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2666, Part 4: The Part About The Crimes
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About the author
Roberto Bolaño
139 books6,714 followersFor most of his early adulthood, Bolaño was a vagabond, living at one time or another in Chile, Mexico, El Salvador, France and Spain. Bolaño moved to Europe in 1977, and finally made his way to Spain, where he married and settled on the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona, working as a dishwasher, a campground custodian, bellhop and garbage collector — working during the day and writing at night.
He continued with his poetry, before shifting to fiction in his early forties. In an interview Bolaño stated that he made this decision because he felt responsible for the future financial well-being of his family, which he knew he could never secure from the earnings of a poet. This was confirmed by Jorge Herralde, who explained that Bolaño "abandoned his parsimonious beatnik existence" because the birth of his son in 1990 made him "decide that he was responsible for his family's future and that it would be easier to earn a living by writing fiction." However, he continued to think of himself primarily as a poet, and a collection of his verse, spanning 20 years, was published in 2000 under the title The Romantic Dogs.
Regarding his native country Chile, which he visited just once after going into voluntary exile, Bolaño had conflicted feelings. He was notorious in Chile for his fierce attacks on Isabel Allende and other members of the literary establishment.
In 2003, after a long period of declining health, Bolaño passed away. Bolaño was survived by his Spanish wife and their two children, whom he once called "my only motherland."
Although deep down he always felt like a poet, his reputation ultimately rests on his novels, novellas and short story collections. Although Bolaño espoused the lifestyle of a bohemian poet and literary enfant terrible for all his adult life, he only began to produce substantial works of fiction in the 1990s. He almost immediately became a highly regarded figure in Spanish and Latin American letters.
In rapid succession, he published a series of critically acclaimed works, the most important of which are the novel Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives), the novella Nocturno de Chile (By Night In Chile), and, posthumously, the novel 2666. His two collections of short stories Llamadas telefónicas and Putas asesinas were awarded literary prizes.
In 2009 a number of unpublished novels were discovered among the author's papers.
He continued with his poetry, before shifting to fiction in his early forties. In an interview Bolaño stated that he made this decision because he felt responsible for the future financial well-being of his family, which he knew he could never secure from the earnings of a poet. This was confirmed by Jorge Herralde, who explained that Bolaño "abandoned his parsimonious beatnik existence" because the birth of his son in 1990 made him "decide that he was responsible for his family's future and that it would be easier to earn a living by writing fiction." However, he continued to think of himself primarily as a poet, and a collection of his verse, spanning 20 years, was published in 2000 under the title The Romantic Dogs.
Regarding his native country Chile, which he visited just once after going into voluntary exile, Bolaño had conflicted feelings. He was notorious in Chile for his fierce attacks on Isabel Allende and other members of the literary establishment.
In 2003, after a long period of declining health, Bolaño passed away. Bolaño was survived by his Spanish wife and their two children, whom he once called "my only motherland."
Although deep down he always felt like a poet, his reputation ultimately rests on his novels, novellas and short story collections. Although Bolaño espoused the lifestyle of a bohemian poet and literary enfant terrible for all his adult life, he only began to produce substantial works of fiction in the 1990s. He almost immediately became a highly regarded figure in Spanish and Latin American letters.
In rapid succession, he published a series of critically acclaimed works, the most important of which are the novel Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives), the novella Nocturno de Chile (By Night In Chile), and, posthumously, the novel 2666. His two collections of short stories Llamadas telefónicas and Putas asesinas were awarded literary prizes.
In 2009 a number of unpublished novels were discovered among the author's papers.
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September 9, 2014I hardly know where to begin reviewing this massive opus. But I know I am not alone because most of the people who have read the thing just rate it with stars to indicate how well they liked it and leave it at that. I don’t even think the star rating system works well when considering this novel.
2666 might almost be thought of as fictional nonfiction in that it reads like remembered thought, something like a memoir, though it is broken into “books” and many people are central rather than a single narrator. It crosses several continents, and takes in pieces of people’s lives that we later discover intersect. Or, more precisely perhaps, their paths cross paths, like meteors leaving trace. This is ‘Life’ writ large: the work is so bulky one can barely see from one end of it to another, one loses one’s way. One makes connections but too late or too slowly sometimes and even then what does it matter? What control did we really have? Could we have made a difference, a difference to us or to everyone else? Ach!
The work is comprised of five Books which Ignacio Echevarría, Bolaño’s literary executor, tells us were meant to be published separately. Echevarría decided, however, that the parts were better off coming together because of their linked quality, which is not apparent until Book Five. Bolaño was first a poet but he thought he’d make more money in novels (publishers and writers will no doubt laugh at this, though this author was probably right in his own case) and there were many times during this opus that I thought he’d have done better to stick to poetry. I was not being facetious. He throws in the kitchen sink, gathering like a vacuum factoids and sidelines from people’s lives that don’t really seem to fit or be at all relevant.
