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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Gorgeously translated - Bolano imbues an irradiant, lazy summer on the Spanish coast with a disorienting measure of suspense. Must read more of his work.
I would really like to give this book 3.5 stars. I love Bolaño's writing and his voice, but parts of this book seemed to drag a bit to me. I couldn't get into the war game's aspect very well and the ending seemed a bit lacking to me.
Have a blast of World War II romanticism in this book. More for that later...
Memory, madness and post-war trauma masked in daily lives normalcy. I CAN FEEL MYSELF SPIRALLING, and the audiobook experience is not helping.
I returned The Third Reich yesterday, as I was kind of stuck on it. I enjoyed the beginning of it, as the writer talks about wargames in a very intelligent fashion. Set in the mid-80s, this would have been the height of wargame popularity, such as it was. The main character is an expert in the eponymous Avalon Hill game. I personally have never played it (not really big on strategic World War 2 games, even back when I was playing longer games), but I know of it and about it and the book does a good job of describing it. I really loved the part where he is a bit embarrassed to talk about his hobby in public, as many of us wargamers are. Most people think we are weird or nuts to be pushing pieces of cardboard around that simulate some of the bloodiest battles in history. At least those few who do know what it is. Most have no idea.
The translator has some problems with some of the terms, even the most basic one of 'wargamer'. She translated it to 'war games players', when just plain 'wargame players' would work. And she also talked about soccer teams as 'sections' - they watched a soccer game that had the "East German section" playing, which was really odd.
But I ran out of steam about halfway through the book, on page 126. The narrator, who was writing a journal about his vacation to the Spanish coast with his girlfriend, wasn't really all that attractive. Kind of a narcissist and really not all that likable. Makes you wonder how he would have ever hooked up with a very good looking girlfriend. And they meet up with another German couple who have a bad relationship, as well as a couple of other pretty bizarre sounding local characters. And when one of them disappears, many of them act in very illogical fashions. After I couldn't really bring myself to read it for a few days, I decided it was time to move on. I think it could be finished if I was in the right frame of mind, so I'm not going to give it the bottom score that I usually reserve for books that I give up on. I still might try it again.
The translator has some problems with some of the terms, even the most basic one of 'wargamer'. She translated it to 'war games players', when just plain 'wargame players' would work. And she also talked about soccer teams as 'sections' - they watched a soccer game that had the "East German section" playing, which was really odd.
But I ran out of steam about halfway through the book, on page 126. The narrator, who was writing a journal about his vacation to the Spanish coast with his girlfriend, wasn't really all that attractive. Kind of a narcissist and really not all that likable. Makes you wonder how he would have ever hooked up with a very good looking girlfriend. And they meet up with another German couple who have a bad relationship, as well as a couple of other pretty bizarre sounding local characters. And when one of them disappears, many of them act in very illogical fashions. After I couldn't really bring myself to read it for a few days, I decided it was time to move on. I think it could be finished if I was in the right frame of mind, so I'm not going to give it the bottom score that I usually reserve for books that I give up on. I still might try it again.
Told my husband a bit about the plot he and asked me if a man wrote it. 😅 I'm not the one generalizing!
This is my first Bolaño, and I hadn't realized he'd written it early and purposefully never published it, but it was intriguing enough that I'm still keen to read more.
I'm glad I didn't know he had made such nasty remarks about Isabel Allende or I might not have checked him out. When asked what she thought of him, she said "Roberto Bolaño has been translated in the US receiving positive criticism and success, it is a pity that he passed away. For us as Chileans it is an honor that Bolaño represents us. However, we have to remember that Bolaño considered me to be garbage but that doesn’t take any merit away from him." [not my translation]
This is my first Bolaño, and I hadn't realized he'd written it early and purposefully never published it, but it was intriguing enough that I'm still keen to read more.
I'm glad I didn't know he had made such nasty remarks about Isabel Allende or I might not have checked him out. When asked what she thought of him, she said "Roberto Bolaño has been translated in the US receiving positive criticism and success, it is a pity that he passed away. For us as Chileans it is an honor that Bolaño represents us. However, we have to remember that Bolaño considered me to be garbage but that doesn’t take any merit away from him." [not my translation]
I came to this novel from a different place than most people--I'm an avid gamer, and I learned there was a novel by a well-respected author in which a wargame played an integral role. I had to check this out for myself.
The novel was not quite what I expected, though it was compelling and certainly thought-provoking. And as a gamer, a little unsettling.
The novel was not quite what I expected, though it was compelling and certainly thought-provoking. And as a gamer, a little unsettling.
I have to admit that the only reason I had to read this book was that the main character is a hex-and-counter wargamer. This was definitely and interesting tale of obsession and weirdness. The main character is a German wargamer who decides to vacation in Spain. Weird stuff happens and he plays a game of Third Reich with a beach bum. I would recommend this book to wargamers as how many times do you get to read a serious literary novel that references The General?
Not bad. Interesting Ballardian edge-of-the-Med/edge-of-reality psyche test.