86ing 2666?
May 17, 2010 8:56 AM Subscribe
Help me read 2666. Or, y'know, not read it.
I know not all books are right for all people, but as a David-Foster-Wallace-lovin'. Don-DeLillo-capable, Umberto-Eco-adorin', big-book-grokkin', big-ideas-diggin' reader, 2666 is, on paper, the perfect book for me. It's been lauded up and down as fantastic both here and elsewhere.
About 125 pages in, and reading it is like being slowly, repeatedly hit in the face with a brick. A brick that makes me sleepy.
Without spoiling the book -- which is why I've been avoiding reviews, analysis, etc. -- can you (a) give me some sort of indication of what you found valuable in 2666, or (b) point me to excellent non-spoilery reviews that provide some insight into what makes the book great?
Conversely, now that I'm a goodly chunk into the book (four academics, German author with an Italian name, currently in Mexico), could you tell me if it's going to be more or less the same for the rest of the novel? I rarely walk away from books, and hate doing it, but at the moment 2666 just isn't doing it, and unless there's a major change of pace coming up, or some sort of game-changing moment a la Foucault's Pendulum, I just don't know if I'm going to make it. I've got a mile-high stack of books I haven't read, and I'm getting too old to spend my life doing things that I'm just not going to enjoy in the vague hope of a payoff.
For what it's worth, I've read The Savage Detectives, which I appreciated aesthetically, but I never got engaged with the characters or the plot. My understanding is that 2666 is a lot more mature and intriguing, somehow, but I'm just not seeing it. Yet.
I know not all books are right for all people, but as a David-Foster-Wallace-lovin'. Don-DeLillo-capable, Umberto-Eco-adorin', big-book-grokkin', big-ideas-diggin' reader, 2666 is, on paper, the perfect book for me. It's been lauded up and down as fantastic both here and elsewhere.
About 125 pages in, and reading it is like being slowly, repeatedly hit in the face with a brick. A brick that makes me sleepy.
Without spoiling the book -- which is why I've been avoiding reviews, analysis, etc. -- can you (a) give me some sort of indication of what you found valuable in 2666, or (b) point me to excellent non-spoilery reviews that provide some insight into what makes the book great?
Conversely, now that I'm a goodly chunk into the book (four academics, German author with an Italian name, currently in Mexico), could you tell me if it's going to be more or less the same for the rest of the novel? I rarely walk away from books, and hate doing it, but at the moment 2666 just isn't doing it, and unless there's a major change of pace coming up, or some sort of game-changing moment a la Foucault's Pendulum, I just don't know if I'm going to make it. I've got a mile-high stack of books I haven't read, and I'm getting too old to spend my life doing things that I'm just not going to enjoy in the vague hope of a payoff.
For what it's worth, I've read The Savage Detectives, which I appreciated aesthetically, but I never got engaged with the characters or the plot. My understanding is that 2666 is a lot more mature and intriguing, somehow, but I'm just not seeing it. Yet.
Yeah I am almost done with it, it will be worth it to continue.
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 9:00 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 9:00 AM on May 17, 2010
If you're finding it slow in the first 200 pages, the pace doesn't get appreciably better. I made it into the fifth of the five books and before getting thoroughly mired down, and I may never make it out.
That said, I am told that book five is supposed to be the payoff that makes the whole thing worth it.
posted by willbaude at 9:03 AM on May 17, 2010
That said, I am told that book five is supposed to be the payoff that makes the whole thing worth it.
posted by willbaude at 9:03 AM on May 17, 2010
Ehhhhhh. I really, really wanted to like 2666, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it. There are five Parts to it, and you're going to shift soon; the third ("The Part About Fate") was decent, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the second, and the fourth is essentially four years' worth of police blotter, which made me abandon. If you're not into it now, in one of the more straight-forward and interesting parts, you would probably be happier just starting something else.
posted by The Michael The at 9:04 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by The Michael The at 9:04 AM on May 17, 2010
I found the beginning slow, too, and it took me a few restarts to get past the first 200 pages. So it's not just you, and yes it does get a bit more engaging.
