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2666, Part 5: The Part About Archimboldi
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About the author
Roberto Bolaño
139 books6,717 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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July 18, 2016I 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.
November 29, 2015
Well, I've finished The Beast.
Part 5 was totally worth reading through the confusion of Parts 1-4. Tentative 4+ stars for Part 5.
Still thinking about what it all means and lots of questions to mull over...
Part 5 was totally worth reading through the confusion of Parts 1-4. Tentative 4+ stars for Part 5.
Still thinking about what it all means and lots of questions to mull over...
March 20, 2017
Stunning. I am sure, that like other fans of Bolano and his works, the ending of this staggering work would have blown me away. As it stands, the lack of a formal ending and the dozens of loose strings leave so much to the imagination.
I hope that Klaus and his uncle were able to connect in some deep way that unlocked Klaus and healed some part of his uncle he hardly knew was broken. I hope that while in Santa Theresa the critics met and interacted with Archimboldi... even if they didn't know it was him at the time or ever. I hope that the killer was revealed and that it would have stunned me, being some small supporting character from an earlier section that was casually mentioned, but not focused upon... perhaps the dark, silent friend from Part 2.
I hope that Klaus and his uncle were able to connect in some deep way that unlocked Klaus and healed some part of his uncle he hardly knew was broken. I hope that while in Santa Theresa the critics met and interacted with Archimboldi... even if they didn't know it was him at the time or ever. I hope that the killer was revealed and that it would have stunned me, being some small supporting character from an earlier section that was casually mentioned, but not focused upon... perhaps the dark, silent friend from Part 2.
September 28, 2014
5 stars....Pure literary genius....I will write a full review in the 2666 whole book section.
July 11, 2019
Okunacak bir sürü kitap varken ve hayatın bu denli kısa olduğunu düşünerek bir kitabı ikinci kez okumayı pek düşünmüyorum. Zaten yeniden okunacak düzeyde kendine hayran bırakan yahut tekrar okuduğumda daha bir tatlı okuma deneyimi kazanacağımı düşündürecek bir kitap da aklımda yok. Fakat Roberto Bolaño 2666 ile o derece farklı bir kitap sunuyor ki zamanın daha verimli değerlendirilmesinin yanında yeniden okunmaya değer bir kitap olabileceğini de gösteriyor. Evet, böyle bir gerçeklik var.
Anlatım biçimi olarak her kısımda apayrı bir haz alıyorsunuz, dallanıp budaklanan her hikayede "hikaye anlatıcılığı"nın ne demek olduğunun tanımını kavrıyorsunuz. Bin bir çeşit duyguyu birkaç sayfada hep birlikte yaşatıyor. Kıvamlı yada seyreltik, dolaylı yada net tanımlamalar ile aslında zor bir kitap ortaya çıkıyor. Herkes için uygun bir kitap olduğunu söylemek de doğru değil. Fakat net bir söylenecek ise 2666 tam bir kült.
Beşinci kısım, doyulamayacak gibi bir kurguya sahip, gerçekçi ve fazlasıyla tatmin edici. Kronolojik olarak olayın en başı. Oldukça katmanlı. İlk kısımda kayıp bir yazar olarak aradığımız Archimboldi'nin piyasaya çıkışı, hayatı ve hayatlara etkisi.
Beş kısımlık kitabın geneli için her bir kısım ayrı kitap olarak değerlendirilebilir fikri bende pek ışık yakmasa da bütüncü yaklaşımla tamamının aynı yerde olmasının okuyucuya daha faydalı olduğunu düşünen kesimde yer alıyorum. Açıkçası ölüme gün sayan Roberto Bolaño'nun kaygılarını anlıyorum lakin şartları göz önünde bulundurmayacağı bir zaman diliminde bu kitabı yazmış olsaydı beş ayrı zamanda basılması fikrini ortaya koyacağını da sanmıyorum.
Kesinlikle edinilmesi gereken bir eser. Oldukça değerli.
