Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 and my struggle to love it

Submitted by ThatCommanderShepard t3_10lud2a in books

I guess my first question would be to ask if anyone else here has read it, and further if they struggled with it as much as I did.

2666 is the final book my Spanish/Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. He generally considered to be a deeply accomplished author and my main draw towards him was comparisons to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who’s responsible for 100 years of solitude, probably my favorite book ever. By all accounts I can find 2666 is considered a surreal masterwork of the 21st century and yet…….. I’m bored

I don’t think I’m a slouch in reading books that can drag, lesser Joseph Heller novels, Murakamis 1Q84 are books that I have deeply enjoyed, but every time I pick up 2666 my brain begs me to put it back down. Clocking in at 1000 pages the book is purportedly about a mysterious serial killer in Mexico and a meditation on the nature of evil but if in my 300 pages of reading I’ve come across that I’d be hard pressed to tell you how.

The novel is split in to 5 novellas each with different perspectives and topics, but I’m down two and……. Wow do they meander. The entire second book is nothing but the middlingly boring story of a professor kind of losing his mind a little bit but nothing ever happens. And when things do happen, they’re presented with such flat disinterest and distance so as to rob them of any emotive weight.

Regardless, has anyone else had this experience with 2666 or has anyone been so let down by a supposedly incredible novel before

94

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j5z5fe0 wrote

I'm might be the wrong person to answer, since I think 2666 is a masterpiece, but:

The second part is the least memorable. For the third and fourth parts, you can't really say "nothing ever happens".

I wouldn't say it's about "a mysterious serial killer". While the murders are central to the story, it's not a murder mystery. It's more about the relationship between the murders and the broader society.

53

McGilla_Gorilla t1_j5z9xh9 wrote

>It's more about the relationship between the murders and the broader society.

100%. I think it’s a really masterful way of looking at crime - although a lot of time is spent on the individual victims and (potential) perpetrators of the crimes, the real focus is on the global economic, cultural and political systems which create the environment for these crimes to occur.

18

BR1N3DM1ND t1_j608uja wrote

Since I, like OP, have ground to a halt mid-book (a true rarity for me, I assure you), would you be so kind to encapsulate what Bolaño posits regarding said systems, in the context of connecting the murders to "broader society"?

In other words, is your first name Cliff? Can I see your notes? ("Cliff McGilla, Gorilla-at-Large" is pretty fabulous, just saying)

3

ipcriss t1_j62ruvu wrote

As I read it, it's not anything particular you can pick. The whole book paints portrait of society and life in the area. Interactions of characters are there to show and illustrate those discourses and atmosphere of the society. And people's places in social structures.

For example. In the first part, I felt the locals were main focus and how these foreign professors people can justify to themselves going with the flow and exploit people. As societal structures make it possible.

1

larowin t1_j5zdrqq wrote

The Part About The Crimes is the most intense and relentless writing I’ve ever encountered. It’s more hardcore than Blood Meridian.

But yes, if you’ve only gotten through the first two parts you’ve basically had your dinner roll and salad, the main course is incoming.

22

rbeast t1_j5zn0b8 wrote

I’m nearly done with The Part About the Crimes, it’s been hellish in a way I could only compare to Blood Meridian.

So far I’ve enjoyed the book very much, with the first and third Parts really standing out to me despite the fourth being the obvious lynchpin.

8

sjsmac t1_j5zoe2d wrote

Yeah, that chapter was rough. Lots and lots of broken hyoid bones. Brutal.

4

IskaralPustFanClub t1_j6183qu wrote

On first read I found the part regarding the killings almost unending. Upon re-reading the novel I found that this aspect of it perfectly mirrors and fits with what Bolano was trying to communicate. The murders are unrelenting. It gave me a whole new appreciation of it.

4

larowin t1_j618cne wrote

Exactly! “When will this madness end?”