However, in the end, if you can get to the end (and again, I am not being facetious—this takes stamina and stomach) there is something here which is difficult to articulate. It is sorrow, it is appetite, it is fullness, it is all, including the bad bits. At the end we can say we’ve seen it all, experienced it all. If you cling to life in old age or sickness with the idea that somehow tomorrow will be better, put that aside for Life is not especially kind. It has good bits but there is plenty of bad, too, and you can’t have one without the other.
Book One begins with academics following the work of an obscure German writer. They admire his style and tout it successfully enough that the man is mentioned in the same breath as The Nobel Prize. They are curious about his life and where he lives and how he writes. The second book, “The Part about Amalfitano” is about a Chilean transplant to Mexico and appears to be Bolaño’s musings about life, death, love, art, sexuality, and reality. He ranges from “this shithole has no future” to “ Poetry is the only thing that isn’t contaminated…only poetry…isn’t shit.” This section may well contain explanations to the rest of the novel—why Bolaño wrote it, how he felt when he began, and what he intended.
Book Three, The Book about Fate, is a linking book, connecting forgotten and overlooked people whose lives, like threads, nevertheless intersect and overlap others in the ball of string that is life, and move us unfathomably in a direction that appears to be no direction at all. We, each of us, could write a section like this about our lives when we stepped off into the unknowingness of the wider world and played an infinitesimal part in events that occur in the future without our knowledge or consent. This book links directly to Book Four, though we don’t understand the link until Book Five.
Book Four, The Part about the Crimes, is one of the most horrific litanies of rape, murder and torture that I have ever heard, for I listened on audio and the narrator’s deadpan voice did not inflect no matter the nature of the material he recited. A spate (how trivial a word to describe a tidal wave of such proportions) of murders of women was taking place across a section of Mexico. By the end I had concluded that one man couldn’t possibly have done this if he worked full-time at killing, so it was a crime that spawned crime, and crime done with similar hatred and method. I looked in the paper copy of the book to see if the deaths were listed, like they sounded on audio (1,2,3…). But no, Bolaño writes in paragraphs: one’s eyes skim the size and shape of the words on the page and the horror is not revealed until it is spoken or read aloud in an endless, truly agonizing Reading of the Names.
In Book Five, we learn of one killer at least. And we see that elusive author from Book One, Archimboldi, again. It finishes with Bolaño writing to his publishers, friends and readers” “And that’s it, friends. I’ve done it all, I’ve lived it all. If I had the strength, I’d cry. I bid you goodbye.” Bolaño died a matter of months after he finished the book. One senses he knew what he was leaving behind, both in terms of life and in terms of legacy. It is a very difficult work, and one doesn’t need it to live. One cannot help but be awed, though, by the workings of one man’s mind, and enriched by his big, binocular vision of this world and its inhabitants.
-----------------------------
April 10, 2014
David Foster Wallace, giant literary figure that he was, was quoted in The New Yorker magazine as saying “Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.” It seems to me this is what defines Bolaño's writing.
2666 might almost be thought of as fictional nonfiction in that it reads like remembered thought, something like a memoir, though it is broken into “books” and many people are central rather than a single narrator. It crosses several continents, and takes in pieces of people’s lives that we later discover intersect. Or, more precisely perhaps, their paths cross paths, like meteors leaving trace. This is ‘Life’ writ large: the work is so bulky one can barely see from one end of it to another, one loses one’s way. One makes connections but too late or too slowly sometimes and even then what does it matter? What control did we really have? Could we have made a difference, a difference to us or to everyone else? Ach!
The work is comprised of five Books which Ignacio Echevarría, Bolaño’s literary executor, tells us were meant to be published separately. Echevarría decided, however, that the parts were better off coming together because of their linked quality, which is not apparent until Book Five. Bolaño was first a poet but he thought he’d make more money in novels (publishers and writers will no doubt laugh at this, though this author was probably right in his own case) and there were many times during this opus that I thought he’d have done better to stick to poetry. I was not being facetious. He throws in the kitchen sink, gathering like a vacuum factoids and sidelines from people’s lives that don’t really seem to fit or be at all relevant.
However, in the end, if you can get to the end (and again, I am not being facetious—this takes stamina and stomach) there is something here which is difficult to articulate. It is sorrow, it is appetite, it is fullness, it is all, including the bad bits. At the end we can say we’ve seen it all, experienced it all. If you cling to life in old age or sickness with the idea that somehow tomorrow will be better, put that aside for Life is not especially kind. It has good bits but there is plenty of bad, too, and you can’t have one without the other.
Book One begins with academics following the work of an obscure German writer. They admire his style and tout it successfully enough that the man is mentioned in the same breath as The Nobel Prize. They are curious about his life and where he lives and how he writes. The second book, “The Part about Amalfitano” is about a Chilean transplant to Mexico and appears to be Bolaño’s musings about life, death, love, art, sexuality, and reality. He ranges from “this shithole has no future” to “ Poetry is the only thing that isn’t contaminated…only poetry…isn’t shit.” This section may well contain explanations to the rest of the novel—why Bolaño wrote it, how he felt when he began, and what he intended.
