2666 by Roberto Bolaño
3 out of 5
2666 by Roberto Bolaño is a brick of a book, coming in at just under 900 pages. This often dream-like book is a collection of 5 stories, each in some way impacted by the serial murders taking place in the Mexico-USA border town of Santa Teresa (a fictional town that clearly represents Ciudad Juárez). The first 3 sections of the book dance around the subject of the murders, but it is the 4th section (“The Part About the Crimes”) that brings the gruesome crimes to light. In this challenging section (and I mean CHALLENGING, as this part alone took me about a month to read), the disappearances and murders of scores of women in and around Santa Teresa are chronicled, as is the lackluster and unsuccessful police work that follows. Essentially, “The Part About the Crimes” is a 400-page newspaper article that depresses, irritates, bores, but ultimately disturbs. The fifth and final section of the book seems random, and then, just like a dream, 2666 ends. To say that I enjoyed Roberto Bolaño’s work would be a lie. However, I appreciate the fact that 2666 exposed me to the very real violence affecting women every day in Ciudad Juárez. If you are up for a challenge, I highly recommend 2666.