1

drelos t1_j610a54 wrote

I haven't read essays or discussed with someone else but I guess that part core idea is just desensitizing through repetition embedding you un the same feeling those authorities and population feel. The line that broke me was... after pages and pages describing several ways all those corpses were found one character ask another one 'you don't see nothing in common' 'no' 'they were all workers'

3

thewirefan123123 t1_j6gabok wrote

I'll never forget the part in 4 where the two young sisters were raped killed and tortured in the rich mans house and the scene where the young girl went to the hospital and before she died was sad about never seeing her brother and sister again. I cried while reading those parts.

1

Espa89 t1_j604exm wrote

The one about the murdered prostitutes (or something, long time since I read it)? That was the worst. It was just repeating itself 20 times.

0

larowin t1_j60iukj wrote

This thread is already getting a bit spoilery for OP, but the repetition is the point. It makes you numb and desensitized to something that you should not look away from. If you didn’t know, this really happened.

4

BobdH84 t1_j5z0ryc wrote

I read 2666 back when it was published in Dutch translation in 2010, so I can’t recall much of its narrative (apart from the macabre Part of the Killings), but I did thoroughly enjoy it. You’re right in that it can be a dense novel without a clear narrative, but it’s a very impressive novel. It does change in tone and style in each Part, so you might land of a part yet that you enjoy more?

And yes, people comparing it to Márquez is very misleading, haha. It’s nothing like it. But somehow each time a Latin American author gets big accolades, people tend to mention Márquez, regardless of style or substance.

16

elliotpo t1_j5z1lyg wrote

Loved it, it but don’t blame you for feeling otherwise.

I remember a few years ago sitting on a back porch with several literary-minded friends, hardcore readers and writers, all of whom were (it seemed to me) pretending to like 2666; by the end of the conversation they’d begun, in stride, to dryly rationalize the Part about the Crimes (if i remember the section titles correctly) in terms of various tropes and literary devices even though it was obvious, by then, that they hadn’t actually read the whole thing and had no desire to do so. I felt alone, suddenly, as if this book that spoke to my heart and I were alone and abandoned. I was aware that I was being ridiculous.

For me — a former academic person who fled from a doctoral program — the depiction of the Archimboldeans in the beginning made me laugh and felt like real catharsis. From there on I never stopped digging the book, which remains top 5 for me. I enjoy the characters; his descriptions (one in a German castle for example) are f-ing gorgeous; and for me there are subtle threads running through the book that I haven’t seen anyone else address in a story.

But I wouldn’t feel bad about disliking it. I think there are many readers & writers like you. It’s a super odd book. Plus if I have the back story right (I may not at all) I think that Bolaño wanted to edit it more and may have changed it around a good deal before he ran out of life.

Maybe you’ll like it later. Or maybe its arguably subtle/arguably clunky maximalist approach is just not the thing right now.

16

Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j5z5r47 wrote

I agree that the book doesn't quite feel finished, though the publisher says otherwise.

If I were going to analyze "The Part about the Crimes", I would compare it to a season of The Wire, rather than any literary tropes.

6

Odd-Independent6177 t1_j61b4fc wrote

That’s interesting to compare it to The Wire. They are similar in having 5 parts with very different qualities. Also, in people saying Part 2 is boring. It’s probably ill-advised, but I wonder if anyone ever dove in to write a comparison.

I read 2666 in Spanish, my second language. It took me forever (pandemic year) but I feel it was worth it because the writing was amazing.

3

drelos t1_j60zlhz wrote

Yeah a passage through academia will make you appreciate that part, but I guess that tongue in cheek would be lost from the outside

2

elcuervo2666 t1_j5z76w2 wrote

It’s interesting that this is your last Bolaño book. It was my first. I feel in love from here and then even more so from Savage Detectives. Interesting journey to get here and then flame out though. Good luck.

11

TheCloudForest t1_j5zhmez wrote

Pretty sure it was a typo and OP meant Bolaño's last book. It wasn't finished until his final days and published posthumously.