Book Three, The Book about Fate, is a linking book, connecting forgotten and overlooked people whose lives, like threads, nevertheless intersect and overlap others in the ball of string that is life, and move us unfathomably in a direction that appears to be no direction at all. We, each of us, could write a section like this about our lives when we stepped off into the unknowingness of the wider world and played an infinitesimal part in events that occur in the future without our knowledge or consent. This book links directly to Book Four, though we don’t understand the link until Book Five.
Book Four, The Part about the Crimes, is one of the most horrific litanies of rape, murder and torture that I have ever heard, for I listened on audio and the narrator’s deadpan voice did not inflect no matter the nature of the material he recited. A spate (how trivial a word to describe a tidal wave of such proportions) of murders of women was taking place across a section of Mexico. By the end I had concluded that one man couldn’t possibly have done this if he worked full-time at killing, so it was a crime that spawned crime, and crime done with similar hatred and method. I looked in the paper copy of the book to see if the deaths were listed, like they sounded on audio (1,2,3…). But no, Bolaño writes in paragraphs: one’s eyes skim the size and shape of the words on the page and the horror is not revealed until it is spoken or read aloud in an endless, truly agonizing Reading of the Names.
In Book Five, we learn of one killer at least. And we see that elusive author from Book One, Archimboldi, again. It finishes with Bolaño writing to his publishers, friends and readers” “And that’s it, friends. I’ve done it all, I’ve lived it all. If I had the strength, I’d cry. I bid you goodbye.” Bolaño died a matter of months after he finished the book. One senses he knew what he was leaving behind, both in terms of life and in terms of legacy. It is a very difficult work, and one doesn’t need it to live. One cannot help but be awed, though, by the workings of one man’s mind, and enriched by his big, binocular vision of this world and its inhabitants.
-----------------------------
April 10, 2014
David Foster Wallace, giant literary figure that he was, was quoted in The New Yorker magazine as saying “Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.” It seems to me this is what defines Bolaño's writing.
January 20, 2018
This part chronicles the murders of 112 women in Santa Teresa from 1993 to 1997 and the lives they lived. It also depicts the police force in their mostly fruitless attempts to solve the crimes, as well as giving clinical descriptions of the circumstances and probable causes of the various homicides.
This series is becoming better and better....
3* Woes of the True Policeman
CR 2666
TR By Night in Chile
TR The Secret of Evil
TR The Savage Detectives
TR Antwerp
This series is becoming better and better....
3* Woes of the True Policeman
CR 2666
TR By Night in Chile
TR The Secret of Evil
TR The Savage Detectives
TR Antwerp
March 1, 2021
Ciğerimi elime verdin Bolano, o nasıl bir anlatım. Onca vahşeti, onca cinayeti gözümüze soka soka okutturdun ya, bu da senin başarındır.
Son bir bölüm kaldı, haydi bakalım...
Son bir bölüm kaldı, haydi bakalım...
May 25, 2013
The most horrific and riveting section of this phenomenal work, The Part About the Crimes often often like a simple laundry list of women who have disappeared from sight - only to reappear later, raped, mutilated, murdered - and the seeming disinterest of the local authorities in their disappearances. The cases are occasionally solved (e.g., domestic violence in the home), but more often than not - the cases simply languish and are filed away without much care given to them at all. Yet... There are clues. It seems as if Bolaño has given us the answer - if only we can properly connect the dots. It feels like an open secret - known to the perpetrators, right before our eyes, and yet... I was unable to break the code. This section is made all the more terrifying by the fact that women continue to disappear in northern Mexico. Between 1993 and 2007 - before Mexican President Felipe Calderón escalated the war against the cartels in Juarez - there were a total of 385 women reported murdered. From 2008 through 2011, there were 789 women reported murdered - more than a 100% increase.
August 12, 2016
A Parte dos Crimes: WOW. Um retrato aterrador de como o patriarcado age na sociedade em relação às mulheres, são centenas de páginas descrevendo feminicidios entrecortados com a descrição da corrupção, tráfico e machismo presente nas mãos dos envolvidos (polícia, políticos) todos representantes do patriarcado com escassas representações feministas que tentam quebrar a sina da cultura de estupro presente na sociedade, esta inspirada na situação crítica em que se encontra Ciudad Juárez no México em relação à feminicidios. Uma pequena obra prima dentro do que tem tudo para ser uma obra prima completa.
December 9, 2013
A 1001 Nights of murder. The books keep getting more interesting.
Has anyone noticed that it takes these characters 3 hours to make love? Not to brag, but I could take care of business and read 200 pages of a Bolaño novel in that time ...
Has anyone noticed that it takes these characters 3 hours to make love? Not to brag, but I could take care of business and read 200 pages of a Bolaño novel in that time ...
August 29, 2014
5 stars...
book 4 shook me to my core.....powerful, dark, futile....take a short break and move into book 5
book 4 shook me to my core.....powerful, dark, futile....take a short break and move into book 5
November 29, 2015
Tentative 3 stars. So far this entire book was not what I was expecting. I'm hoping Part 5 somehow ties everything together.
February 6, 2017
The stories in this novel are so brutal and inhuman that one has to struggle to read them all. This is a book that changes you forever.
