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jdscott50's review
3.0
I am a big fan of Roberto Bolano. When I saw that there was a new book out about him I picked it up from Net Galley. Chris Andrews is a translator for many of Bolano's works. As a result, he does offer unique insight into his work and the secret behind his writing. He uncovers a bit of the Bolano myth and reveals why he has been so popular after his death. Having read a majority of his work, from 2666 and Savage Detectives to By Night in Chile, I thought that I would be able to follow along to find the man behind the work. Instead, it is mostly focused on Andrews’ interpretation of his work and why it is successful. While he is certainly the expert, he doesn’t make it where we can follow his logic and it is too granular an examination to really enjoy it.
There are certainly a number of mysteries to both Bolano’s writing style and his own mythology. People are likely to assume that much of what he writes is autobiographical. He finds the literary marketers extending the amount of time he was held by the Chilean authorities after the coup d’etat there (it went from the actual three days, to three months, etc.). This kind of information provides more weight to many of his works and short stories. Andrews also discusses about Bolano’s narrative technique, the always threatening violence, and the tension of impending violence that pervade his work. He also demonstrates how Bolano reworks the same characters into different scenarios. The same characters in Savage Detectives, specifically Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano, often pop up in his short stories and novellas. He makes comparisons to Borges and other writers.
This is a book for hard core Bolano fans. While this book is revealing to the inner Bolano, it is very narrowly focused on the books Andrews has himself translated. This, of course, seems to be an obstacle since Bolano's most famous works, 2666 and The Savage Detectives, are not as extensively covered. This hinders his references and proofs. He proves his point by hovering around books like Distant Star when most people would only pick this up to help decipher his larger works. This is not to say the book isn't illuminating. He is able to capture the myth of Bolano. As is so common with foreign writers, US readers are enamoured of their background and history, assuming their subjects are more or less autobiographical and this is especially true with Bolano. However, I felt that Andrews takes too close of a look at the work, breaking down characters and dialogue at microscopic level and focusing too much on less well known works like Distant Star. As a result, one would also have to be a Bolano expert to truly appreciate his work, which would defeat the purpose of getting a book to help understand Bolano.
There are certainly a number of mysteries to both Bolano’s writing style and his own mythology. People are likely to assume that much of what he writes is autobiographical. He finds the literary marketers extending the amount of time he was held by the Chilean authorities after the coup d’etat there (it went from the actual three days, to three months, etc.). This kind of information provides more weight to many of his works and short stories. Andrews also discusses about Bolano’s narrative technique, the always threatening violence, and the tension of impending violence that pervade his work. He also demonstrates how Bolano reworks the same characters into different scenarios. The same characters in Savage Detectives, specifically Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano, often pop up in his short stories and novellas. He makes comparisons to Borges and other writers.
This is a book for hard core Bolano fans. While this book is revealing to the inner Bolano, it is very narrowly focused on the books Andrews has himself translated. This, of course, seems to be an obstacle since Bolano's most famous works, 2666 and The Savage Detectives, are not as extensively covered. This hinders his references and proofs. He proves his point by hovering around books like Distant Star when most people would only pick this up to help decipher his larger works. This is not to say the book isn't illuminating. He is able to capture the myth of Bolano. As is so common with foreign writers, US readers are enamoured of their background and history, assuming their subjects are more or less autobiographical and this is especially true with Bolano. However, I felt that Andrews takes too close of a look at the work, breaking down characters and dialogue at microscopic level and focusing too much on less well known works like Distant Star. As a result, one would also have to be a Bolano expert to truly appreciate his work, which would defeat the purpose of getting a book to help understand Bolano.
alexlanz's review
I learned a lot of neat little tidbits, especially on the short story form and how he felt about poetry as a genre.
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