From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

2666

Roberto Bolaño,

Natasha Wimmer (Translator)

Start date: January 15, 2010

Finish date: March 15, 2010

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Jane

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Feb 04, 2024 Dree rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: continental-europe, 2024-reads, central-south-america, in-translation

A novel in 5 parts? 5 linked novels?

Interesting, exhausting, glad I read it but it is just too long and not as tight as it might have been.

We have academics in search of the mysterious German writer Archimboldi they all study. It's almost a club--and no one knows what happened to the author. These 3 go searching in Santa Teresa, Mexico, where rumor has it he has gone.

We have a drafted WW2 German soldier, Hans Reiter, who leaves his mother and sister and goes with his unit to Romania, Russia, and ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2010 Marius van Blerck rated it liked it · review of another edition

Hmmmm ... where can I start. I suppose it would be unfair to the author to start with the absurdly effusive review extracts plastered over this book's cover, like squashed locusts on a windscreen.

This book comprises five novellas, which are connected by a thread. Four of these are turgid and wasteful, while the fifth and final one is outstanding. This last novella, titled "The Part about Archimboldi" is a masterful piece of writing, with more than a touch of Vonnegut, and shades of Kafka and He ...more

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Feb 20, 2010 Cdrueallen rated it liked it

During the long months it took me to read 2666 I was convinced it was an important work of fiction, but I only occasionally enjoyed reading it, and now, three months since I finished it, there's not much from it that's stuck with me. Two characters, and an ambiance described perfectly by the quote from Baudelaire that Bolano uses as a preface to his novel: "an oasis of horror in a desert of boredom". Except that the horror is to repetitive and mundane to be any sort of oasis.

The first character ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 William rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

The debate in most written reviews is whether or not it is a masterpiece. The general consensus is that it is. Written as 5 loosely linked novel-length sections, it explores themes of violence and fate. The prose is not difficult and the reading is very enjoyable. The narrative wanders in directions you could never predict but it does so in the manner of a painting whose final form inevitably emerges fully formed and in which every brush stroke has its place and purpose.
People inevitably as "wha ...more

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Mar 14, 2010 Jason rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 16, 2016 Curious Squid rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 1001-books

This book was written in 5 parts. The fourth was the longest part and it was extremely hard to get through. Graphic murder after graphic murder. I enjoyed the other parts though and can see with its sweeping scope why it is included as one of the 1001 books to read.

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