3

elcuervo2666 t1_j5zi2mn wrote

Ok I read it as in, “I’ve read all of Bolaño’s work and I’m finishing up with 2666” and your read makes so much more sense because mine seems real bizarre.

5

TheCloudForest t1_j5zlbg4 wrote

OP typed my instead of by. If you change that it reads fine (although the fact it was Bolaño's final book seems a bit irrelevant).

2

DogFun2635 t1_j5zd9ch wrote

I felt that book so viscerally. Bolano numbs your senses so thoroughly with the dry descriptions of the murders. It’s such an effective demonstration of how we (society) can view catastrophe with such apathy.

8

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j5zrmdx wrote

That may also have something to do with my chafing against his language. There’s a through line of apathy in the book from beginning to end that I think wore on me, especially with the dense text and often meandering asides. I found a good stopping point between novellas so maybe once I pick it back up I’ll get to see that style used to greater effect

Edit: not sure why this warranted downvotes!

1

gatocurioso t1_j62fvg3 wrote

The apathy is a choice. It's supposed to make you uneasy, and then to question that uneasiness ('hey, nothing happened, this is boring"). This becomes apparent in later chapters. I think a lot of the book is about society's reaction to horrible violence, how the latter becomes background noise eventually

Ninja edit: also, the comparison to Márquez is reaching. It's shorthand for big south-of-the-USA fiction, I guess

1

DonnCuailnge t1_j5z1mjm wrote

Yeah, I found it really tough to get though. So much that it too me long enough to read that I basically lost the thread. Very little of it stuck with me except the eventually numbing descriptions of many many murders. I thought the Savage Detectives was decent, at least parts of it, but it also meandered a bit. However, I was able to follow the thread a little better. I have found Bolano's short stories to be good, but not earth-shattering for me.

My understanding is that the Savage Detectives is the more renowned Bolano book though again I think there's a lot of inside baseball there that references the Latin American literary scene of the second half of the 20th century that was mostly lost on me.

5

Hats668 t1_j5z7z9o wrote

Oh man I loved it.

I hadn't heard of the comparison with Marquez - Bolano seems much heavier to my eye, though I suppose their stories unfold in very similar ways.

Yes, I suppose it meanders a bit. I would call it a character driven, rather than plot driven, book. I found it to be very rich in the sense that there is a lot going on between the lines that isn't explicitly stated in the text. I think the part about the critics, and their strange, complicated relationship, is the part that stuck with me. Equally, the part about the murders really stuck with me, though it was extremely fatiguing to read. They aren't simply murders, instead they're a symptom of something else. The story portrays them somewhat as systatic, but as the details come to light it is revealed that they are random, without thought.

Have you read any of Bolano's other books? I thought that it was a culmination of themes that he has written about throughout his life: love (what is it? I think he's critical of it); and the institution of art (despite being an artist). I think understanding something about where he's coming from would enhance your reading.

4

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j60h12r wrote

I have not read his other books, but from what I’m hearing here Savage Detectives may be just the place go start!

1

One_Laugh6314 t1_j6etavf wrote

The comparison to marquez is because they are both major latin american authors who enjoy commercial success in english translation

1

ReadingOffTwitter t1_j5z6fkn wrote

I read this in a Zoom book club with two good friends; I probably would not have finished it on my own. I do remember feeling as you describe at the end of Book 2. Book 4 was tough to read; we split it into 2 parts, and I think we did the same with Book 5.

After finishing it, I have to say the journey was rewarded, and the discussion it prompted made it what it was for me. I would try to find others to read the book with you. In the end, Bolano finds a good deal to say about so many themes: the banality of evil, what humans owe each other, misogyny, literature, and much more.

3

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j5zaqal wrote

Ah that’s a tough one too. I’d love to but man I struggle finding people to read with (or who read at all) in my day to day life. I agree though that sounds much more rewarding!

