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3.5, rounded up.

I'd always been a bit intimidated by Roberto Bolaño, fearing both the length and presumed complexity of his major works, so this was a good introduction for me. And though I am not quite sure I understood all that was going on, or intended (I have a sneaky suspicion there is an entire layer of subtext flying completely over my head!), I enjoyed this brief but jam-packed shorter work.

In a way, this reminded me of some of the early works of Pinter (especially The Birthday Party), in which an outside force inexplicably and threateningly descends upon a supposedly normal existence. Reading other reviews, and gleaning ideas from my book group read, has expanded my understanding of this, and I'll be thinking about it for quite some time I suspect. I think the key may reside in that odd choice of words 'lumpen', which is defined as both "uninterested in revolutionary advancement" (that underlying subtext!) and "boorish and stupid" ... which might refer to both the characters and my own incomprehension! :-( I no longer fear Bolaño, however, and at some point would like to tackle his longer epics.