/lit/ - Literature

>>14823004
This book was a catalyst for me. Helped me let go of a part of me that needed to die. Helped me come to terms with the fact that my life wasn't heading the way I had planned, and that that was ok. I was able to take myself less seriously without letting go of the things and people I was passionate about. I'm really glad I read it.

>>14823004
I bought it for the kickass art, I haven't read more than 40 pages of it or so.

>>14823305
What was that part of you that needed to die?

>>14823428
It was the needy part of me. The part that had to impress my professors, or prove I was smarter than my peers. Maybe it was more than that. A year before I read it an old friend of mine had gone missing for a few days. I only found out months after the fact that she was raped. I was away for school. When I met up with all of my old friends, I realized that everyone else had found a way to move on. I was still in shock. I tried to talk, but I realized that we just didn't have anything to say to each other anymore. Bolano, I think, is good at writing about distance- distance in time, distance in space, and the things that change along the way. Mainly the images you build for yourself. The needy part of me. I was overly dependant on others to define who I was, and that led me into a world that was out of sync. Anyway, thanks for reading my blog post.

>>14823597
I'm glad that you were able to grow. I've not read 2666 but I know that every book I've ever read in that 700+ page range are often moving to me in a way that shorter works aren't, no matter how good they are. I think it's just difficult to put hours into the same work every day for a month and not have it leave its impression on you. Best of luck anon, proud of you

>Up to the final chapter
The first was interesting/a good slice of life or whatever.
The previous two were nothing interesting.

>>14823741
I appreciate it anon. I hope you're doing well for yourself. I really think that so long as we have books to read, and a place to write, this whole think might just be worth it. I know you might not have read him, but I do believe that this is the redemptive theme throughout most of Bolano's work.

Why is this book everywhere currently? Is it worth reading?

Hello, my name is Benno von Archimboldi

>>14824561
I honestly feel like you can skip one of the largest chapters

>>14824561
I got a lot out of it, but it isn't an easy book to like.

>>14824561
"everywhere" because one idiot spammer. but yes, worth reading.

>>14824588
this. more than a little. part about crimes is the best. critics and archimboldi both meh.

>>14823597
i'm sincerely glad the book positively affected you, but i felt that some of the book is critical of that distance. nobody really cares about the women - every reader is tempted to skip some of them... which...

i'm only at chapter 3 right now

>>14824817
Yes, I wouldn't disagree with you. As far as I can tell, Bolano often presents distance as a tragedy or, maybe more accurately- a sad joke. Still, I find the way he explores the issue to be grounding, if at times challenging.

>>14824817
>part about crimes is the best
How?

>>14824817
I actually liked the critics and archimboldi the most, and crimes the least. I thought the book was supposed to be a comedy though. The part where the two cucks lynch the Pakistani taxi driver for calling their shared girlfriend a whore is the funniest part. I have never seen more hypocrisy on one page. I hate those fucking critics so much.

>>14824901
Yes, I think you can also draw parallels between the critics beating the man to near death in order to defend the woman's "honor", and the Mexican cops raping prostitutes as women are being brutally murdered in their city. Bolano highlights the distance between them (both geographically, and 'culturaly') only to demonstrate that they are one and the same. A cruel joke.

should i read that first or some of his others?

>>14824978
read whatever interests you, it's not cumulative.

>>14823004
It was boring

>>14823004
it took me about a year to read and my immediate reaction to the ending was "wtf ice cream this shit was gay" i feel like it could be roughly half the length and be a much better novel (not even talking about the murders part, just in general needed cutting down) but overall and in retrospect glad i read it

took me 2 1/2 years to finish 2666

>named 2666
>not 2666 pages long
I shiggy diggy

>>14824817
> nobody really cares about the women - every reader is tempted to skip some of them... which...

All suffering is self-inflicted, including that of the women, but crucially, also the suffering of their killers, which is the reason the women were killed to begin with. Once one is able to dismiss one's desires as transient illusions, there is no longer a need to do anything, including murder, which is always a need.

Dissappinted that it's unfinished. The part about the crimes was dissapointing. The rest was nice and spooky.

>>14823004
Fate's part was my favorite. Felt Lynchean. Also the section in Amalfitano's part when he talks about this book ("O'Higgins es araucano", by Lonko Kilapan) that tries to argue that the Araucanians came from Greece and had telepathic abilities is probably the section that stood out the most to me. The fact that this book exists and was written by an art teacher legally called César Navarrete that worked in my town's (population of about 250 mil) main public school (Liceo Abate Molina de Talca). The fact that I held this book in my hands and read it from start to finish. It was a surreal experience, you really end up wondering if this teacher was just a cracknut and/or a Pinochet agent. Strange shit had to have happened in this country for that book to exist. It's like Bolaño just made it up but somehow in a schizophrenic frenzy or dream I've been able to read it. The copy I read was available at the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, for anyone wondering. Pic related is not mine, but that's the book.

>>14824588
>Hello, my name is Sneed von Chuck

>>14825701
Just read about the Araucanians in pic related. There were a lot of crackpot theories about them apparently. Another one was that Patagonia was the origin of human life and humans spread out to the rest of the globe from there

Bump

i felt like eating an ice cream sandwich

>>14823305
i can definitely see that. thats really cool