February 24, 2017
Really disappointed with this book. I had to force myself to finish it. I did so because I finish all the books that I start, but this one almost made me broke that rule.
The first 30-40 pages are pretty interesting, but then it becomes painfully repetitive. Pages and pages of the same thing: murders with the same M.O., without getting any real informations about it. They are just thrown there in order to make the (very poor) main story more difficult to follow because it's scattered all over the place.
It almost seems like a draft of the book, not the actual finished body of work.
The first 30-40 pages are pretty interesting, but then it becomes painfully repetitive. Pages and pages of the same thing: murders with the same M.O., without getting any real informations about it. They are just thrown there in order to make the (very poor) main story more difficult to follow because it's scattered all over the place.
It almost seems like a draft of the book, not the actual finished body of work.
July 7, 2019
"Kulak memesi kıvamı" gibi bazı ölçü birimleri terimsel ifadelerden oldukça uzak ve bir o kadar da anlaşılırdır. Net olmamasına rağmen bu birimler ile verilen ölçüler karşı tarafta neyi ifade edildiğinin anlaşılmasına netlik kazandırır, halbuki ölçüt hiç net olmadığı halde. "Roberto Bolaño Anlatımı" olarak daha önce edebiyat literatüründe şayet yoksa kesinlikle yer almasını arzuladığım biçim tam da bu somut olarak bir ölçütü olmayan fakat ifade edildiğinde fikri olan herkesin kafasında ne dendiğini anlamamıza yarayacak nitelikte.
Suçlarla İlgili Bölüm bu yüzyılın belkide tek klasiğinin dördüncü kısmı. Dehşet duygusunu iliklere kadar hissettiren, dolaylılıktan fazlasıyla uzak, net ve bir o kadar karmaşık. Dili, önceki üç kısma göre mesafeli ve soğuk.
Yazar bu kısımda anlatımının odağına Santa Teresa'da yaşanan cinayetleri koyuyor. Çocuk ve orta yaş aralığında farklı yüzlerce kadın defalarca anal ve vajinal yoldan tecavüze uğruyor, işkence görüyor, etleri kesiliyor, boğuluyor ve öldürülüyor. Cesetlere çöplüklerde, çölde, terk edilmiş arazilerde, izbe sokaklarda bulunuyor. Her bir kadının kendine has yaşamı var, hayalleri var, muhakkak. Fakat "kader"leri onları birbiriyle aynı kategoriye sokuyor.
Bolaño bu derece fazla cinayetten sonra bize bir katil göstermiyor, okuyoruz, kısım bitiyor ve biz onun anlatımıyla yozlaşmış bir hukuk sisteminin nasıl oluyor da bu kadar vurdumduymaz bir soruşturma mekanizmasının var olabileceğini küplere binerek öğreniyoruz. Aslında yazıldığı yıl, mekan ve kişiler şu an yaşadığımız coğrafya ve tarihten faklı olsa da tanıdık bir resim görüyoruz.
Şöyle diyor yazar: "... Çıplaktı ama torbada bir çift kaliteli topuklu ayakkabı ve beyaz tanga bulundu. Topuklular ve tanga yüzünden polis, kızın fahişe olduğunu varsaydı. Hem bu dosya hem bir önceki dosya, üç günlük üstünkörü bir araştırmanın ardından rafa kaldırıldı. Noel tatili Santa Teresa'da her zamanki gibi kutlandı."
Suçlarla İlgili Bölüm bu yüzyılın belkide tek klasiğinin dördüncü kısmı. Dehşet duygusunu iliklere kadar hissettiren, dolaylılıktan fazlasıyla uzak, net ve bir o kadar karmaşık. Dili, önceki üç kısma göre mesafeli ve soğuk.
Yazar bu kısımda anlatımının odağına Santa Teresa'da yaşanan cinayetleri koyuyor. Çocuk ve orta yaş aralığında farklı yüzlerce kadın defalarca anal ve vajinal yoldan tecavüze uğruyor, işkence görüyor, etleri kesiliyor, boğuluyor ve öldürülüyor. Cesetlere çöplüklerde, çölde, terk edilmiş arazilerde, izbe sokaklarda bulunuyor. Her bir kadının kendine has yaşamı var, hayalleri var, muhakkak. Fakat "kader"leri onları birbiriyle aynı kategoriye sokuyor.
Bolaño bu derece fazla cinayetten sonra bize bir katil göstermiyor, okuyoruz, kısım bitiyor ve biz onun anlatımıyla yozlaşmış bir hukuk sisteminin nasıl oluyor da bu kadar vurdumduymaz bir soruşturma mekanizmasının var olabileceğini küplere binerek öğreniyoruz. Aslında yazıldığı yıl, mekan ve kişiler şu an yaşadığımız coğrafya ve tarihten faklı olsa da tanıdık bir resim görüyoruz.
