As Bolano s friend and literary executor, Ignacio Echevarria, once suggested, Antwerp can be viewed as the Big Bang of Roberto Bolano s fictional u...
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reviews
Apr 28, 2010
Greg
rated it: 
The only novel that doesn't embarrass me is Antwerp"-Roberto Bolaño
A quick look at the reviews for this book show some people who really don't like it. They are probably right
This is a young work. It's darkly romantic (without sentimentality). It wears it's belief in the power of literature and words right on it's sleeve (so to speak, because books don't have sleeves, and this one doesn't even have a dust jacket).
Of what is lost, irretrievebly lost, More...
A quick look at the reviews for this book show some people who really don't like it. They are probably right
This is a young work. It's darkly romantic (without sentimentality). It wears it's belief in the power of literature and words right on it's sleeve (so to speak, because books don't have sleeves, and this one doesn't even have a dust jacket).
Of what is lost, irretrievebly lost, More...
6 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Jan 02, 2012
Joseph
rated it: 
This short novel as Bolaño called it was confusing and bewildering to read. Written in 56 short vignettes or sketches, it was easy to read in a couple of hours. Digesting it and nailing down what happened and who was involved is another thing.
As far as I can tell there was a terrible crime committed at a campground, the subsequent crime investigation, a meandering and wandering author--probably Bolaño himself. There's also a nameless girl, a hunchback, and an Englishman. None of them More...
As far as I can tell there was a terrible crime committed at a campground, the subsequent crime investigation, a meandering and wandering author--probably Bolaño himself. There's also a nameless girl, a hunchback, and an Englishman. None of them More...
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 10, 2011
Lakis
rated it: 
“I wrote this book for the ghosts” says the author, before adding that this “my only novel that doesn’t embarrass me…”
The thing is though that this book is not neither a novel, nor a novella; it’s not even a short story collection. If anyone asked me I would say that what we have here is a collection of clippings of life and of random thoughts that somehow manage to meet at one point or another and thus make sense.
The author is doing here what he does best; he’s playing. He’s More...
The thing is though that this book is not neither a novel, nor a novella; it’s not even a short story collection. If anyone asked me I would say that what we have here is a collection of clippings of life and of random thoughts that somehow manage to meet at one point or another and thus make sense.
The author is doing here what he does best; he’s playing. He’s More...
Mar 21, 2011
Olivia
rated it:
I got this book as a small hardback, and I am glad because it means I can carry it around to consult numerous time in the future, and I believe I will come to love it more. Right now, I find it bewildering, like something I tried out and could not get them all in one reading. It is unpolished but impressively raw, and I enjoyed it. I suspect I'll need to talk more about it in future.
----- FAVOURITE QUOTES -----
"The scorn I felt for so-called official literature was More...
----- FAVOURITE QUOTES -----
"The scorn I felt for so-called official literature was More...
Feb 10, 2011
SueEllen
rated it:
This is a very short novel I picked up at the Strand bookstore while in NYC two weeks ago. I am sure there's a formal rhythm/ formula to this work, that, if I could read and study it at length I could figure out. For now, I have to be okay with connecting fragments of ideas, words, scenes, and nonsense. Ultimately, this work is a "crime novel" but I really only understand that in the loosest of definitions. Lots of crimes occur - in the way that humanity can be ugly. Picture a stroll t
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Jul 09, 2010
Brad
rated it:
A central series of events and themes, some of which are recognisable from The Savage Detectives, is recollected in a series of fragments that aim not to reveal the nature of those events but traverse them every which way in memory. The writing is often cinematic in the sense that we are told what point of view we are taking up on a scene, and directions are given concerning who is walking towards or away from the camera. Many of the fragments are oriented around a series of phrases the origin
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Apr 07, 2010
Jim
rated it: 
I chanced upon this tiny new translation yesterday. It's the first book by Bolaño that's left me (mostly) unmoved. Maybe because it's his first "novel" - pages from a notebook, described by the publisher as "an experimental crime novel… radical and solitary."
