The Savage Detectives: A Novel @ richardeward.com

The Savage Detectives: A Novel
by Roberto Bolano
from Picador

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• Great Book
  This is a terrific book. It took me a while to get into it -- approximately 100 pages or so -- but I'm stubborn and I like to finish a book that seems to have merit. Once I got past the first section, which sets up the "story" (I use the term loosely, as the novel isn't particularly plot-driven), I loved it. I'm really looking forward to starting 2666. Highly recommended.

• A lot to read, very little payoff
  The book is very well written, but I just kept asking myself what was the point of 500+ well-written pages about characters that I found to be fairly cliche, and not a lot happens. In other words, I found the overall book to be just self indulgent: "here - look how well I can write about nothing in particular!".
  Full disclosure: I grew up in Brazil and mostly studied there, so the characters in this book felt a lot like the middle class marxists that I met in high school and college. Maybe if you're... more info

• All that glitters is not gold
  I hesitate to criticize Roberto Bolano too much, because many people find great enjoyment in his work. You might be one of them. I simply did not like this novel.
  Much has been written about the brilliance of The Savage Detectives, but I found it merely unusual, not brilliant. There are parallels to The Dharma Bums, with the aimless wanderings of the characters, their deliberate bohemian lives, and their radical ideas about literature, politics and sexuality. There is extensive discussion about... more info

• excellent read
  It was a great read. I have read other books by this author and I was pretty sure I would love this and I did.

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