Şöyle diyor yazar: "... Çıplaktı ama torbada bir çift kaliteli topuklu ayakkabı ve beyaz tanga bulundu. Topuklular ve tanga yüzünden polis, kızın fahişe olduğunu varsaydı. Hem bu dosya hem bir önceki dosya, üç günlük üstünkörü bir araştırmanın ardından rafa kaldırıldı. Noel tatili Santa Teresa'da her zamanki gibi kutlandı."
June 25, 2019
Acabo de terminarlo así que esta reseña tiene que ser perdonada de su simplicidad y emoción, como un mal pan salido del horno.
La cuarta parte de 2666 me imagino es la columna vertebral de todo el libro, tésis que confirmaré eventualmente, espero dentro de poco, aunque la verdad también quisiera demorarme un poco más, ni modo, así es la buena literatura.
Gran parte de este libro es un listado de las muertas en Santa Teresa, este recurso me parece genial por diversos motivos, la tonalidad fría y policial puede ser percibida como falta de tacto por Bolaño pero discrepo, ayuda a crear una disonancia que te mete al mundo y sociedad horrible donde algo tan terrible pudo pasar por alto tanto tiempo, y cuando empezo a tomarse como importante, se normalizo; cosa que Bolaño quiere dejarnos bien en claro y demostrar lo atroz que es esto, en mi opinión una de las cosas más claras que demuestran esto último es la descripción de la mayoría de victimas (entre 18-25 años, de baja estatura, pelo largo), descritas de manera tan pueril que no podemos hacer nada por no imaginar a todas las mujeres en nuestra vida como posibles victimas, sensación que estoy seguro era uno de los grandes objetivos de Bolaño, sensación que probablemente sienta cuando ya olvide los personajes y lugares de éste libro...
Sin contar que más de uno de los asesinatos son narrados a mayor detalle, siendo algunos realmente desgarradores e incluso intolerables.
Podría escribir sin cansarme de quién es el asesino de mujeres, si es un individuo, si somos todos nosotros, si es la sociedad que nosotros hemos creado, las reflexiones al respecto que deja este libro son muchísimas y cada uno de los lectores podrán escoger su favorita, la que nos deje dormir con menos problemas.
La trama en si diría que es el asesinato de las mujeres, los personajes que van apareciendo son pajaros posandose en ese macabro arbol y cantando sus historias. Los personajes siguen siendo apasionantes, logro que al principio pensé sería imposible de alcanzar por el constante listado de asesinatos, si bien Amalfitano sigue siendo mi personaje favorito del libro, el elenco sigue aumentando y entre los nuevos personajes mis favoritos son Lalo Cura, Rosita, Klaas, la adivina, etc.
Todos estos personajes se podrían considerar secundarios, y porlo tanto sus tramas también, algunas me parecieron mejor lograda que otras, la del profanador me pareció excelente, la del amorío de Juan de Dios (me gustó el personaje de la psiquiatrá pero el final de esta trama me pareció más que abierto inexistente, ¿Pruebasdel caracter inconcluso de la novela quizás?).
Por último (aunque sé que me he quedado infinitamente corto) por lo denso y perturbadores que son los temas de la novela podríamos esperar un libro sombrío, dificil de abrir, no es el caso en absoluto, desde la aprte de los críticos Bolaños demuestra un esplendido manejo del humor, temía que esta parte se vería ausente de él pero gracias a Dios...¡gracias a Bolaño que no! Un humor eso si, más cuidado de donde se mete que en las anteriores partes, más sútil, más inteligente, se sientemenos un recurso estílistico/temático (que no tiene nada de malo usar al humor de esta manera, por cierto) y más un elemento narrativo para dejar aún más en claro el punto del libro (llegando a la parte final, cuando un hombre patea sus perros para dejen de actuar como maricones dejando entrever la actitud machista/homofobica; o la sección de páginas enteras de chistes machistas dichos por un policía).
Escribiendo esta reseña me doy cuenta lo mucho que me ha gustado este libro, me doy cuenta lo muy triste que me sentiré al terminarlo, nada que decir, un librazo, esperemos que la última parte este a la altura...
La cuarta parte de 2666 me imagino es la columna vertebral de todo el libro, tésis que confirmaré eventualmente, espero dentro de poco, aunque la verdad también quisiera demorarme un poco más, ni modo, así es la buena literatura.
Gran parte de este libro es un listado de las muertas en Santa Teresa, este recurso me parece genial por diversos motivos, la tonalidad fría y policial puede ser percibida como falta de tacto por Bolaño pero discrepo, ayuda a crear una disonancia que te mete al mundo y sociedad horrible donde algo tan terrible pudo pasar por alto tanto tiempo, y cuando empezo a tomarse como importante, se normalizo; cosa que Bolaño quiere dejarnos bien en claro y demostrar lo atroz que es esto, en mi opinión una de las cosas más claras que demuestran esto último es la descripción de la mayoría de victimas (entre 18-25 años, de baja estatura, pelo largo), descritas de manera tan pueril que no podemos hacer nada por no imaginar a todas las mujeres en nuestra vida como posibles victimas, sensación que estoy seguro era uno de los grandes objetivos de Bolaño, sensación que probablemente sienta cuando ya olvide los personajes y lugares de éste libro...