2

ReadingOffTwitter t1_j5zrk6k wrote

I know I'm very lucky. We only tackle the tough books, but we can count on each other to do the reading and discussing and learning. We take the book in sections and discuss as we read. I hope we always keep it going.

2

BR1N3DM1ND t1_j60e5h9 wrote

Ugh, am I your guy for this? I go "ugh" cos I also floundered mid-2nd book (I bought 2666 as a 3 vol paperback box set) and am not particularly trying to get back into it. I can count on one hand how many times this has happened to me when reading a novel I began with the expressed intention of uncovering greatness. I've finished & enjoyed various Pynchons (Gravity's Rainbow is still on the list however), Infinite Jest, and others that required tenacity. I've never found Murakami to require tenacity, I consume his writing like so many boxes of Pocky... 1Q84 included. It's about time to reread it. Anyway, PM if you're interested in exploring the idea of a ZBC.

Re 2666, I agree with one of the comments above saying that it's character driven, I was hoping to uncover more focus on indictment/skewering of society-at-large, if not sly satire á la Pynchon, by the rough midway point. I put the book down under the impression that this characters were completely unrelatable to me and, though try as I might, I could not invest in them as they slogged through their existential crises and/or banal minutæ. I get the feeling that Bolaño does have a point, however--as in, some thread to lace together the dissonance of the professors' mundane European lives and the nihilistic bloodshed in Mexico, to form a cohesive posit through startling contrast... or soooomething... And at the same time I get the suspicion that I may not have the patience to uncover it. I hate that! Boo, Bolaño, booooo! LOL

1

tinygaynarcissist t1_j5z8lcs wrote

I loved it, but I definitely get how it can feel like a struggle bus, especially the heavier sections. The second chapter is probably the weakest and I wish it had either been cut entirely or he had been able to flesh it out more.

I read it for the first time because I saw a stage production of it 7-8 years ago (5.5 hours long, funded by a monk who won Powerball, weirdly enough) so that admittedly helped me get through the book. Totally agree on it not feeling completely finished, but I'm not even sure how one would truly finish a story like that, tbh. The open-endedness kinda reflects on how the situation never really went away. I was really enamored by the first and fifth chapters, so I think it's worth sticking with unless you're hating every second. Chapter four is a struggle for a different reason, but also so satisfying watching/reading everything/everyone come together and make sense, like tying the perfect knot in your shoelaces.

3

sjhirons t1_j5zx860 wrote

Genuinely asking, because I've never heard the term, but is 'strugglebus' a typo or actually something? (British, so, for example, didn't know what a 'shortbus' was).

2

tinygaynarcissist t1_j5zzvs5 wrote

Haha I meant to have a space between struggle and bus, whoops. It's not a real thing, it's slang for an imaginary bus representing perpetual struggle. Like, if you're having a really crummy day and nonsense just keeps getting thrown at you, you're driving the struggle bus.

2

sneakablekilgore t1_j63ktp9 wrote

I haven't read the book yet, but I worked on one of the workshops of the script, prior to it going into full production, and it absolutely blew me away. I did get to see the finished show and it was incredible. Made me want to read it, so I will likely pick it up this year.

2

tinygaynarcissist t1_j67bl36 wrote

Oh how cool, that must've been amazing! You'll have to report back on your thoughts on the book!

1

RVG990104 t1_j5zfona wrote

I am from México, specifically from Sonora (which is close to Ciudad Juárez = Santa Teresa), so I'm extremely familiar with the horrible violence the book talks about so probably this has a lot to do with my understanding of it. It is a hard book to read with some boring parts but it's an amazing reflection on violence and the results that it has on the society that endures it every day. I would encourage you to keep going until you get through the second part, it is very much worth it, but let me also mention that Los Detectives Salvajes is an amazing book that was way more accesible (at least to me it was) and a better entry point to Bolaño.

