ŷ������

the girls that get it get it and i fear i am not one of those girls. what i will say about bolaño is that he's a true visionary and represents for me the best parts of latin american literature—particularly latin american literature in translation. he's unflinching and contentious, he takes risks in both content and form, he's not afraid to make enemies by bringing real writers and political figures + events into his work, his language is sprawling but ultimately accessible, and he has a polyvocal understanding of the novel that i think most anglophone writers (and readers) will find it difficult to navigate or even conceptualize, because we've grown up in such an individualistic culture + language.

that said, much of this was boring, it needed more gay sex, the garcía sections were laughably self-indulgent (part one reads a bit like self-insert Y/N fanfiction written by a 17-year-old boy, very authentically cringey, and maybe that's the point given garcía's existence is up for debate; his chosen one know-it-all role as a character would actually make this a very humorous writing choice), and the way bolaño writes women leaves a lot to be desired.

the ending of the savage detectives was extremely mid—you can barely call it a roadtrip interlude. there's very little sense of stakes during the third section, especially because we'd just gone through 40 odd newspaper-esque snapshots from other characters. now we're supposed to find our way back into caring about the original literary troupe, told through the eyes of a character we haven't seen or heard from in 300 or so odd pages. ultimately, the fate of a certain character pissed me off (iykyk) and confirmed my own feelings about the no stakes pacing.

this is a very "go forth and find meaning, then make literature while smoking and fucking and treading unfamiliar ground" male-coded novel, so i see why litfic bros regard it as their bible.

if you're a writer looking to tackle huge casts, bolaño is an excellent master to learn from on a craft level. if not, this may be a slog. never let it be said, however, that this man wasn't having the time of his life while writing—you can tell this project was a blast for him, full of heart and soul, and probably contains tons of (clandestine and not-so-clandestine) nods to his early life/experiences as a writer.