NP 2666

Tue Dec 29 20:29:04 CST 2015

If I remember correctly - what I got out of 2666 when I read it years ago (about when it came out) was that all that murder and so on was totally mind/emotion numbing and that we become numb is so terribly sad.  How can anyone possibly pay attention to the individuals when the horror goes on day after day after day - hundreds of women.   Way too much - overload -  and yet the book is based on verifiable evidence -not imagined.   
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_homicides_in_Ciudad_Juárez

The Savage Detective is also good,  but that’s all I’ve read of Bolano. 

Becky 

> On Dec 29, 2015, at 2:59 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
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> I will just outline my lingering doubt that lies in the back of my mind right here for posterity. So I can maybe look back at it after i finish the novel and see how wrong I am. It's that I wonder if focusing on the brutal murder of women, in particular, does not simply create even more blind spots within such an already massive abyss. Like when a pretty young American gets killed it makes the headlines but thousands have gone missing in Mexico; men, women and children. I just don't know if it is a good or bad thing to isolate and mythologize the killing of women when it is part of such a broad issue, as if 400 murdered mexican women equals one Natalee Holloway. Makes me wonder if the only reason it became such an international issue, or the subject of this novel even (not trying to belittle Bolaño's efforts whatsoever, like I said, it's fantastic so far), is because of that sensational, sexual aspect to female murder that so appeals to the news reading masses.
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> On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 2:26 PM, Jemmy Bloocher <jbloocher at gmail.com> wrote:
> Precisely that. It was just tedious. I'm wondering now whether the overriding effect of the prose would be hypnotic in a way. If one perseveres with it does it attain a certain quality which I've missed by quitting? I'd be interested to know.
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> On 29 Dec 2015 21:28, "Perry Noid" <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> JB - Maybe it was chapter 4, "The Part About the Crimes," that was exhausting? I'm beginning that section now and it is getting a bit exhausting reading through these clinical depictions of awful murders, one after another, after being dazzled for three excellent chapters. And being impressed at how his writing was revolving around such a spectacle without explicitly utilizing it to draw me in. This bit is the hardest for me to engage with so far. not for the violence, it's just tedious. I even considered skipping over it but I won't do that. I'm hopeful this will be redeemed at the end of it all. The climaxes of all three chapters so far were fantastic. I can see people falling ff at this point though
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> On Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 3:27 PM, Jemmy Bloocher <jbloocher at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been pondering this all day; relating to fictional characters that is. I've concluded that I haven't ever particularly related to any. That said I've certainly felt close to some. Actually as I write the one that springs to mind is the main female character in Andre Dubus' The House of Sand and Fog. Although it's such a long time now since I read it I can't think why. I'll have a think.
> As to Bolaño's 2666, I think it was the Pynchon blurb mention that had me buy it. I read all but the last 150 pages or so. I or it lost momentum. I remember finding it exhausting near the end. I gave it away otherwise I probably would have picked it up again. I'm glad for your sake that you don't relate to any of the characters therein (if memory serves)!
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> On 23 Dec 2015 22:52, "Perry Noid" <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry if this has been brought up before. I'm about 100-or-so pages into Roberto Bolaño's big book and I'm convinced the fictional German author Archimboldi is very P-inspired. Picked it up at the used bookstore a while ago because it had a comparison to Pynchon on back cover. I'm wholly unfamiliar with Bolaño, didn't even know what the book was about when I started reading. It is quite good so far. I'm at the point where, I think, Archimboldi, will go from focal point to catalyst. After globe-hopping and becoming intertwingled with each other's lives, not exactly in search of the elusive author, the main characters hear tell of a sighting in Mexico City of all places! It is presumed that he has gone to the fictional city of Santa Teresa in Sonora (Juarez) after and now the Scooby Gang is on his trail. There was about one sentence early on in the book of one of them being taken by the news of the maquiladora murders followed by a sentence announcing that it was completely forgotten afterwards by the same character. And now that is where they are heading without another remark about it. 
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> Y'all were talking about identifying with characters and I've struggled to think of any, from any book I've read, ever. I think Bailey hit the nail on the head for me. I say this because I do not identify with a single character in this book so far, mostly because their lives are wildly different from mine, and the idea seems entirely unimportant. It's not why i read books.
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> Anyhooz, was just wondering if anyone else has read this and/or has thoughts about it.
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