2666 - Background / General (No Spoilers) (Mar 2018)

[Hugh]

This is the general non-spoiler thread for the discussion of 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I am starting it early because I will be away from tomorrow until Monday and I don't know what the WiFi connectivity will be like.

My plan is to have one spoiler thread for each of the five Parts, and one for the whole book.

For now it would be nice to know who is intending to participate - we have allocated two months to this discussion so you have plenty of time to decide or to catch up.

Reviews (these may contain spoilers):
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/boo...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/b...
http://content.time.com/time/arts/art...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/5...

[Neil]

I will be participating, but not starting for a while as I want to look at the MBI list first. I will join in as soon as I can, but likely to be in the second month.

[Dianne]

I would absolutely love to join this - will try my best to keep up!

[Jacob]

I will be participating. Looking forward to the discussion.

[LindaJ^]

I just finished the book last night and am looking forward to the discussion.

[Hugh]

Finished already! That is keen. I am only 90 pages in...

[LindaJ^]

I started as soon as you announced it as the selection. I have the 3-volume set. It took me a about week to read each volume and I took a week off between each volume. It was a challenging read! I enjoyed the challenge and most of the book!

[Nadine in California]

It's been sitting on my shelf for years! Thanks for making this a two-month read - that makes it possible for me.

[Hugh]

Given that we are allowing two whole months, a schedule might be a good idea, but I don't want to constrain people too much. I am tempted to create the spoiler threads when I have reached the end of each section because that makes it easier to come up with introductory questions. I will give this a bit more thought and I am happy to listen to suggestions.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I will be reading along as well--I'm in the same situation as Nadine; I bought the original hardback edition when it first came out, and haven't read it yet. This is a great nudge.

[Hugh]

OK, here's a rough target schedule (calculated by page counts in the Picador paperback) to finish on May 14th:

Book 1 - The Part About the Critics: Mar 15-Mar 26 (161pp)
Book 2 - The Part About Amolfitano: Mar 26-Mar 30 (68pp)
Book 3 - The Part About Fate: Mar 30-Apr 7 (122 pp)
Book 4 - The Part About the Crimes: Apr 7-Apr 26 (284 pp)
Book 5 - The Part About Archimboldi: Apr 26-May 14 (260 pp)

I will probably open the spoiler threads for the later parts ahead of these dates so that anyone who is reading it all in one go can comment when the book is still fresh.

[Hugh]

I am now over a third of the way through and beginning to see links between the sections. I am alternating between being very impressed and being a little frustrated by trying to understand how the pieces fit together. I have never read any Bolaño before.

[Claire]

I’m in too, will do the audiobook. It was on my tbr list way too long.

[LindaJ^]

Hugh wrote: "I am now over a third of the way through and beginning to see links between the sections. I am alternating between being very impressed and being a little frustrated by trying to understand how the..."

Ahh yes. The frustration will not completely depart, at least it did not for me. Sometimes the connections are indirect, and I am sure there were many of that sort that I missed.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

The only Bolano that I've read is Monsieur Pain, which I was not crazy about, but one thing I noticed were a ton of little clues and references inserted in unlikely places. I don't know if that was something he did all the time, or just for Monsieur Pain, but I'd suspect it was part of his style. Even in a short book like MP, I felt like I was missing a ton of references, simply because the ones I did catch were so odd and unusual.

I haven't started yet--there are a few other books I'd like to wrap up first, but I hope to get to the book soon (sheesh--I've been saying that for about 10 years now)

[Robert]

I think this book is amazing! I bought the three volume version and that helped a lot. Despite the seemingly randomness of the novel, there are interlinking parts. It's a matter of hanging in there. Trust me it is a rewarding reading experience.

The only other Bolano I have read was Savage Detectives and I didn't really like that. It felt like an idea being stretched too far. Bolano also has an important cameo in Javier Cercas' (who was recently nominated for the MBI longlist this week) Soldiers of Salamis, which is a fantastic read.

[LindaJ^]

Hugh, thanks for the reviews. I'm not sure they would have made much sense before reading the book as they don't really tell anything about what's in the book, which makes perfect sense after reading it -- there is no way to summarize this book! I thought Lethem's was the best, even though he doesn't even start discussing the book until the review is more than half done! I learned most about the author, which was helpful and interesting.

[Hugh]

I have been struggling to find enough reading time over the last few days but I am now close to finishing part 4.

[LindaJ^]

Hugh, Are you going to have a separate thread for Part 3?

[Hugh]

I have finished the book, and the spoiler threads are all now in place - there is one for each part and one for the whole book. This means we now have 8 topics, so the last three (least most recently updated) will not appear in the default discussions view. You can see the whole list here

[Hugh]

I hope we are not going to regret allowing this discussion two months - it has gone rather quiet recently!

[Neil]

I plan to start reading this next week when I have finished the MBI long list. I hope I will have something to say!

[Hugh]

Thanks Neil and Sunita - I'll look forward to reading your thoughts.

[Suki]

I'm just starting this today-- really late, I know, but I think I'll be finished in time. See you in the spoilers! :-)

[Hugh]

It is never too late to comment on these discussions Suki - they will still be open after 14 May.

[Jacob]

I'm also still making my way slowly through the book (15 pages a day for the last 7 weeks), so I will also be late-ish to the whole book discussion.

[Hugh]

I am glad to hear that there is still some interest in this book. Reading it is a big commitment, so don't worry about the supposed end date too much!

[Hugh]

Thanks to everyone who has helped to make this a lively and stimulating discussion. As always, the discussion threads will remain open for late contributions.