Sin contar que más de uno de los asesinatos son narrados a mayor detalle, siendo algunos realmente desgarradores e incluso intolerables.
Podría escribir sin cansarme de quién es el asesino de mujeres, si es un individuo, si somos todos nosotros, si es la sociedad que nosotros hemos creado, las reflexiones al respecto que deja este libro son muchísimas y cada uno de los lectores podrán escoger su favorita, la que nos deje dormir con menos problemas.
La trama en si diría que es el asesinato de las mujeres, los personajes que van apareciendo son pajaros posandose en ese macabro arbol y cantando sus historias. Los personajes siguen siendo apasionantes, logro que al principio pensé sería imposible de alcanzar por el constante listado de asesinatos, si bien Amalfitano sigue siendo mi personaje favorito del libro, el elenco sigue aumentando y entre los nuevos personajes mis favoritos son Lalo Cura, Rosita, Klaas, la adivina, etc.
Todos estos personajes se podrían considerar secundarios, y porlo tanto sus tramas también, algunas me parecieron mejor lograda que otras, la del profanador me pareció excelente, la del amorío de Juan de Dios (me gustó el personaje de la psiquiatrá pero el final de esta trama me pareció más que abierto inexistente, ¿Pruebasdel caracter inconcluso de la novela quizás?).
Por último (aunque sé que me he quedado infinitamente corto) por lo denso y perturbadores que son los temas de la novela podríamos esperar un libro sombrío, dificil de abrir, no es el caso en absoluto, desde la aprte de los críticos Bolaños demuestra un esplendido manejo del humor, temía que esta parte se vería ausente de él pero gracias a Dios...¡gracias a Bolaño que no! Un humor eso si, más cuidado de donde se mete que en las anteriores partes, más sútil, más inteligente, se sientemenos un recurso estílistico/temático (que no tiene nada de malo usar al humor de esta manera, por cierto) y más un elemento narrativo para dejar aún más en claro el punto del libro (llegando a la parte final, cuando un hombre patea sus perros para dejen de actuar como maricones dejando entrever la actitud machista/homofobica; o la sección de páginas enteras de chistes machistas dichos por un policía).
Escribiendo esta reseña me doy cuenta lo mucho que me ha gustado este libro, me doy cuenta lo muy triste que me sentiré al terminarlo, nada que decir, un librazo, esperemos que la última parte este a la altura...
August 1, 2021
This the part which solemnly deals about crimes in Santa Tresa. The abudnace of characters sometimes confuses reader as stories within stories keep creating new universe.
A casual crime reader is destined to see bad guys suffer if a novel mentions a killing. This part goes very differently as it chronicles lost and broke characters in their wrecked lives. Nobody does the right thing. Things keep happening and we just can't speculate the integrity of any character.
It's simply set in a doomed city in which nobody cares.
This is my conclusion for the series as I don't plan to read last part.
A casual crime reader is destined to see bad guys suffer if a novel mentions a killing. This part goes very differently as it chronicles lost and broke characters in their wrecked lives. Nobody does the right thing. Things keep happening and we just can't speculate the integrity of any character.
It's simply set in a doomed city in which nobody cares.
This is my conclusion for the series as I don't plan to read last part.
May 4, 2016
The heart of the book, and a window both into the horror surrounding "Santa Teresa" (Ciudad Juarez) and living in the heart of Bolano's world. Incompetent police, horrible crimes interspersed with ordinary crimes, a dull lurking fear, and a feverish wonder all swirl together as we wait for a climax only to realize that we will get no relief, only ongoing pain and terror.
October 7, 2015
This part is basically journalistic style reporting on the murders and rapes that occur with some minor side stories into various other characters and it details how no body does anything about the murders.
For me it was very boring. Bolano doesn't elaborate on the deaths, he only says that they happen. You don't learn a thing about what it means to be a woman and raped, or what it means for the community. You just read that women are killed and found dead in this particular manner or another - over and over and over.
It was traumatic to read, which is ok for me, but I don't feel I learnt a thing from this section; it was written from a male's perspective. I felt that Bolano was screaming over and over "Women are raped and killed and no one cares!". Yeah, I fucking know already. What else can you tell me.
I'm sure Bolano made this part so repetitive on purpose, to really drive home the fact that these atrocities were happening. I don't discount that he is a great writer, and that 2666 is fantastic, but I was quite disappointed by this section of his work.
For me it was very boring. Bolano doesn't elaborate on the deaths, he only says that they happen. You don't learn a thing about what it means to be a woman and raped, or what it means for the community. You just read that women are killed and found dead in this particular manner or another - over and over and over.
It was traumatic to read, which is ok for me, but I don't feel I learnt a thing from this section; it was written from a male's perspective. I felt that Bolano was screaming over and over "Women are raped and killed and no one cares!". Yeah, I fucking know already. What else can you tell me.
I'm sure Bolano made this part so repetitive on purpose, to really drive home the fact that these atrocities were happening. I don't discount that he is a great writer, and that 2666 is fantastic, but I was quite disappointed by this section of his work.