Most of the chapters are staccato sentences, at times the kind of prose poetry Charles Simic used to write. Fragments of later, brilliant Bolaño are everywhere - the lonely eros, paranoia, police, tortured dre More...
Most of the chapters are staccato sentences, at times the kind of prose poetry Charles Simic used to write. Fragments of later, brilliant Bolaño are everywhere - the lonely eros, paranoia, police, tortured dre More...
Feb 02, 2010
jeremy
rated it:
"i wrote this book for myself, and even that i can't be sure of. for a long time these were just loose pages that i reread and maybe tinkered with, convinced i had no time. but time for what? i couldn't say exactly. i wrote this book for the ghosts, who, because they're outside of time, are the only ones with time. after the last rereading (just now), i realize that time isn't the only thing that matters, time isn't the only source of terror. pleasure can be terrifying too, and so can
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 11, 2010
Lee
rated it:
Fragmented abstract notes (sometimes complete with cinematographic direction) for the most pretentious art film ever made? Representative phrase: "All I can come up with are stray sentences, he said, maybe because reality seems like a swarm of stray sentences. Desolation must be something like that, said the hunchback." Unattributed jags of dialogue/quotation. Occasional self-conscious commentary on the book's form. Quick cuts within paragraphs consistently derailed my attention (not n
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Nov 15, 2010
Cameron
rated it:
This is not a novel, but I judge it as one because that's what Bolano called it. (I assume he wrote it before giving up on being a poet?) ANTWERP is interesting because it tackles several questions better articulated in Bolano's later writing -- what few elements are necessary to a novel? How does an artist find their voice? Is there anyone worth finding it for?
That aside, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's not a hardcore fan -- there's not really a plot or characters and More...
That aside, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's not a hardcore fan -- there's not really a plot or characters and More...
Apr 11, 2010
nathan
rated it:
actually read this one twice before sitting down to try and review this. wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for bolano -- while his voice is recognizable and his favorite tropes are visible, the fragmented meta-narrative forces the reader to keep a distance that i'm not used to occupying during a bolano novel. this short book is really about writing and living the life of a writer blocked, existentially distressed exile as much as it is ostensibly "about" murder and sodomy i
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Apr 18, 2011
Donato
rated it:
First, some fun facts:
1) This was the first novel written by Bolaño, but the last to be published during his lifetime (he didn't try to get it published when he wrote it because "they would have slammed the door in my face").
2) This particular (Italian) translation was done by a Masters class in Spanish translation, so it's a "group effort".
And now to the text itself:
It reads like a description of a David Lynch film. But it's not that.
It reads li More...
1) This was the first novel written by Bolaño, but the last to be published during his lifetime (he didn't try to get it published when he wrote it because "they would have slammed the door in my face").
2) This particular (Italian) translation was done by a Masters class in Spanish translation, so it's a "group effort".
And now to the text itself:
It reads like a description of a David Lynch film. But it's not that.
It reads li More...
May 02, 2010
Bill
rated it:
Fragmented, disjointed, surreal, yet filled with the typically poetic prose of Roberto Bolano. The notes on this one call it "an experimental crime novel", but for me, much like The Savage Detectives, this short and concise novel seems to be much more about the power of the written word to create vivid images than it even is about a story. There is a thread of a story about an apparent murder that weave through the 56 short segments that make up this book (the longest is less than 3 pa
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Apr 12, 2011
Scott
rated it:
Antwerp can be seen as a series of prose-poems, but there is also an ongoing narrative with recurring characters. Yes, this is the type of book in which it takes some effort just to pin down the principal actors and events.
Writer to hunchback: “All I can come up with are stray sentences, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm of stray sentences.” “Desolation must be something like that,” said the hunchback.
So if reality seems like a swarm of stray sentences, then More...
Writer to hunchback: “All I can come up with are stray sentences, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm of stray sentences.” “Desolation must be something like that,” said the hunchback.
