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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Very well crafted, amazing first novel. Imagine Kafka writing Hesse’s Glass Bead Game. The mundane becomes sinister, one is doubled over with melancholy. Is something going on or is nothing happening in a powerful, moving way? Really enjoyed this book but it probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea!
Stumbled across the first part in a Paris Review. I haven't read Bolano before. I expected something clever, or cynical or somehow ridiculous in some crazy way, but instead I was surprised to find how gentle the writing is. It's still complex and interesting, but he wrote this softly and I got carried away hanging out on the Spanish beach following Udo's quirky collapse. (written in 1989, but only discovered and published posthumously)
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Short version: meh.
Long version: I'd never read any Bolano before. This probably wasn't the best place to start. It was unpublished during the author's lifetime, and reads like it was unfinished. I'm usually skeptical of the practice of treating unpublished manuscripts as if they complete works, and this book does little to change my mind. The plot points and thematic elements are developed, but don't go anywhere but wandering off down the beach. The characters' motives are not clearly established; at least, not clear to me. Since it's told in the 1st person, I had the impression that the protagonist was supposed to be an unreliable narrator, leaving out key bits of information that would be revealed later. This *would* have been a good trick if it had ever paid off. I don't mean that all the questions needed to be answered, but they needed to be at least established somehow -as questions-, as something that mattered to either the plot or the theme.
Without knowing Bolano's other work, it was hard to tell if these absences were deliberate elements of his craft or accidents of the text's incompleteness. For example, there are a few dream sequences where dream and reality blur together, where it is unclear (for example) which characters are speaking or who is present. This 'blurring effect' would be quite interesting if it had been done on purpose, but may have also simply been the result of a lack of revision on Bolano's part.
Final note: this is the first 'literary' work I can remember reading that deals extensively with modern hobby of gaming. The main character is obsessed with a *Axis and Allies* style strategy boardgame called *Third Reich*, and descriptions of this game make up a large portion of the novel. For me, it was nice to see. The book even mentions *Dungeons and Dragons*, which is quite surprisingly rare. The bookish nerds that produce fiction surely must have a disproportionate number of former D&D players in their ranks, but it seems as if this is supposed to be kept a secret. I imagine literary nerds don't mention out of the need to appear Very Serious; SF-fantasy nerds don't mention it because it so thoroughly defines what they're about (much like I imagine fish never mention the water).
Anyway, it was certainly readable, but probably more interesting to people who are already Bolano fans. I'm curious enough that I will probably try *The Savage Detectives*, once I get through a few of the stacks of books I already have waiting for me...
Long version: I'd never read any Bolano before. This probably wasn't the best place to start. It was unpublished during the author's lifetime, and reads like it was unfinished. I'm usually skeptical of the practice of treating unpublished manuscripts as if they complete works, and this book does little to change my mind. The plot points and thematic elements are developed, but don't go anywhere but wandering off down the beach. The characters' motives are not clearly established; at least, not clear to me. Since it's told in the 1st person, I had the impression that the protagonist was supposed to be an unreliable narrator, leaving out key bits of information that would be revealed later. This *would* have been a good trick if it had ever paid off. I don't mean that all the questions needed to be answered, but they needed to be at least established somehow -as questions-, as something that mattered to either the plot or the theme.
Without knowing Bolano's other work, it was hard to tell if these absences were deliberate elements of his craft or accidents of the text's incompleteness. For example, there are a few dream sequences where dream and reality blur together, where it is unclear (for example) which characters are speaking or who is present. This 'blurring effect' would be quite interesting if it had been done on purpose, but may have also simply been the result of a lack of revision on Bolano's part.
Final note: this is the first 'literary' work I can remember reading that deals extensively with modern hobby of gaming. The main character is obsessed with a *Axis and Allies* style strategy boardgame called *Third Reich*, and descriptions of this game make up a large portion of the novel. For me, it was nice to see. The book even mentions *Dungeons and Dragons*, which is quite surprisingly rare. The bookish nerds that produce fiction surely must have a disproportionate number of former D&D players in their ranks, but it seems as if this is supposed to be kept a secret. I imagine literary nerds don't mention out of the need to appear Very Serious; SF-fantasy nerds don't mention it because it so thoroughly defines what they're about (much like I imagine fish never mention the water).
Anyway, it was certainly readable, but probably more interesting to people who are already Bolano fans. I'm curious enough that I will probably try *The Savage Detectives*, once I get through a few of the stacks of books I already have waiting for me...
