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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is an odd book, by a pretty odd author. Bolaño lived an itinerant lifestyle in a lot of different countries, feuded with what sounds like half the Latin American literary scene and died quite young, leaving behind a suggestion that significant elements of his self-told life story may have been invented.
I thought this was going to be a detective novel, and it sort of resembles one, but only if you squint. Most of the characters are poets, and Bolaño is definitely more interested in musing about poetry than he is in plot (prepare yourself for a lot of references to Chilean avant-garde writers of the forties and long tangents about obscure Mexican literary magazines.)
However, I did fall in love with his style. He writes in incredibly long but carefully constructed sentences that have a kind of thrilling immediacy to them. You could argue for hours about what Estrella Distante is trying to say, or if it's trying to say anything at all, but I recommend it for the style alone.
I thought this was going to be a detective novel, and it sort of resembles one, but only if you squint. Most of the characters are poets, and Bolaño is definitely more interested in musing about poetry than he is in plot (prepare yourself for a lot of references to Chilean avant-garde writers of the forties and long tangents about obscure Mexican literary magazines.)
However, I did fall in love with his style. He writes in incredibly long but carefully constructed sentences that have a kind of thrilling immediacy to them. You could argue for hours about what Estrella Distante is trying to say, or if it's trying to say anything at all, but I recommend it for the style alone.
Chilean poet, officer in Pinochet’s air force, torturer, serial killer - Carlos Weider haunts the pages of this book.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book. I had to read it for a university class - World Literature in Translation. I thought the blurb on the back cover was interesting, but obviously this was far from the type of book I usually read. I was pleasantly surprised when the story dragged me into its pages, submerging me in the mystery of Carlos Weider and his world/life. The fact that nothing is ever certain - everything always might have happened like this, or someone told someone else it happened like that - made the story unreal, yet at the same time the story felt alive. I felt Bibiano's panic in that room with Weider. I felt the mystery surrounding him. The unknown. The weird apartment devoid of furniture. The life of truths and lies and mystery. What is his real name? He has so many aliases, so many identities, so we never know if one of them is real, or if all are fake. This whole story was mysterious and amazing. I loved the descriptive writing, and I really would recommend this book to everyone. It was so good.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book. I had to read it for a university class - World Literature in Translation. I thought the blurb on the back cover was interesting, but obviously this was far from the type of book I usually read. I was pleasantly surprised when the story dragged me into its pages, submerging me in the mystery of Carlos Weider and his world/life. The fact that nothing is ever certain - everything always might have happened like this, or someone told someone else it happened like that - made the story unreal, yet at the same time the story felt alive. I felt Bibiano's panic in that room with Weider. I felt the mystery surrounding him. The unknown. The weird apartment devoid of furniture. The life of truths and lies and mystery. What is his real name? He has so many aliases, so many identities, so we never know if one of them is real, or if all are fake. This whole story was mysterious and amazing. I loved the descriptive writing, and I really would recommend this book to everyone. It was so good.
oh my fuck this was amazing. my second fav only to by night (which is actually a prequel-ish for this book). i like his books set in revolutionary chile more than the others. i am excited to start Nazi Lit in the Americas because I believe it is also chile set...
here is my bolano rankings thus far;;;
1 by night in chile
2 distant star
3 savage detectives
4 antwerp
5 skating rink
6 last evenings (but anne moore's life is my favorite short story and is perfect and incredible)
7 spirt of science fiction
8 2666
(ignoring the unknown university since its poetry )
goodbye
here is my bolano rankings thus far;;;
1 by night in chile
2 distant star
3 savage detectives
4 antwerp
5 skating rink
6 last evenings (but anne moore's life is my favorite short story and is perfect and incredible)
7 spirt of science fiction
8 2666
(ignoring the unknown university since its poetry )
goodbye
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Este ha sido mi primer Bolaño. A veces me perdían sus párrafos extremadamente largos y las más de las veces no entendía sus referencias a poetas, tema en el que tengo pocos conocimientos, he de reconocerlo. No obstante, la historia es desgarradora y sí he podido disfrutarla. Es un libro breve, pero dice todo lo que tiene que decir.
Distant Star bristles with brilliance from start to finish. Bolaño's prose is precise and dryly humorous, and his story of an increasingly outlandish interconnected web of fictional fascist poets calls to mind both Borges's wild imagination (see, in particular, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote") and Pynchon's love for paranoia and dark conspiracies. Bolaño is preoccupied, first and foremost, with writers and with literature; although he himself turned to prose towards the end of his (regrettably short) life, Distant Star makes it overwhelmingly clear that poetry was always his first love. But Bolaño is also deeply concerned with politics, and the intersection of art with the murderous Pinochet regime is the driving force behind this novella. Really, an excellent, perfect little book. Bolaño's vivid imagination is something I am equally awed by and envious of. This is my first encounter with his work, but The Savage Detectives and 2666 both await me in the future, and I am looking forward to them both.
I'd read about Roberto Bolano first in the Believer. He seemed awesome, and this book was OK, but not as good as I had hoped. Read it, it's scary.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes