A review by cody240fc
The Third Reich by Roberto Bolaño

3.0

I have decided to tip toe into Bolano's oeuvre with some of his lesser works. A posthumous publication, it's hard to know how to approach 'The Third Reich'. Supposedly written in the late 80's well before his death, Bolano must not have been happy with the novel since he kept it locked away in his files without a plan to publish it. However he felt about it, this novel gave me a taste of that Bolano talent everyone raves about. The story is strange- I don't particularly find war games an interesting topic of conversation- and Udo is not a particularly pleasant character, but there is a wonderful sense of intrigue throughout. One of Bolano's talents that immediately jumped out to me is his ability to establish intense interactions between his characters with very little dialogue. Whether it was between Udo and Frau Else or Udo and El Quemado, even the quietest moments contain a restrained energy. The ending felt a little haphazard (perhaps that is why Bolano never published it himself), but it also felt strangely appropriate for the novel.

A fairly quick read, I might have stumbled onto a nice jumping off point for Bolano. A strong three stars. I am going to check out the recently released 'Cowboy Graves' before diving into his more highly regarded works.