Official blog of G. A. Lodise

I’ve finished it. It took checking it out from the library three times beginning in March. Since there is a long wait list, I’ve had sometimes a month in between readings. From what I can tell, though, Bolano was an extraordinarily well-read author. He manages to work in much of what he must have gleaned from his life into his work. It shows in the layered and wildly imaginative writing of 2666. I so thoroughly enjoyed it that I went back to the first chapter after finishing the last and started in again. Interestingly I didn’t really feel a personal connection to the stories until the final one. I found the stories fascinating, disturbing, humorous, but not emotionally connecting. The final story, though, was different. It had all of the characteristics of the other stories plus a more open, and more revealed character whose life is so unlike ours but resonates with us in ways that I am still contemplating. This isn’t to say that the other four are in anyway lacking. They are are all more intriguing than I thought they would be, but the fifth has a way of creeping out of its story like a subterranean creature and then basking in a sunlight that was built over the course of the previous four parts. Not only a deeply introverted story, but also an amazing window into history. 2666 has easily made its way onto my top 10 books list.