So if reality seems like a swarm of stray sentences, then More...
May 07, 2010
Jason
rated it: 
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
For those who don't know, in recent years the new poster-child for American intellectuals has become the late Chilean author Roberto Bolano, for a whole perfect storm of small reasons: a former leftist political radical who wrote manytimes impenetrably dense yet poetic manuscripts, his rough-a More...
For those who don't know, in recent years the new poster-child for American intellectuals has become the late Chilean author Roberto Bolano, for a whole perfect storm of small reasons: a former leftist political radical who wrote manytimes impenetrably dense yet poetic manuscripts, his rough-a More...
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Mar 01, 2011
Harish
rated it:
this isn't exactly a "novel"-- it's more an experimental collection of poignantly expressed (in typical Bolano fashion) stray ideas and thoughts around common themes moving somewhat radially (it's not quite linear, and is rather disjointed, in 56 parts). i'll sum my thoughts up with a couple quotes representative of this entire work:
"All I can come up with are stray sentences, he said, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm of stray sentences."
" More...
"All I can come up with are stray sentences, he said, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm of stray sentences."
" More...
Sep 21, 2011
Laurie
rated it:
A bit uneven, and as with many of Bolano's books, when I got to the end I went back to the beginning.
I'd previously thought that this was somehow connected with the book not being complete in some way, but now I think it has more to do with his writing style, which in this book, is pretty 'imagistic.' The last few pages were my favorites (each page is a numbered & titled chapter), though I would hardly call this a novel! in any traditional sense. I'll likely read it again as there are some More...
I'd previously thought that this was somehow connected with the book not being complete in some way, but now I think it has more to do with his writing style, which in this book, is pretty 'imagistic.' The last few pages were my favorites (each page is a numbered & titled chapter), though I would hardly call this a novel! in any traditional sense. I'll likely read it again as there are some More...
May 20, 2010
Craig
rated it:
If your a fan of Bolano's work, than by all means give Antwerp a read. But, be warned this is a romantic exercise in the style of Burroughs. An account of a murder in a campground, either an English speaking writer or a hunchback has been murdered and an 18 year-old red head who is involved with drugs and sleeping with a narcotics policeman is involved. Oh and of course Bolano himself shows up at the campground.
If you're a student of the written word and you love Bolano's work, the More...
If you're a student of the written word and you love Bolano's work, the More...
Nov 13, 2011
Matthew
rated it:
"Antwerp" is a dizzying maze that will leave even the most fervent Bolano enthusiast reeling when its very short 78-page run is over. It's a very early book, and this fact may lead you to believe that it's quite different than his later work. It is, of course, mostly formally different. But the themes that will stretch from "Monsieur Pain" to "2666" are all here, packed in between every brief scene. The "novel" (Bolano calls it such in his introduction but
More...
Sep 27, 2011
S.B.
rated it:
It's a very attractive looking book. But the inside is not, except for a few passages here and there. Something tells me this would be better as a book of images, not of words. And I hate when that happens. I like Bolano, though, and I'm sticking with him.
I can't be a science fiction writer because my innocence is mostly gone and I'm not crazy yet.
I suppose all the movies I've seen will be worth nothing to me when I die. Wrong. They'll be worth something, believe me. Don't s More...
I can't be a science fiction writer because my innocence is mostly gone and I'm not crazy yet.
I suppose all the movies I've seen will be worth nothing to me when I die. Wrong. They'll be worth something, believe me. Don't s More...
May 04, 2010
Tom
rated it:
A slight work. Although the publisher and Bolaño both call "Antwerp" a novel, it reads more like notes and sketches working toward what would later become "The Skating Rink." Still, Bolaño's elliptical style, the notes that feel as if they are working toward and creating a discovery--the true story behind the notes--are poetically engaging. Even when Bolaño describes concrete actions and events, they appear in a haze of evanescence and ephemerality, which seems to me the esse
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May 17, 2010
Don
rated it:
This is an extended prose poem separated into numbered sections. It is not a novel.