Anlatım biçimi olarak her kısımda apayrı bir haz alıyorsunuz, dallanıp budaklanan her hikayede "hikaye anlatıcılığı"nın ne demek olduğunun tanımını kavrıyorsunuz. Bin bir çeşit duyguyu birkaç sayfada hep birlikte yaşatıyor. Kıvamlı yada seyreltik, dolaylı yada net tanımlamalar ile aslında zor bir kitap ortaya çıkıyor. Herkes için uygun bir kitap olduğunu söylemek de doğru değil. Fakat net bir söylenecek ise 2666 tam bir kült.
Beşinci kısım, doyulamayacak gibi bir kurguya sahip, gerçekçi ve fazlasıyla tatmin edici. Kronolojik olarak olayın en başı. Oldukça katmanlı. İlk kısımda kayıp bir yazar olarak aradığımız Archimboldi'nin piyasaya çıkışı, hayatı ve hayatlara etkisi.
Beş kısımlık kitabın geneli için her bir kısım ayrı kitap olarak değerlendirilebilir fikri bende pek ışık yakmasa da bütüncü yaklaşımla tamamının aynı yerde olmasının okuyucuya daha faydalı olduğunu düşünen kesimde yer alıyorum. Açıkçası ölüme gün sayan Roberto Bolaño'nun kaygılarını anlıyorum lakin şartları göz önünde bulundurmayacağı bir zaman diliminde bu kitabı yazmış olsaydı beş ayrı zamanda basılması fikrini ortaya koyacağını da sanmıyorum.
Kesinlikle edinilmesi gereken bir eser. Oldukça değerli.
July 12, 2016
A parte de Archimboldi: Um quinto livro muito digno, onde são fechadas lindamente todas as pontas soltas da narrativa.
May 25, 2013
Just when you begin to think this novel has spiraled out of control and that all the parts don' go together... We get Part 5, in which all is made - somewhat - clear. While not neatly tied-up by any means (the author is too brilliant for that), connections are made, background is given, and the shape of the piece becomes more coherent. We are not any closer to solving the murders of women, but we are a bit more cognizant of the social forces at work, and the history involved. Dots are connected - even as other dots appear... I just finished this LONG novel, and I'm already contemplating reading it again. Soon. Maybe now.
January 23, 2018
This part reveals that the mysterious writer is Hans Reiter, born in 1920 in Prussia.
3* Woes of the True Policeman
5* 2666
TR By Night in Chile
TR The Secret of Evil
TR The Savage Detectives
TR Antwerp
3* Woes of the True Policeman
5* 2666
TR By Night in Chile
TR The Secret of Evil
TR The Savage Detectives
TR Antwerp
May 18, 2013
I was happy Bolano allowed a small measure of closure with the fifth book.
November 2, 2017
As I began reading this book, this 5th part, was beautifully written, now, I would say the most literary, poetic writing, even though each part has it's own beauty. A story of WWII, Germany, again, a lot of sad reality, but, for those of us who love reality, even the horrific parts, I felt the characters were believable. I loved how all this war evolved and how the characters connected at the end, was beautiful I felt at the end though, so much still unanswered. As I mentioned before, the entire 5 parts took 2 weeks, reading every evening, but I have enjoyed all of this and glad I battled through this. I felt Bolano's last writings, were stunning. It is sad to realize, his time to write was cut short, he truly was a gifted writer.
April 21, 2015
My favorite book of the five volumes, this is the best one. The books tie it all up together even though the story is a departure of the Mexican Setting; we find ourselves in Germany. The book is superbly sublime semblance of the 20th century, an homage to the hundred years of European frustration, filled with jihads and fascist leaders. Jingoism upheld by fascist editors. We feel the train of history pounding us down into the tuberculous streets of post World War One Germany and embryonic Hitler.
