Perhaps the most insightful and layered book I've ever read but one that challenged me in a way that I haven't really seen before. The concept of time and space seemed bewildering and it did truly feel like reading a history of our universe and its components. However, at times I felt at a loss of emotion due to the broad perspective that we experience. As that protagonist in the book experiences a range of bafflement and wonder, this book has made me question a manner of thoughts never truly visted in a book. Although it won't make my top list it is a worthwhile read for any curious person about the context of our little lives in the vast cosmos of being.
I am not sure I fully comprehend the nature of this book. The fractured style, the cutting narratives, the muddled timeliness but it is still provoked a sense of wonder that lingers amongst great Latin American literature. The writing of this story is beautiful and the images provoke an extreme range of emotion, but if only I could understand what was happening that would be fab!
At first I thought this was another great example of Latin America literature but as each story blended into the next one it all emerged for me. I soon saw the desolate nature of the stories and characters, the isolation, the unforgiven nature of the environments and the subtly in which a story can flow from one page to the next. By the end I now had come to the realisation that although these stories seemed simple, Bolaño was the only master who could write them.
A meditation on the every day factor of being alive, surviving and the chance you think you give yourself. Ford's writing is so tight that the streets of a Mexican city feel breathable and consuming. Read it to get yourself in the real world, where the real shit is happening all around you.
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