3

JeanVanDeVelde t1_j5zlzqk wrote

2666 is absolutely brutal and ruthless. That being said, it's totally OK to enjoy it in the way that Bolaño originally intended, as five separate novels. Also consider that he left this unfinished, so that's something to consider. The section about Professor Amalfitano was my favorite part.

I'd suggest that anyone looking to get into Bolaño try The Savage Detectives first. I like his short stories the best, it gets a lot of criticism but I think The Skating Rink was beyond brilliant.

3

Hats668 t1_j5zuitr wrote

What I had heard was that he split up into 5 to maximize the amount of money he could leave his son (he was dying as he wrote it), though I'm not completely sure that is true.

1

JeanVanDeVelde t1_j5zzcle wrote

Either way, it works out for the reader. No problem to treat each part as a separate novel, it's not exactly breezy reading.

1

HelomaDurum t1_j5zfdh5 wrote

Read it. Liked it. Rated it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on Goodreads.

2

pineapplesf t1_j5zqaad wrote

2666 was one of my favorite books last year. Rather than compare it to the difficulty of Murakami -- Id say it's more like Gravity's Rainbow, Infinite Jest, or The Familiar. They all take a while to understand what the author is going for. You many still not like the books methods or it's conclusion (which many people hate), but I believe the way it's written definitely achieves Bolanos goals.

2

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j5zr6hx wrote

I’ve yet to read infinite jest but I definitely think I also gravitate towards Wallace’s writing style more than Bolaños. After reading Something To Do With Paying Attention I felt like I had read something human and plainspoken while I feel that Bolaños cynicism may turn me off a bit. He’s clearly a brilliant writer but maybe I need to under what style works for me best

1

pineapplesf t1_j5zryat wrote

We all have our preferences. Personally I didn't like DFW or Ellis, I like Bolano and Danielewski, and am neutral on people like Pynchon or Eco.

2

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j602vuu wrote

Oh man Danielewski is another tough one for sure. I have house of leaves but I’ve never taken the plunge, I hear so many conflicting things

2

pineapplesf t1_j6055ad wrote

I loved house of leaves. It's a pretty good critique of postmodern media. I would argue it's not merely deconstructive but attempts to posit solutions without a return to modernity.

I think Danielewski gets a lot of misplaced hate for making postmodernism not only accessible but enjoyable. It's quite a bit more optimistic, empathetic, and kind compared to other lit fic. His books have a naive earnestness which is distinct from the sort of distanced cynicism of Don DeLillo or Will Self. The backlash against him feels very similar to the backlash against Bruno Latour and I suspect it's for similar reasons.

You can certainly not like Danielewskis style, which includes so much multimedia it can come off as gimmicky, but I think it's hard to argue that he's not effective with it. His Familiar series was super interesting and I'm sad that it was cancelled.

1

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j608icd wrote

Oh! Speaking of multimedia I don’t ever see people mention this but his sister who performs under the name Poe is a musician and has an entire album inspired by House of Leaves. Apparently Danielewski even wrote many of the lyrics

1

DogFun2635 t1_j5zxo08 wrote

You would probably like Savage Detectives better. To be fair, 2666 was unfinished when Bolano died, so who knows what it ultimately would have looked like.

2

Mysterious_Attempt22 t1_j60deps wrote

Are you reading this in English? I think it's legitimately better in Spanish.

Bolaño builds terror through menace, that is what the book is thematically about.

Evil, terror, menace, and violence that swirl and congeal, and as soon as you look at those things and try to examine them, they dissipate. But, the inability to measure or understand the menace, the evil, the conspiracy, the blind but morbid workings of society, in no sense means that it is somehow not real or dangerous.

Rather it is like being in a dark room, trying to find the monster, knowing one is there, and watching him occasionally do his thing in very dim glimpses. Also, this is somewhat a test of your sanity, as is the case with "Tercer Reich".

2

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j60fyv1 wrote

To be honest it could be the translation. I’ve read a lot about how that can effect readings (Kundera writes a lot about this) and often in 2023 us english speakers are pretty blessed with quality translations. But Bolaño does sort of come off as unbearably dry and I wonder if that’s not got something to do with his style being washed out in translation.

