Bolaño 2666 Read-A-Long – Week 3

The Bolaño 2666 Read-A-Long is a twelve week read of 2666 with people who can’t face reading the tome on their own. There are about 8 of us who are reading this together.

If you like to join in, get your copy of 2666 and join us any time. You can find the full reading schedule in THIS POST.

Reading for Week 3

This week, we read the following

Section II The Part About Amalfitano (1 week)

3. