Christopher Shell’s Reviews > The Savage Detectives > Status Update

Just finished part 2. It’s good, makes me really appreciate what I just read. I was confused earlier about what I was reading but now the book has fully bloomed and I’m excited for the finish.

Two stories about well off people who lives have been entangled with poetry, Barcelona, and Arturo Belano. One through love the other disdain. These characters get such long uninterrupted stories in a book of long broken up stories. I wonder why. Why the parallels. And still what is the plot of this book? Maybe it’s not a plot but a mosaic of the poetic life that existed at one point for Latin Americans.

Piecing things together, I think I’ve gotten the most I can out of this book, which is pretty good considering my level of experience heading into it. I’m ready to wrap it up and move on.

It is at this point I can tell you what has happened in the book but I cannot tell you what this book is about. What is it? It’s the misadventures of Ulises Lima (the Mexican) and Arturo Belano(the Mexican from Chile). But why is there someone interviewing these people? Why are they piecing together their adventures? We are learning about the visceral realists it’s their story.

I’ve settled in and am enjoying the book more and more and making connections. Started giving all the interviews my own titles.

I’ve gotten used to the narrative style of part 2. At this point I’m fully vested in the story and love finding all the commentary and advice on reading, poetry, and writing.

I love that it brought up the differences in class and how poetry unites them. But then also the proles get carried into this life and death situation brought about by the petit bourgeoisie who use money to pay for their problems, while the prole poets who are not violent must now deal with violent men. I’m thoroughly engrossed.

More erotica than I expected, I knew it was an influence for Bolaño, but this is the diary of a college student so it’s not unnatural. He does capture the split between sexual desire and philosophical desire well. Also sets the stage how poetry spans social classes, from the poor to the bourgeois. Interesting queer theory on poetry as well.

Very easy to read, interesting story, reminds me of Hopscotch but without the overly pretentious and misogynistic youth shit. Even though it has the elements of pretentious misogynistic youth shit.