The Incredible Roberto Bolaño

scottdisco

rip this joint please
yep i know Owen can look after himself, but it really was a shambles.
it's essentially an extended insult, a big slur for any independent-minded writer.

David Toube (who also writes for the Jewish Chronicle AFAIK) dropped a major clanger. his retraction is a bit weaselly; if he had anything about him he would have made a full and frank apology, it's not hard. (maybe he has privately to Owen.)

it's a big shame not just in itself but also because Harry's Place does genuinely carry the odd decent (no pun intended) writer, including Toube himself, who when he sticks to what he's good at, which is writing about Islamist out-reach in the UK, is always provocative, well-researched and useful.
(the Drink-Soaked Trots website has some animus with them, which is good for random comedy.)

they do have some nutters in the comments, including some idiot who is full of anti-Muslim bigotry (it must be pointed out the HP writers take the time to refute him when they can be bothered).
 

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
I am just starting in on By Night In Chile----10 pages in and I am getting a Diary of a Country Priest vibe.
 
I have to admit I still have not finished 2666. The second book was an excellent piece of literature for sure, but also very exhausting and demoralizing. So much so I took about a month break before I started "The part about Archimboldi"

The third book is on a totally different tip, reminds me of Hermann Hesse.

but that's not why i'm posting

Bolano's Santa Theresa: Ciudad Juarez
 

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
i just finished by night in chile. it took me forever!
only 120 pages, read half of that in a sitting just a moment ago, but the first 60 i had to read in fits and starts.

very good book. extremely lucid despite the conceit of the narrator being on his deathbed wrestling with his memory. written as one long paragraph. the main thrust of it would seem to be about grappling with what it means to be living in good faith. betrayal of oneself.

weird.
 

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
doesn't look like my cup of tea. which is a relief, anything over 300 pages is beyond me, unless there really are exceptioanl circumstances.

I agree, honestly.

Read a page of 'Savage Detectives' in a shop the other day. It put me off Bolano.
 

BareBones

wheezy
anyone else finding a bit strange all the advertising for 2666 at the moment? a billboard on almost every tube station i go to, adverts on spotify... what's going on? I thought 2666 was amazing, but not the sort of thing i'd expect to be really popular, especially considering the centrepiece of the novel is essentially a few hundred pages of forensic descriptions of murdered women.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, especially since (looking back to the start of this thread) it came out nearly a year ago. Does this often happen with books - a big delay between the actual release and a massive publicity campaign? Or has it only just been released in a UK edition, and Dissensus bods who've already read it ordered it from or live in the States, or what?
 

luka

Well-known member
i found a copy of savage detectives for cheap in a 2nd hand bookshop yesterday so i got it and sat in the park by the water, with the sun shining and read the first 100 pages. its alright. a bit thin. i'd say its teen fiction, but its entertaining and i think i will probably finish it and who knows it might get better. i like that its about stupid teenage poets cos i am still a stupid teenage poet aged 30
 

luka

Well-known member
the writer he most closely resembles is william gibson. im not sure whos better.
 

grizzleb

Well-known member
Savage Detectives really kicks in the last 200 pages or so when the kick in the tail from all the adolescent passion and earnest comes.
 

luka

Well-known member
i finished it yesterday. i agree with you. i enjoyed it enough to buy 2666 so dont think im slaggin it off.
 

grizzleb

Well-known member
Distant Star is my favourite of his other (smaller) novels. I really like his short story collection 'Last Evenings On Earth' too,some of his best work in there for sure IMO.
 
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