My New Find

I was looking for a new author for quite some time. I wanted what I had with Murakami for the last four years. I want to read something, I couldn’t define what that something was for a long time, so I muddled buying new books about writers I know nothing about, with a hope that I would find my next love. So, after almost struggling for two years of random book buying journey I found him. Roberto Bolano.

I picked up 2666 after reading 1Q84 because Amazon gave the suggestion. Well, it was Amazon, now how I can say no to that. I ordered it. I did not read much about the genre or the plot, all I knew was it was supposed to be in five parts which are related to one another. The author wanted it to be a five part series but after his death, well his publishers decided what the hell, he is dead so let’s go on and publish the whole book in one go. Not that I am complaining, five books sounds like a lot of work than a big 900 pages book.

So, I lugged the monstrosity around wherever I went, airports, taxis, lunch breaks. If I had a few minutes while I was cooking, I read 10 pages in that time. I couldn’t stop reading because this novel is something so antithetic to anything that I have read before. It was like stepping on a gold mine, I dint want it to end but then I was dying to finish it. It is very difficult to explain how it affected me. There was no standard style that was followed, sometimes it felt like I was reading five different novels by five people. The writer’s styles shift and morph throughout the book, inducing laughter and rage and pity and anticipation and overwhelming sadness. This is like an epic adventure, it spans around a century traversing three continents, while pouring copious information along the way about the evolution of literature in each of them.

I want to write about it but at the same time I don’t want to give away any details about the story because, this book should be read without knowing the backdrop in detail, because we make certain assumptions and start concentrating on some parts more than the others.

So, if you are looking for a new author or like to try something new and out there, go no further.