What is this book about? Film (especially pornography), murder, police, violence, autobiography, writing, literature, sex, speech, Spain, foreignness. Kaput.
There are a lot of themes and elements here that will be familiar to habitual Bolaño users, but this is the most structurally experimental work of his I've read. It works very well, in this biased obsever's opinion.
What is this book about? Film (especially pornography), murder, police, violence, autobiography, writing, literature, sex, speech, Spain, foreignness. Kaput.
There are a lot of themes and elements here that will be familiar to habitual Bolaño users, but this is the most structurally experimental work of his I've read. It works very well, in this biased obsever's opinion.
May 11, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
not so sure there was even a plot, but this fragmented 'story,' or stories, evokes the most poignant, unwanted emotions in the most succinct sentences. the mood of this book is summed up by: 'In Antwerp a man was killed when his car was run over by a truck full of pigs. Lots of the pigs died too when the truck overturned, others had to be put out of their misery by the side of the road, and others took off as fast as they could...'
Aug 09, 2010
Jamil
rated it:
"Of what is lost, irretrievable lost, all I wish to recover is the daily availability of my writing, lines capable of grasping me by the hair and lifting me up when I'm at the end of my strength. (Significant, said the foreigner.) Odes to the human and the divine. Let my writing be like the verses by Leopardi that Daniel Biga recited on a Nordic bridge to gird himself with courage."
Jul 16, 2010
Anthony
rated it:
this book was really fragmented. it had some beautiful passages that read like set descriptions from a film script. I never did figure out what it was about. there's a character named Bonlaño, a dwarf, and a cop who raped a young girl, possibly. it reminded me of Savage Detectives, which I loved, which inspired me to buy 2666, which so far is excellent.
May 05, 2010
Demi
rated it:
This is a short but dense prose-poem of sorts: a bit mystery, a bit train-of-consciousness, and certainly a book that makes one read over each page multiple times. The writing is wonderful, visual, and complex. Supposedly Bolaño considered it to be the only book that he wasn't embarrassed of. I may likely give it another pass at some point...
Apr 25, 2010
jennifer
rated it:
Read this in New York. Vignettes tied together by a common thread of heat, sex, disease, and war. Same characters too, though mostly silhouettes. I think if I'd followed the thread a little better I'd have slightly more of a historical context to remark upon. Full of lovely lines, at least, that make me want to scrawl something of my own.
May 31, 2010
Poupeh
rated it:
Okay, now i know that this obsession is getting out of hand:
I am editing my translation of By Night in Chile in the mornings,
I am translating Monsieur Pain in the afternoons,
and I have started reading Antwerp at night!
More like a collection of early notes by the great author that is to come in later years... still enjoyable to track the familiar amidst the lines, lines filled with favorite sentences...
only a few of which are:
"All writ More...
I am editing my translation of By Night in Chile in the mornings,
I am translating Monsieur Pain in the afternoons,
and I have started reading Antwerp at night!
More like a collection of early notes by the great author that is to come in later years... still enjoyable to track the familiar amidst the lines, lines filled with favorite sentences...
only a few of which are:
"All writ More...
Apr 01, 2011
Alison
rated it:
Vague, disjointed, haunting, and unsettling, yet vivid and real. A prose poem that's kind of like a fever dream that you drift in and out of: nonlinear, sometimes manic and a little scary, and then you wake up puzzled (and sweaty?). The form reminds me of Gertrude Stein...similar plays on convention, language, sound, and plot.
Sep 29, 2010
Brooks
rated it:
A weird haze of a book. It read almost like a long, dense poem. I read it in one sitting, trying to soak in the overall feel of it, not sure if it would be better if I had tried to figure out each chapter and nuance.
I considered giving it four stars just because it was an interesting read, but I think three is closer to my impressions.
I considered giving it four stars just because it was an interesting read, but I think three is closer to my impressions.