November 16, 2014
One of the most beautiful books (Part 5) I've read in a long time, it played like a movie in my head. Overall 2666 is an amazing read, some parts hard to get through, and not everything gets resolved, but savor every bit of it, Bolano's incredible sense of (dark) humor, the characters, the places, the unique and very special way to describe and imagine everything. For sure an author I'll read again.
March 14, 2016
Finally done! So much to think about. It feels like an ouroboros...it loops back on itself. A reread will be beneficial, but that will have to happen later.
This last part was my favorite by far. It goes off on tangents, but ultimately comes back to Archimboldi and the central themes of the book.
This last part was my favorite by far. It goes off on tangents, but ultimately comes back to Archimboldi and the central themes of the book.
November 14, 2014
Collosal.
February 18, 2016
A very nice tidying up of a sprawling story. I would probably liked it a bit better had I not got the expectations a bit too high after reading some over-the-top labeling of the work.
November 4, 2018
This was my second buzzard's-circle around 2666, so everything was essentially a test to see if my fav book/author of 2012-2015 could withstand a second re-reading. I have read a lot more since I first flew past the bleak desert expanse, more Pynchon and post-mods, Moby Dick, Henry James. Needless to say my pain-tolerance has grown considerably and hovers now just shy of masochism. It is with these new experiences, and weapons, I take aim on Part 5: The Part About Archimboldi.
By FAR the worst of the five Parts. As much as binchi Echeverria (Belano's lit executor... what a Baudelaireian title I'm sure Bolaño would appreciate with a cringe) can testify to the completeness of the fifth book, I call bullshit. There are sentences that don't make any sense. There are sketches that are obviously the first draft. There are whole subplots and sub-characters that in other Parts were awesome and enlightening but here were just sub-par, by a lot. Dracula's castle was a respite from the bad writing and boring story, and the character of Ansky was interesting, but that's about it. The rest is cloying and frustrating and just... there's a part where Hans Reiter is at his publisher (nice try, A.B. with the character of Bubis but he is unconvincing in the extreme) and all the little publisher dooshbegs are sitting around acting cute and I was totally expecting Archimboldi to open fire on the lot of them with his wehrmacht-issued K98k, but instead, the man who pages earlier claimed to "take a stance against all things sugary and sentimental" simply laughs and plays along. Fuck that. JMG, or Benno V, would never fuckin' do that. FUCK PART 5. Natasha Wimmer is so gassed by the end of this book that you can feel her pain as she has to translate ten more pages of cute spinoffs that go nowhere.
Parts 1-4 held up a second time. 5 is a disgrace. I still love 2666, but I can't say the same for you.
By FAR the worst of the five Parts. As much as binchi Echeverria (Belano's lit executor... what a Baudelaireian title I'm sure Bolaño would appreciate with a cringe) can testify to the completeness of the fifth book, I call bullshit. There are sentences that don't make any sense. There are sketches that are obviously the first draft. There are whole subplots and sub-characters that in other Parts were awesome and enlightening but here were just sub-par, by a lot. Dracula's castle was a respite from the bad writing and boring story, and the character of Ansky was interesting, but that's about it. The rest is cloying and frustrating and just... there's a part where Hans Reiter is at his publisher (nice try, A.B. with the character of Bubis but he is unconvincing in the extreme) and all the little publisher dooshbegs are sitting around acting cute and I was totally expecting Archimboldi to open fire on the lot of them with his wehrmacht-issued K98k, but instead, the man who pages earlier claimed to "take a stance against all things sugary and sentimental" simply laughs and plays along. Fuck that. JMG, or Benno V, would never fuckin' do that. FUCK PART 5. Natasha Wimmer is so gassed by the end of this book that you can feel her pain as she has to translate ten more pages of cute spinoffs that go nowhere.
Parts 1-4 held up a second time. 5 is a disgrace. I still love 2666, but I can't say the same for you.