1

Mysterious_Attempt22 t1_j60j0ij wrote

>I don’t think I’m a slouch in reading books that can drag, lesser Joseph Heller novels, Murakamis 1Q84 are books that I have deeply enjoyed, but every time I pick up 2666 my brain begs me to put it back down. Clocking in at 1000 pages the book is purportedly about a mysterious serial killer in Mexico and a meditation on the nature of evil but if in my 300 pages of reading I’ve come across that I’d be hard pressed to tell you how.

Well the dryness may actually be the translation. I found him detached but not dry, not as if I were reading a history book, more almost hmmm, like a legend or something, glimpsed from old newspaper lines, a clouded view into something that leaves out as much as it takes in.

I think this perspective is most obvious when you get to the part with the Hungarian Fascist guy. To me, this was the lynchpin of the book. That despite the debonair and suave exterior that someone like your professors have, there is a rage and brutality that lurks within them, that makes them not unlike the very suave Hungarian fascist, who also has his own concealed rage. They have that thirst in them, even when they hide it. It is this kind of person who is somehow coddled and nurtured by the world, until he or she can come forth and make that rage bloom in some kind of act.

1

rckwld t1_j5zqojr wrote

I loved the first part and absolutely hated the other parts.

1

Oahkery t1_j600tfe wrote

I've tried to read it 2 or 3 times, and every time I think I get somewhere into the second part and just fall off. It's been probably more that 15 years. But I'd still like to finish someday, haha.

1

Dangerous_Drummer769 t1_j6051ld wrote

I have never read it, but have seen a lot of comments about it pertaining to B. Traven. What is the connection to him?

1

Wilforks t1_j60acdq wrote

I haven’t read it since it was first released in English, but from what I recall the whole thing came together in the last part, but part 4 was a bit of a grind. I liked it a lot when I read it, but I was much more interested in long, loosely structured books at that age.

1

tehcix t1_j60k4wi wrote

Oh, I read and finished this one, but purely out of spite by the end. Some books you just can't let win.

1

esauis t1_j60msfj wrote

I abandoned 2666, but probably wasn’t in the right headspace at the time.

And for whatever it’s worth, which isn’t much, Balaño hated GGM and magical realism.

1

simiform t1_j6253kj wrote

I got bored after the first part, but keeping thinking I might go back and finish it. That book was originally supposed to be 5 different short novels, which I think makes a lot more sense. But since Bolaño got famous, they figured they could sell it as a "masterpiece".

1

vibraltu t1_j6271at wrote

I didn't love it. Impressive writing, but often sloggy. I felt that the different sections didn't really cohere as intended for me.

1

TheGhostORandySavage t1_j62c1z4 wrote

I remember liking 2666, but can't really re all any specifics about it for some reason. I have it on my re-read list.

Have you read anything else by the author? I very much enjoyed The Savage Detectives.

1

n10w4 t1_j5ztrb3 wrote

Plenty of takes here. Mine will be no less subjective. First, it could be that this isn’t the right time for you to read this book. Second, it could be the wrong book for you. Third, my view is that it’s a solid book but im not sure if it has lasted through the lens of time for me. Im not saying the emperor has no clothes (like i would about DFW) but i do think there’s less there than meets the eye. I was on a bolano binge for a while and ive even read all his shorter books, but at some point it didnt resonate. In 2666 there are some very very good parts, but in the end it didnt hold up. Maybe I’ll revisit it in a few years, maybe i wont. Will see

0

Espa89 t1_j6048pr wrote

This is the most boring book I have finished. And whenever I think about the worst books I know, this comes to mind. It was one story in there that was interesting. The rest, not so much.

0

[deleted] t1_j5z9f9j wrote

[removed]

−5

sjsmac t1_j5zcw40 wrote

It’s a shame because that isn’t what the book is about.

6