Roberto Bolano's 2666 is a political masterpiece about the inescapable violence of modern life in Latin America. Written prior to his death from liver failure, Bolano asked his publishers to release it in 5 separate books because it would financially benefit his family. The heirs, however decided otherwise and the book was published in one lengthy volume. The five parts are linked by varying degrees of concern with unsolved murders of upwards of 300 young, poor, mostly uneducated Mexican women.
Part 1 describes a group of four European literary critics, the French Jean-Claude Pelletier, the Italian Piero Morini, the Spaniard Manuel Espinoza and the English woman Liz Norton and their search for the writer, Archimboldi.
Part 2 concentrates on Óscar Amalfitano, a Chilean professor of philosophy who fears Rosa will become another victim of the femicides plaguing the city.
Part 3 follows Oscar Fate, an American journalist from New York who begins to investigate the murders.
Part 4 depicts the police force in their mostly fruitless attempts to solve the crimes, as well as giving clinical descriptions of the circumstances and probable causes of the various homicides.
Part 5 takes us back to Archimboldi and explains his connection to the murderer of these women.
I listened to the audio of this novel and found it very interesting. Part 4 with the descriptions of one murder after another was a bit intense but Bolano is making a statement about how people are not too interested in solving these murders of low income women. I would recommend it to anyone interesting in Latin American literature.
Part 1 describes a group of four European literary critics, the French Jean-Claude Pelletier, the Italian Piero Morini, the Spaniard Manuel Espinoza and the English woman Liz Norton and their search for the writer, Archimboldi.
Part 2 concentrates on Óscar Amalfitano, a Chilean professor of philosophy who fears Rosa will become another victim of the femicides plaguing the city.
Part 3 follows Oscar Fate, an American journalist from New York who begins to investigate the murders.
Part 4 depicts the police force in their mostly fruitless attempts to solve the crimes, as well as giving clinical descriptions of the circumstances and probable causes of the various homicides.
Part 5 takes us back to Archimboldi and explains his connection to the murderer of these women.
I listened to the audio of this novel and found it very interesting. Part 4 with the descriptions of one murder after another was a bit intense but Bolano is making a statement about how people are not too interested in solving these murders of low income women. I would recommend it to anyone interesting in Latin American literature.