September 20, 2015
Free at last, free at last. I have no idea why I read this entire 5-volume collection. I honestly wasn't out to prove anything to myself or anyone else. I've put down lots of books unfinished in my life. But something kept making want to see how it ended, even as I knew that no true resolution was forthcoming. Yes, some of the characters, more or less, eventually, kind of, converge. But my genius is insufficient to appreciate Bolaño's genius. I just don't know what he was up to.
I was reading volume five in a coffee shop a few weeks ago and some guy started discussing it with me. I expressed my frustration and he said it was really satisfying how it all came together at the end. If I ever run into him again, I hope I don't recognize him.
I was reading volume five in a coffee shop a few weeks ago and some guy started discussing it with me. I expressed my frustration and he said it was really satisfying how it all came together at the end. If I ever run into him again, I hope I don't recognize him.
March 30, 2021
Kitabın kapağını sonunda kapadığımda "Yahu ne okudum ben ya da adam bunu nasıl yazmış?" duygusundaydım. Bunca lafı, bunca olayı, bunca kahramanı nerden buldun, birbiriyle nasıl ilişkilendirdin, nasıl yazdın be kardeşim. Off bölüm bölüm okuduğum halde kitabı sırtımda taşımış kadar yorgun ama bir o kadar da doygundum. Sonunda Archimboldi'yi de bulup Santa Teresa'ya yolladık şükür, gerisi zihnimizde, hayırlısı :;))))
February 16, 2016
To me, probably the best part of 2666. I was dissatisfied when I reached the last sentence (whaaaaat is this the end??) because the story is definitely not over. Part 5 is the kind of book that draws me in from the beginning and leaves me unsure of how to feel at the "ending".
I will review all 5 parts later.
I will review all 5 parts later.
March 9, 2018
I don't... know... how to review this.
This is one of those books, and 2666 as a whole is like this, where the point is the journey. Any attempt at summary, at review, other than qualitative statements like "it's good," just get lost. It's an incredible book and you should read it, though you could read the descriptions of murder victims in The Part About the Crimes quickly. Still. Incredible.
This book is going to haunt me, not in a bad way, but in a way that I'm not really equipped to describe.
This is one of those books, and 2666 as a whole is like this, where the point is the journey. Any attempt at summary, at review, other than qualitative statements like "it's good," just get lost. It's an incredible book and you should read it, though you could read the descriptions of murder victims in The Part About the Crimes quickly. Still. Incredible.
This book is going to haunt me, not in a bad way, but in a way that I'm not really equipped to describe.
March 4, 2014
An amazing read by any account and trust me, when I say "masterpiece'" that I do not speak lightly. The heirs did right to publish these books together because it is in Part Four that the victims are humanized and the rest is peripheral. The very name Archimbaldi is traced back to a 16th century painter named Arcimbaldo whose work is curious indeed. This novel is curiouser in it's format, subject matter and literary language. A tough one to hang-in with but worth the effort. Haunting.
March 10, 2015
Brandishes a torch blazing with humanistic depth and love of life as it marches into a sprawling void of uncertainty and the monstrous callounsess of a city of casual homicides. Bolaño's warm light becomes a stabilizing center to the nebulous whole...the damn fine storytelling doesn't hurt, either.
Of the three sprawling postmodern works I've read, 2666 offers a spiritual nourishment unlike the fare provided by Wallace or Pynchon. I did not want this one to end.
Of the three sprawling postmodern works I've read, 2666 offers a spiritual nourishment unlike the fare provided by Wallace or Pynchon. I did not want this one to end.
July 29, 2014
A work of art which, no matter how many times it switches characters, puts you right in the scene, from the ambience to simple gestures. Bolaño doesn't leave any of the characters with closure, but it never takes away from the writing style that makes it hard to decide where to stop reading for the day.
August 17, 2013
2666 is a very odd, but well-written novel that involves different groups searching for a famous and reclusive German author that no one has seen in decades. The plot curiously intertwines in a Mexican town where crime is rampant.
