never read any bolano. seems like most people on here like 2666 more - any reason to not start with that? is savage detectives more accessible/anyone like that one more?
I read Savage Detectives. I started 2666 twice but never made it past the first 150 pages. I'll go back and take it down one day.
Savage Detectives strikes me as more accessible. It is also pretty awesome.
start with Distant Star
Savage Detectives is still a pretty beastly novel. 600+ pages, constantly shifting narrators, non-linear, etc.
His shorter works are good, and more "traditional", therefore easier to get into.
>>8228624
i liked 'antwerp'
>>8228739
word - just finished recognitions - need a break from big ass novels. maybe ill read some borges before bolano.
I'm reading Savage Detectives at the moment and it's a treat. I couldn't recommend it more
>>8228624
try Ice RInk a short novel, or one of his short story collections. then move on to 2666 and Savage.
>>8228770
Ice rink is ass
Read 2666, it's awesome.
>>8228764
Nazi Literature in the Americas is his most Borgesian work, maybe go for that.
Read Distant Star, Amulet, or By Night in Chile.
Nazi Literature in the Americas
>>8229027
That's one rare Bolaño.
Has anyone read Between Parentheses? I've just about finished everything Bolaño has written except The Unlnown University and Woes of the True Policeman
Bolaño is a borefest
2666 was not difficult in the slightest, I read it in Spanish(native). There were a FUCKTON of characters and mini plots but it's part of the point
>>8228875
Is that good or bad? I feel that I can't quite put my finger on the whole range of connotations the word "ass" has in contemporary usage.
>>8229058
I found it disappointing. He's not a great essayist, and the topics were a bit "provincial".
what am i missing with Bolaños? i read half of The Savage Detectives and quit. the translated prose was dull, the characters lame, and the sequences devoid of intrigue. i may try one of his shorter novels - i heard By Night in Chile is rather good - sometime, but i really couldn't continue bothering with Detectives. it just seemed so lame. i'm more into Faulkner, Nabokov, and Pynchon, if that helps any.
>>8229096
don't think your alone - i know a few people who quit halfway through for the same reasons
>>8229104
yeah, i simply could not follow through with reading the full length of it for the reasons stated above. i may try it again in the future if i find his other work enthralling. sometimes a writer or a work just doesn't stick with me no matter how hard i try to enjoy it, i.e., Proust, most of Hemingway, and Henry James.
>>8229150
I find his writing style to be great and I love what he does with structure. I will say that Chris Andrews is a MUCH better translator than Natasha Wimmer, and I'd love to see an Andrews translation of 2666 and Savage Detectives.
There's something about the minor mysteries surrounding his stories and characters that I like. Everything seems slightly mysterious, which sounds contrived and stupid, but Bolaño makes it work, I think.
>>8229096
tres and amulet are good
Bolano is best, 2666 is kind of hard to get into though. There are parts which are amazing, funny, etc. and then there are hundreds of pages which are just tedious and in the end you're kind of left unsatisfied.
I'd go with Savage Detectives if I were you, it's by what I've read by far his best novel.
>>8228624
Rayuela tbqh
start with 2666. it gets good after the first 400 pages