February 26, 2018
Ug. The book is completely beautiful. But I can’t recommend anyone who to anyone who hasn’t found it on their own personal literary journey, and that’s because of this section/book. It’s a cavalcade of dark descriptions of death, over and over, spanning years. Hundreds of pages of this with a sprawling story mixed in. I’m sure I missed connections because I was reading to just get through the descriptions and back to the narrative. The key to getting this book, I think, is that those two things are one and the same. And the prose is beautiful. But tiring. There were big chunks of time where I didn’t read the book at all, certainly not before bed or first thing in the morning. Before I learned to do the aforementioned avoidance during the quiet hours of the day, the book kinda took a dump on a couple of days. So be careful. All that said, this is an amazing book and one that will haunt me, for good and bad, for a long time.
August 19, 2015
2666, Part 4: The Monotony of Evil. As much as any other part of 2666, this book appeared to me as an incomplete and not yet edited work. I'm not certain why I finished it.
September 8, 2022
Scariest book I’ve ever read, it doesn’t get any more horrific than this.
March 6, 2023
Probabil cel mai important roman al secolului XXI și una dintre capodoperele literaturii hispanice din toate timpurile.
August 29, 2025
Toughest shit I’ve read
October 24, 2024
It woulda gone down differently if I had been in that desert
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December 21, 2023Lo interesante y grandioso de la estructura de 2666 es que en sus tres primeras partes los feminicidios en masa están siempre ahí, al alcance de la mano, pero al fondo, en un rincón oscuro, escondidos y camuflados entre las historias, como si nadie les prestara nunca atención (y tal es, sin dudas, el caso). Pero todo cambia aquí, esta parte es aquella en la que se desata el horror, pasando de entrever detalles relativos a los asesinatos (El miedo de Amalfitano por las escapadas de su hija, lo que acontece con Fate cerca del final) a recibir un directo en la cara bajo la forma de más de 100 homicidios narrados de manera continua con todo lujo de detalles, casi como en un acta forense. Y es que, a diferencia de las tres primeras partes, donde hay unos protagonistas claros con su historia y motivaciones, la parte de los crímenes, que podríamos considerar núcleo de la novela, tiene como protagonista a la propia Santa Teresa (Ciudad Juárez) y lo más significativo de este infierno, ser la capital mundial del feminicidio.
Es cierto, es durísimo de leer por la de horrores tan contemporáneos que nos narra, pero se agradece que Bolaño tratase el tema sin censurarse, estableciendo sin medias tintas su relación con fenómenos tan oscuros como la corrupción policial y el mundo del narco. Ya nos advierte la cita de Baudelaire al principio de la novela: “Un oasis de horror en mitad de un desierto de aburrimiento”, y eso es, en definitiva, 2666, una denuncia con claros tintes políticos, sí, también un grito desesperanzado, pero, ante todo, un manifiesto del lado más oscuro del alma humana.
Es cierto, es durísimo de leer por la de horrores tan contemporáneos que nos narra, pero se agradece que Bolaño tratase el tema sin censurarse, estableciendo sin medias tintas su relación con fenómenos tan oscuros como la corrupción policial y el mundo del narco. Ya nos advierte la cita de Baudelaire al principio de la novela: “Un oasis de horror en mitad de un desierto de aburrimiento”, y eso es, en definitiva, 2666, una denuncia con claros tintes políticos, sí, también un grito desesperanzado, pero, ante todo, un manifiesto del lado más oscuro del alma humana.
November 2, 2017
Part 4 about the crimes, I have to say, is horrific! I would probably not recommend to people who only enjoy reading light reading, this is full blown, electrifying crime writing but wonderful!! His descriptives, were believable. I thought the most complex part of the book as a whole, he was able to embrace the feel that at this point, almost of an apocalyptic feel. The feeling that nearly every day a woman would be found dead, yet the authorities appeared to almost take each killing so lightly, initially, a brief search then nothing, the feeling that cover ups, greed and above the law was just so obvious. The writing, I am certain the outrage, that more is not being done, as if, "well, this is just the new normal" I felt this part of the book, could have been the most believable and if someone like crime writing, this is amazing, but, as I said, for those who like to live in a world of make believe that the world is one of roses and blossoms, where everything comes out with a happy ending, this may not be the type of book to read. This is very accurate and unfortunately close to much of the world today. For someone who appreciates realistic writing, this is wonderful writing.
November 4, 2021
Hartazgo total, son las palabras que se me vienen de inmediato a mi mente luego de terminar este tomo. Fueron 350 páginas de nada, nada y nada más que unos 200 (?) crímenes prácticamente idénticos todos. Es el tomo de la repetición por excelencia (a propósito acaso? Quisiera creerlo). Es la expresión pura de lo aburrido y literariamente insípido, de los diálogos sin esencia, de la metáforas mal logradas y hasta insensatas. Un puñado de hojas que se refugian en lo más fácil de la literatura: lo vulgar, lo censurable, lo crudo y lo retorcido, pero sin inventiva ni asombro. No hubo profundidad alguna en la trama, excepto si, eso, la violencia pura, pero una que se quedó ahí, al sol, expuesta sin saber qué hacer en la superficie de la nada. No incita a parar la lectura y pensar, no mueve las entrañas del lector, (al menos no las mías) no lo pone a meditar ni lo sorprende nunca. No sé qué me espera en el último tomo de esta “novela”, (y qué más da a estas alturas) pero hasta ahora, casi mil páginas después, ha sido una triste experiencia. Un profundo sentimiento de pérdida y decepción de las más profundas que, a nivel literario, haya tenido nunca.