December 15, 2013
This final book ties a lot of threads together - but there are no fancy bows, which suited me fine. Can't help feeling like the Dracula-theme centered the novel - a world peopled by the living dead waiting for the grave.
May 17, 2014
This book is simply amazing, unlike anything I have ever read. Why is that ? Why cant all authors write a graceful, intriguing, seductive 900 page masterpiece, leaving me questioning everything I believe about love, war, murder and the Holocaust? Go figure.
January 3, 2025
Although this part tied the start together, the additional storylines felt completely unnecessary
May 15, 2025
Oh 2666, the maddening love affair I’ve had with you.
Frustrating but intriguing, gruesome but enveloping, dream-like yet so of the world, this sprawling work is hard to describe both in plot and reading experience. Bolaño is king of digressions. Not one character could be introduced in this novel, seriously, without immense backstory given. This makes the world so real, so lived in, but can make the reading drag immensely. At times I was so riveted I wanted to do nothing but read, yet I also had to break this book up over time because it’s so intense and vast and circuitous. Yet I’d put 2666 down just to think about it vaguely in my everyday life, yearn for the feeling of reading it again even when I’d just recently put it down. I don’t think I’ve read anything so divisive within my own experience. Ultimately, I can only imagine myself looking back on 2666 fondly for the stretches of the earth it brought me to, spiritually, mentally, and geographically. Bolaño looks human nature in the eye, flinches, and writes it. This is one of the most intense times in my life I’ve read a book and felt I needed to learn more about the author. How does this man know so much about the world? And write it so effortlessly as though he’s lived all these places? And it seems he’s a Latin American writer, but has some tie or interest in Germany as this book obviously has a lot of German characters but he’s also written other books that seem to directly reference Nazi Germany based on their titles. He’s a mystery to me all within himself. Each part of 2666 is written distinctly, both in its grammar/layout choices and tone. This novel, while having its drawbacks, is truly impressive. 2666 is unbelievably sprawling, detailed, and unruly in the best ways, even when it made me want to pull my hair out. 4⭐️
**MILD SPOILERS ABOUT EACH PART AND MY THOUGHTS BELOW**
Part 1 - I honestly yearned for after finishing, hoping we’d get more of the critics, not yet understanding the structure of the book. I don’t have any profound thoughts other than I enjoyed their pretentious professor antics and romantic dynamics.
Part 2 - the most dreamy part. Odd and hard to fall but mysterious and hard to let go of. I still see the book on the line in the moonlight.
Part 3 - the most forgettable for me. I kept waiting for this part to tie in or matter but it didn’t really gel in with the other parts in a way that satisfied me. Probably where I was most bored.
Part 4 - TRULY difficult to get through, to stomach. An actual challenge. But also the part of this book that I most couldn’t put down??? The heart of the mystery lies here and pulls no punches. Depictions of graphic violence and nauseating police incompetence. A huge build up that required a lot out of part 5 as a follow up.
Part 5 - simultaneously satisfying and not. Finally the mysterious figure is unveiled and his life is interesting. Yet… the wrap up for the “mystery” of this novel felt very meh to me. Kind of a cop out in a way - nothings really confirmed or denied. Nothings resolved after all the labor part 4 required?? And this book, the very structure of it, implies to me that there would be some connection to all of it. And there is, technically, but not in the grand scheme way I was hoping. Maybe because I haven’t read Bolaño before or maybe because I’m a dreamer, I was hoping part 5 would click everything together in a way that I wouldn’t have and wow me with all the connections. A lot more is at face value than maybe I’d expected. Part 5’s ending felt too small for how large this story is, ESPECIALLY considering how much “screen time” is given to tangential information and extraneous characters. Yet, it is nuanced and interesting and very real.
