I was a gamer once. I played Dungeons and Dragons. And then graduate school happened and all I had time for was Magic the Gathering. I can understand the appeal of gaming, even historical war game, which I never played. Yet the appeal of playing a game about WW II and seeing if Germany can win seems rather well strange.

I think Bolano felt the same way because in this book he examines how some people lose the connection to reality when they play games. It is no surprise that his central character, Udo, is German. A young German consumed by War games, but this novel seems about more of the struggle to grow and change. (view spoiler)[Udo at the end is far more likable than Udo in the beginning. (hide spoiler)]

Yet compared to 2666 there is a sense of the reader being kept at an arm's distance in this book, as if the characters and the story itself are wary of revealing too much to the reader. It makes for certainly strange reading.