresa in Mexico(where all the characters end up) which is a stand-in for the real life town of Cuidad Juarez which is infamous for the hundreds of murders of young girls that occurred there in the 90’s up to now which are still largely unsolved.

The Santa Theresa murders are the subject of the fourth and longest section of the book….They are gruesomely catalogued for hundreds of pages.

I am going to think about this book for awhile….Since finishing it a couple of hours ago, I’ve thought it is either a dark dark joke, a put on of some kind or one of the best summations of the nature of the fabric of reality I have ever read.

I could easily be completely wrong about either or both of those….

Some reoccurring motifs in 2666….Dreams, crime (especially murder), insanity, people missing limbs, people vanishing into thin air, characters engaging in sexual relationships for convenience only, people unable to help others in need