March 10, 2024
I had read two things about this part that I personally found deeply untrue:
1. That the crimes are so repetitive that this section drags and becomes hard to follow, maybe even skippable. Yes the crimes themselves are brutal and repetitive, but the characters and narratives among them are endlessly fascinating.
2. That no answer is offered as to who is responsible for all the murders. In my mind they are clearly presented as the inevitable result of top to bottom Mexican govt/police corruption, NAFTA, the American demand for the intl drug trade, and the garden variety horrors of casual misogyny. It’s telling that he moved his fictional city to the west of the real Ciudad Juarez, still on the US/Mexico border, along the gravitational pull of the demand that created the maquiladoras and narcos alike. There is at least one real serial killer, but that is deeply beside the point. Bolaño focuses on the systemic forces and environment that provided him and the other murderers with opportunities and impunity. The motives, however, come from a much darker (and in my view, socialized) place inside men.
1. That the crimes are so repetitive that this section drags and becomes hard to follow, maybe even skippable. Yes the crimes themselves are brutal and repetitive, but the characters and narratives among them are endlessly fascinating.
2. That no answer is offered as to who is responsible for all the murders. In my mind they are clearly presented as the inevitable result of top to bottom Mexican govt/police corruption, NAFTA, the American demand for the intl drug trade, and the garden variety horrors of casual misogyny. It’s telling that he moved his fictional city to the west of the real Ciudad Juarez, still on the US/Mexico border, along the gravitational pull of the demand that created the maquiladoras and narcos alike. There is at least one real serial killer, but that is deeply beside the point. Bolaño focuses on the systemic forces and environment that provided him and the other murderers with opportunities and impunity. The motives, however, come from a much darker (and in my view, socialized) place inside men.
April 13, 2015
This part gave me nightmares; the narration salves into one's imagination the terrible murders and crimes of St. Theressa Mexico. I was ready to move on, but there were more and more murders and the murder kept building into my psyche. I felt responsible in some way. I felt a depression from the I did not enjoy this section.
Book Four gives a cry for help for the disenchanted people daring to ask why: Why should we be forgotten? Why should we be used by the machinery of capitalistic imperialism on a deserted landscape of St. Theressa (Juarez) Mexico? Why have our once dutiful men succumb to their primitive urges of rape and violence against their mother's daughters?
2666 would be incomplete with out the salving tome.
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February 8, 2016Violent from start to finish, but not gratuitous. May be discomfiting for some as the violence is mostly sexual violence against women plus some cringe-inducing prison violence involving male characters. Fans of procedural crime books / TV series will be familiar with the tone.
However the violence is integral to the story as this book is about the unsolved mystery of a shitload of murders in fictitious Santa Theresa in Mexico (I googled) involving female victims. Was there just one serial rapist / sadist / killer that inspired copycat killers? Or were there a gang of sadists going around kidnapping girls and women, using them for group torture and snuff movies?
I hope Book 5 will answer these questions and tie up the loose ends.
However the violence is integral to the story as this book is about the unsolved mystery of a shitload of murders in fictitious Santa Theresa in Mexico (I googled) involving female victims. Was there just one serial rapist / sadist / killer that inspired copycat killers? Or were there a gang of sadists going around kidnapping girls and women, using them for group torture and snuff movies?
I hope Book 5 will answer these questions and tie up the loose ends.
May 11, 2014
So much to take in. So shocking. So disturbing. It's hard for me to believe that the person who recommended this book, read it! I'm amazed in an interesting way. I one individual who will love this book. This book is not for the weak of heart, but most of what is revealed is historically accurate, especially that pertaining to "Santa Teresa", and what is most sad and disturbing, is that it continues to occur, and no one has been brought to justice.
August 19, 2017
This part was disappointing, and I tried to defend Bolaño at many points, swayed by the language sometimes, and I let myself sway longer to maybe justify my love for his writing, but this section clearly lacked what I read Bolaño for, his contemplative humor, albeit dark and understated, but a clear sense of humor, which I think is missing from this part. I am not done yet so maybe I am missing some bigger picture of understated sarcasm that I've grown so fond of.
September 22, 2022
certain stories draw you in when you’re young, and if you read enough they lose their sheen, become predictable; you spend the next decade fruitlessly searching out that sensation of total absorption; then you read 2666, and it throws everything around you into sharp relief; you’ll never forget what it was like to read this, to spend time in Bolano’s mind; 2666 is a looming obelisk, a dusky labyrinth, a crater in the surface of a cursed planet, a ravenous sinkhole
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