CM’s Reviews > 2666 > Status Update

DONE WITH PART 4...I guess what Bolano tries to achieve with these reports on rape and murder is to create a sense of numbness toward the atrocity and takes that as part of his critique on the patriarchy but it is just so painful/dreadful/devastating to read. Near-impossible to follow the narrative when it is constantly interrupted by another murder report...

Part 4 ,a collection of the murder and rape with not much story, is so horrifying and repetitive

Part 3: With an opening echoing the Camus' "The Stranger", this part brings us closer to the murders of women by following the protagonist, a Black US reporter, first to Detroit, then to Mexico, covering a wide range of topics from racism, boxing, unlikely romance between teenage girls and older men, nightlife in Mexico, and chance.

6)Books and visual arts play a big role in these parts
7)It's quite a fun read actually, up to this point. But 2666 is notorious for its darkness and cruelty aka its Pt 4
8)This novel is actually a collected volume of 5 interconnected novellas,

3)Pt 2: Another professor and the curious tale of his now disappeared wife.
4)Not hard to see why it appealed to fiction readers worldwide: academics from France, Italy, Spain, England and Mexico(and scenes in their respective countries) , all obsessed with 1 Nobel-worthy German author ?Hmm.
5)The (translated) writing is stylish, evocative and rightfully ominous

Some brief notes:
1)The parts here share the settings (time, location) and characters but they deal with very different subject matter. Pt I is a set-up but also a love triangle; the much shorter Pt II revolves around madness.
2) Pt 1 : a small group of literary professors, all fascinated by a mysterious, never-seen German writer, grow close with each other and decide to locate the author they are all researching