2666: A Little Over Half-Way Book Report

500 pages in, I can say with some sort of confidence that 2666 is a masterpiece. Of course, I am expecting the whole thing to fall apart in the next, oh, 300+ pages that remain. I have read enough reviews to know that nothing will be answered and that this opus will not satisfy in the grand American tradition of McExplanations and tidy packages, and I’m okay with that. As in the case with The Savage Detectives, you just have to go with it and let the book take you where it will. How could this all end anyway? A pat, neat wrap-up to 2666 might be an insult. It might subvert the implacable feeling of dread that is found throughout the book, even during the funny bits. To put it best: I am obsessed (hey, that rhymed!). That is really what the book asks from its reader, and there’s no way for me to explain why I am so sucked into the world of Bolaño, but I’ll link up an article that does a good job at explaining how inexplicable this all is:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/14/RV8I140AFM.DTL&type=books