相比起《地球上最后的夜晚》克制冷静的叙事，波拉尼奥的中长篇是依靠细节无限的展开而推动的，情节化成斑斓的碎片，无法整合，拎出，但充斥在整个空间里。对我个人而言这样的叙事充满魔力，我可以从任何一处开始像吸入迷幻剂一样随着漂浮的灰尘游荡到结尾，他那些碎片很利落，显得速度很快，让你觉得他不是用笔写而是用打字机噼里啪啦地一阵敲下。《帝国游戏》里他让那些细节全部溢出，整个夏末显得更加悠长，晦暗，永无止境。意外的死亡，离奇的梦境，超现实的幻象，跳跃的人物对话和行动，加剧了在简单平静的日常行为下掩盖的焦虑与恐惧，其实这一部我还没太明白他恐惧的源头，爱情的焦灼？死亡的潜伏？兵棋游戏的溃败（历史隐喻）？暴力的蓄势待发（强奸和惩罚）？不安如同巨兽潜藏在影子里。
I read this in its serialized form from the Paris Review.
The first parts were far more captivating and engaging than the latter. It felt like Bolaño hadn’t totally figured out where he was taking this.
Wimmer’s translation remains 👌🏼 though.
The first parts were far more captivating and engaging than the latter. It felt like Bolaño hadn’t totally figured out where he was taking this.
Wimmer’s translation remains 👌🏼 though.
A study of violence, Bolano’s “lost novel” covers themes that will recur in other works, mostly in 2666. Udo Berger is a German on vacation in Blanes, Spain while he works on an article for the strategy game The Third Reich. The sanitary nature of a board game that re-lives the horrors caused by Nazi Germany is underscored by the subtle violence that lay all around Berger.
In this quiet vacation community we meet different characters of violence: hotel workers named The Wolf, The Lamb, El Quemado (the burned one), and another tourist Charly. After a night of drinking with The Wolf and the Lamb, Charly displays an uncharacteristically violent side, punching his wife and possibly raping a hotel tourist. After seemingly reconciling with his wife, he sets off wind-boarding and never returns. An exhaustive search is conducted, but hope fades as time passes. Charly’s wife Hanna, and Udo’s girlfriend Ingeborg return to Germany, but Udo vows to stay until the body of his friend turns up. In the meantime, he engages in a game of Third Reich with El Quemado with more dire consequences than simply moving pieces off of a board.
Overall, it was a slow read. Most of the action doesn’t take place until after page 94, but the stage is set by then. I enjoyed the unraveling of the character and the washing away of the resort town façade when the Blanes tourists fade away with the season closed. It’s like something sinister is rearing its head as the light fades. I didn’t enjoy this as much as his other works, but I did enjoy it more than his short stories. This book seems to play just one note whereas 2666, The Savage Detectives, and By Night in Chile go all over the place with themes, ideas, and prose. I enjoyed this book because of its relation to themes in 2666. I have shied away from other Bolano works, but after reading this I will pick up more of his other novels.
In this quiet vacation community we meet different characters of violence: hotel workers named The Wolf, The Lamb, El Quemado (the burned one), and another tourist Charly. After a night of drinking with The Wolf and the Lamb, Charly displays an uncharacteristically violent side, punching his wife and possibly raping a hotel tourist. After seemingly reconciling with his wife, he sets off wind-boarding and never returns. An exhaustive search is conducted, but hope fades as time passes. Charly’s wife Hanna, and Udo’s girlfriend Ingeborg return to Germany, but Udo vows to stay until the body of his friend turns up. In the meantime, he engages in a game of Third Reich with El Quemado with more dire consequences than simply moving pieces off of a board.
Overall, it was a slow read. Most of the action doesn’t take place until after page 94, but the stage is set by then. I enjoyed the unraveling of the character and the washing away of the resort town façade when the Blanes tourists fade away with the season closed. It’s like something sinister is rearing its head as the light fades. I didn’t enjoy this as much as his other works, but I did enjoy it more than his short stories. This book seems to play just one note whereas 2666, The Savage Detectives, and By Night in Chile go all over the place with themes, ideas, and prose. I enjoyed this book because of its relation to themes in 2666. I have shied away from other Bolano works, but after reading this I will pick up more of his other novels.
This book seemed to have no point. I would not recommend it at all.