Had the same problem with Gravity's Rainbow, come to think of it.
posted by rokusan at 9:20 AM on May 17, 2010
Had the same problem with Gravity's Rainbow, come to think of it.
posted by rokusan at 9:20 AM on May 17, 2010
Best answer: I also couldn't really get into 2666. I did, however, read "The Five Most Unskippable Passages in 2666"
This lead me to do a lot of skipping and just pick up other passages I found interesting. So as someone who just sort of read the book, unless I skipped some really important scenes, I don't think there's a big narrative moment anything builds up to. Enjoying the writing on a few passages was enough for me.
posted by geoff. at 9:20 AM on May 17, 2010 [5 favorites]
This lead me to do a lot of skipping and just pick up other passages I found interesting. So as someone who just sort of read the book, unless I skipped some really important scenes, I don't think there's a big narrative moment anything builds up to. Enjoying the writing on a few passages was enough for me.
posted by geoff. at 9:20 AM on May 17, 2010 [5 favorites]
Best answer: My experience was that both the content and the pace changed with each book. I read it slow- it took me longer to read 2666 than Infinite Jest- and there were sections (e.g. the part about the murders) I had to put down for a while. FWIW, it was only after finishing 2666 and having it haunt me for weeks after that I began to really appreciate it. It's not an enjoyable read, but the universe he creates is so deeply haunting and ambiguous that readability might be a necessary sacrifice.
posted by farishta at 9:24 AM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by farishta at 9:24 AM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
I just found this while looking around at criticism of the book:
Oh, and I thought the fifth section was filled with every thing I hate about modern writing (overly pretentious, nonsensical prose), but still better than the fourth.
posted by The Michael The at 9:25 AM on May 17, 2010
Oh, and I thought the fifth section was filled with every thing I hate about modern writing (overly pretentious, nonsensical prose), but still better than the fourth.
posted by The Michael The at 9:25 AM on May 17, 2010
Best answer: Bolaño's doing something similar to what David Mitchell did in Cloud Atlas-- each section is written in a different style appropriate to its content. The part about the academics is obtuse, navel-gazing, and insufferable on purpose. Amalfitano is going insane, so his section is disjointed and strange. And so on.
It's okay to just not like it, though. I loved 2666 and am having trouble staying interested in Infinite Jest, fwiw. I don't think they're similar books at all.
posted by oinopaponton at 10:20 AM on May 17, 2010
It's okay to just not like it, though. I loved 2666 and am having trouble staying interested in Infinite Jest, fwiw. I don't think they're similar books at all.
posted by oinopaponton at 10:20 AM on May 17, 2010
Since OP is still reading the book I think people should try to answer the question without recourse to spoilers!
posted by escabeche at 10:46 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by escabeche at 10:46 AM on May 17, 2010
The last 2 parts completely redeem anything that went before, in my opinion. As someone who stopped at around page 200 and then picked it up again several months later, I can only suggest that it's very worth it to stick through.
It's also a good thing that you're keeping things spoiler-free. You're in for a few surprises later on, probably. (Please, let's not change that!)
posted by naju at 10:51 AM on May 17, 2010
It's also a good thing that you're keeping things spoiler-free. You're in for a few surprises later on, probably. (Please, let's not change that!)
posted by naju at 10:51 AM on May 17, 2010
I'm also a Wallace/DeLillo fan, and I didn't particularly like 2666. Nothing sparkling about the prose, nothing intriguing about most of the characters, and not enough of the stuff that was intriguing. I finished it, but only because I hate abandoning books, and I had hoped I'd start liking it. I didn't.
posted by statolith at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by statolith at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2010
It's okay to just not like it, though. I loved 2666 and am having trouble staying interested in Infinite Jest, fwiw. I don't think they're similar books at all.
Wrap each of them up in brown paper and just try to tell the difference.
posted by The Michael The at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2010
Wrap each of them up in brown paper and just try to tell the difference.
posted by The Michael The at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2010
Best answer: We just finished up a big group read of 2666 over on my Bolaño blog. I am an Infinite Jest person, but I don't think the Venn diagram between the two is exact at all. See, I also love Borges's stories. I think there is a closer connection between what Borges does and Bolaño does than anyone else. I would say that it's OK if you don't like it. Chuck it and move on. But, if you want to read along with the experience of someone who saw something deep in it in her first read of the novel, you might check out the posts of Maria Bustillos (they're in the reverse chronological order, and the weekly schedule we used is here).
posted by mattbucher at 6:56 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mattbucher at 6:56 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
On the other hand, I found some other parts of the book harder going than what you're reading now. But in the end I was very glad to have read the whole thing.
posted by escabeche at 8:58 AM on May 17, 2010