Rees’s Reviews > 2666 > Status Update

Starting the year off with a book that I know will be a banger, without a doubt.

I took a brief hiatus from this book in the middle of the Part About the Crimes, so I’m backtracking and restarting from the beginning of Part 4. Some fun reading for quarantine.

So, in Santa Teresa, 1993, we deal with the beginning of a citywide madness: dead women, some pregnant, almost always raped; a church desecrater coined the Demon Penitent, who has a very large bladder; Chief Pedro Negrete’s hired bodyguard (for a friend’s wife), who proves to be useful in combat and joins Negrete’s team; and a son who killed his mother, and claims he is the Penitent. Among many other things.

The build-up in Part 1 was fantastic. The additional history of Amalfitano in Part 2 was even better. And the 3rd Part, about Oscar Fate’s ‘sports’ assignment in Santa Teresa, damn near killed me. I’m finally at the part that everyone raves about. The Crimes. Part 4.

It’s been a while since I’ve obtained so much satisfaction from a book. I’ve always loved Bolaño. This is solidifying that love for him.