ReadingOffTwitter t1_j5z6fkn wrote on January 26, 2023 at 4:13 PM

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.

ThatCommanderShepard OP t1_j5zaqal wrote on January 26, 2023 at 4:41 PM

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!

ReadingOffTwitter t1_j5zrk6k wrote on January 26, 2023 at 6:25 PM

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.

BR1N3DM1ND t1_j60e5h9 wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:45 PM

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