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Good--

Love the cadence of his prose, the imagery that flashes like lightning, the subject matter. Though not his best work by a long shot, it's still strangely compelling. I mean you'd think, a rumbling confession of a Jesuit priest on a deathbed? BORING. And there isn't any traditional conflict or much of a narrative arc, and the story meanders from one topic to another. BUT STILL. WHY WHY WHY is it compelling? I don't know. Reading Bolano makes me throw my hands up in the air and say "Fuck story telling rules." One thing I learned, though, is that historical figures in fiction are COMPELLING. I don't know what about them, but when Pinochet the dictator makes his appearance, I was really pulled in, even though it was about the priest giving lessons to him and his minions on Marxism, nothing all that exciting in itself.

Anyways, Bolano did not disappoint. Looking forward to reading his shorts next.