Christopher Shell > Recent Status Updates

Brutal but not too graphic I feel like Savage Detectives Bolaño would’ve been more graphic perhaps. Thankfully in most cases he stays clinical. Least favorite characters of the book so far.

The book is starting off with a huge amount of momentum behind it. So it’s easy to keep going, but it now feels like a true crime report. And I did expect the entire book to be a series of crime descriptions but I skipped ahead and I think it does have some characters. But we will see.

Fascinating story

Back to the Santa Teresa. Two cabbies have been beaten (well maybe just one).

So excited to begin. I’m already settled into it. Definitely going to re-read the three page sentence.

Drawing near the end. Next chapters should be great.

Good book!

It’s a good introduction well researched and insightful.

Great introduction so far

I just realized that I’m reading another diary. This must be the format I like…

Enjoying some of the plots, the language feels clunky, not fluid. But it’s clear that the future is all about now.

I am really enjoying this book and have found a new hero

It’s pretty stupid but the pacing is quick. It feels like an outline for a much larger novel but thank god it’s not longer because there’s nothing to it so far. It’s just a bunch of narration with flimsy premises.

Just finished part 2. It’s good, makes me really appreciate what I just read. I was confused earlier about what I was reading but now the book has fully bloomed and I’m excited for the finish.

Two stories about well off people who lives have been entangled with poetry, Barcelona, and Arturo Belano. One through love the other disdain. These characters get such long uninterrupted stories in a book of long broken up stories. I wonder why. Why the parallels. And still what is the plot of this book? Maybe it’s not a plot but a mosaic of the poetic life that existed at one point for Latin Americans.

Piecing things together, I think I’ve gotten the most I can out of this book, which is pretty good considering my level of experience heading into it. I’m ready to wrap it up and move on.

It is at this point I can tell you what has happened in the book but I cannot tell you what this book is about. What is it? It’s the misadventures of Ulises Lima (the Mexican) and Arturo Belano(the Mexican from Chile). But why is there someone interviewing these people? Why are they piecing together their adventures? We are learning about the visceral realists it’s their story.

I’ve settled in and am enjoying the book more and more and making connections. Started giving all the interviews my own titles.

I’ve gotten used to the narrative style of part 2. At this point I’m fully vested in the story and love finding all the commentary and advice on reading, poetry, and writing.

I love that it brought up the differences in class and how poetry unites them. But then also the proles get carried into this life and death situation brought about by the petit bourgeoisie who use money to pay for their problems, while the prole poets who are not violent must now deal with violent men. I’m thoroughly engrossed.

More erotica than I expected, I knew it was an influence for Bolaño, but this is the diary of a college student so it’s not unnatural. He does capture the split between sexual desire and philosophical desire well. Also sets the stage how poetry spans social classes, from the poor to the bourgeois. Interesting queer theory on poetry as well.

Very easy to read, interesting story, reminds me of Hopscotch but without the overly pretentious and misogynistic youth shit. Even though it has the elements of pretentious misogynistic youth shit.

Nice intro from the translator. I got pulled in immediately and was not planning on reading this book yet but I am now reading this book. Dante can wait.

It has become clear to me that stopping after inferno is such a waste and does allow appreciation of Dante’s endeavor. Purgatory was thoroughly enjoyable and filled with such beautiful imagery.

Inferno was great. Fascinating look into the authors mind and the values of 12th century Italy. I loved the literary review of the epic poems. It’s a book that asks you to read more books, which I love.

Began reading after finishing Solenoid. Really enjoying it finding it to be a breeze after a lifetime of trying to read it.