Frustrating but intriguing, gruesome but enveloping, dream-like yet so of the world, this sprawling work is hard to describe both in plot and reading experience. Bolaño is king of digressions. Not one character could be introduced in this novel, seriously, without immense backstory given. This makes the world so real, so lived in, but can make the reading drag immensely. At times I was so riveted I wanted to do nothing but read, yet I also had to break this book up over time because it’s so intense and vast and circuitous. Yet I’d put 2666 down just to think about it vaguely in my everyday life, yearn for the feeling of reading it again even when I’d just recently put it down. I don’t think I’ve read anything so divisive within my own experience. Ultimately, I can only imagine myself looking back on 2666 fondly for the stretches of the earth it brought me to, spiritually, mentally, and geographically. Bolaño looks human nature in the eye, flinches, and writes it. This is one of the most intense times in my life I’ve read a book and felt I needed to learn more about the author. How does this man know so much about the world? And write it so effortlessly as though he’s lived all these places? And it seems he’s a Latin American writer, but has some tie or interest in Germany as this book obviously has a lot of German characters but he’s also written other books that seem to directly reference Nazi Germany based on their titles. He’s a mystery to me all within himself. Each part of 2666 is written distinctly, both in its grammar/layout choices and tone. This novel, while having its drawbacks, is truly impressive. 2666 is unbelievably sprawling, detailed, and unruly in the best ways, even when it made me want to pull my hair out. 4⭐️
**MILD SPOILERS ABOUT EACH PART AND MY THOUGHTS BELOW**
Part 1 - I honestly yearned for after finishing, hoping we’d get more of the critics, not yet understanding the structure of the book. I don’t have any profound thoughts other than I enjoyed their pretentious professor antics and romantic dynamics.
Part 2 - the most dreamy part. Odd and hard to fall but mysterious and hard to let go of. I still see the book on the line in the moonlight.
Part 3 - the most forgettable for me. I kept waiting for this part to tie in or matter but it didn’t really gel in with the other parts in a way that satisfied me. Probably where I was most bored.
Part 4 - TRULY difficult to get through, to stomach. An actual challenge. But also the part of this book that I most couldn’t put down??? The heart of the mystery lies here and pulls no punches. Depictions of graphic violence and nauseating police incompetence. A huge build up that required a lot out of part 5 as a follow up.
Part 5 - simultaneously satisfying and not. Finally the mysterious figure is unveiled and his life is interesting. Yet… the wrap up for the “mystery” of this novel felt very meh to me. Kind of a cop out in a way - nothings really confirmed or denied. Nothings resolved after all the labor part 4 required?? And this book, the very structure of it, implies to me that there would be some connection to all of it. And there is, technically, but not in the grand scheme way I was hoping. Maybe because I haven’t read Bolaño before or maybe because I’m a dreamer, I was hoping part 5 would click everything together in a way that I wouldn’t have and wow me with all the connections. A lot more is at face value than maybe I’d expected. Part 5’s ending felt too small for how large this story is, ESPECIALLY considering how much “screen time” is given to tangential information and extraneous characters. Yet, it is nuanced and interesting and very real.
November 8, 2025
As I was finishing this my thoughts jumped to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” I feel like there is a thematic connection there about how evil moves through history morphing into new permutations, and how it is nurtured through the institutions and habits of everyday life.
I like how it treats WWII as some kind of cosmic rupture that is still emanating out into the present. Shades of Gravity’s Rainbow and also Twin Peaks The Return.
I like how it treats WWII as some kind of cosmic rupture that is still emanating out into the present. Shades of Gravity’s Rainbow and also Twin Peaks The Return.
September 28, 2014
I really wanted to read this book simply because of all the positive accolades and reviews it received. So after 3 failed attempts, I literally shut myself up for 10 days to read this opus. I realised 2 things: I have an amazing will power as I did finish the book, and 2 I'm pretty dumb.
I guess I am going to have to read this book again as I really do want to get it! And the sad part of this, is that I do have a glimpse of the genius in it.
I guess I am going to have to read this book again as I really do want to get it! And the sad part of this, is that I do have a glimpse of the genius in it.
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