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A review by piccoline
The Insufferable Gaucho by Roberto Bolaño
4.0
Better than I'd expected actually. There's a real dividing line between the stuff that Bolaño published during his lifetime and the stuff that's been mined from his desk since. This came out late, so I feared it was dregs. It's not.
The story "Police Rat" is worth the price of admission on its own. I loved "Alvaro Rousselot's Journey". The other stories are strong, too, and if they're not as quite as strong as in _The Return_ or _Last Evenings on Earth_, well, that's an awful high bar.
The two essays are also great, even powerful. You probably need to care about literature as an effort, art as something that has deep importance and meaning to really get much out of them. But I suppose if you're not that person, you probably haven't ended up reading this book by Bolaño.
The story "Police Rat" is worth the price of admission on its own. I loved "Alvaro Rousselot's Journey". The other stories are strong, too, and if they're not as quite as strong as in _The Return_ or _Last Evenings on Earth_, well, that's an awful high bar.
The two essays are also great, even powerful. You probably need to care about literature as an effort, art as something that has deep importance and meaning to really get much out of them. But I suppose if you're not that person, you probably haven't ended up reading this book by Bolaño.