By Night In Chile Post-Read Notes

By Night In Chile by Roberto Bolaño is a book I will have to go back to again and again. It’s compact. It’s powerful. It’s a strange blend of some kind of magical reality mixed with historical figures and has a touch of the absurd. A priest that gives classes on Marx to Pinochet and his junta? The fuck is that? It’s amazing is what it is.

This one falls into the same category as A River Runs Through It and The Great Gatsby as a compact (that’s the right word) novel/novella that holds so much in a so few pages. It’s not a massive, sprawling narrative. It’s a slice of the life of one man (much like the other books mentioned). We struggle with what kind of narrator he is. We also try to figure out how much of it even makes sense or is true given his physical state and age. On a first reading, it’s very chewy. I really wanted to take more time with it, but it flew by - as books like that do.

I have a section on my shelf for books like this. Ones that I reach for when none of the tomes on my massive pile of To-Read books seem to be grabbing me. Or maybe when that particular mood strikes. I don’t know what mood that would be with this book, but it would be a mood.

My bias for South American writers is still there and I don’t know to whom I would recommend this book. That said, any book that features falconry as a plot decoration is welcome on my shelf. I will absolutely look at his other works though this one is often cited as the peak of his ourvre. Maybe that’s true. Even a book half as good would be worth the time.