Stephen Mejias

Roberto Bolaño's 2666

Stephen Mejias  |  Aug 5, 2010

Photo: Melissa Horn

A pause to celebrate Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, which I am deep into:

Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 is tremendously good. I’ve never read something so consistently, so powerfully beautiful, horrible, and enthralling. I adore it and abhor it, and when it’s within my grasp I feel like a stronger person. It’s like being at a Sonic Youth show, like being in punch drunk love, like listening to your favorite record on your hi-fi and knowing the experience couldn’t be better, no matter what: With 2666, Bolaño fools you into thinking he is the only writer and his is the only book to read. It’s an incredible thing.

COMMENTS
Alex's picture
Submitted by Alex (not verified) on August 5, 2010 - 8:53am

I don't always read, but when I do, I prefer Bolano.

buddha's picture
Submitted by buddha (not verified) on August 5, 2010 - 11:49am

I'm dubious about 2666. Did you finish Savage Detectives?

Stephen Mejias's picture
Submitted by Stephen Mejias (not verified) on August 5, 2010 - 12:09pm

Yes, by the time I got to the end of The Savage Detectives, with the way it brilliant wraps itself up, I felt I had to read it all over again. (Of course, I didn't, because it nearly killed me the first time around.)

michaelavorgna's picture
Submitted by michaelavorgna (not verified) on August 9, 2010 - 7:42am

Reading Savage Detectives was like competing in a triathlon without training.

Jim Teacher IV's picture
Submitted by Jim Teacher IV (not verified) on August 9, 2010 - 1:36pm

Yeah, I didn't know what I was getting into with Bolano. It took me a couple tries to get Savage Detectives rolling, but once it started there was no turning back. 2666 seems more immediately accessible, although maybe I'm just more Bolanoized this time.

Tulkinghorn's picture
Submitted by Tulkinghorn (not verified) on August 10, 2010 - 6:12pm

You'll be glad to know that the heroes of Savage Detectives show up in 2666 -- one of them is the father of a minor character in the fourth part. If you don't catch it, then you screwed up and will have to go back and start all over again.You are warned that the difficulties of 2666 aren't as apparent as those of Savage Detectives -- hundreds of pages of narrative that appear to be nothing more than a missing Thomas Mann novel contain threads that you must remember throughout the rest of the book.

Fsonicsmith's picture
Submitted by Fsonicsmith (not verified) on October 13, 2010 - 6:58am

I suppose this comment will never be read by anybody this long after the last post. I am reading 2666 and am about half-way through. It's somewhat ponderous reading-as anyone who has read the book ought to admit-one account after another of the dead bodies of murdered women found and barely investigated before being buried mostly in unmarked communal graves. But to wake up and learn that the head of a Mexican investigator looking into the alleged shooting of a jet skier on a lake bordering Texas and Mexico demonstrates the bizarre violence Bolano was writing about. Whether it be drug cartel related or not, there is a continuing metaphysical cloud of death that seems to float over much of Mexico-bringing to life the fanstastic devilish paper mache characters we are used to seeing in Mexican folk art.

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