A review by zober
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Whaaaaaat is this?? I don't know how to rate it - on one hand, it's genius and a work of art. But I also just didn't enjoy it, and it's LONG It's very ... literary? The first section is brutal (horny college dropout POV), but then the book gets into its stride. (and we literally never hear about that first annoying narrator again.) The book uses repetition a LOT - which I think I prefer in a physical book than an audiobook. If the author is just listing out a bunch of names, I can skim it in a physical copy, rather than listening to a long list for multiple minutes in an audiobook. 

I love the framing of this - the two main characters are definitely Ulysses Lima and Arturo Belano, but the book circles around their stories, sometimes getting very close, and sometimes maintaining a lot of distance.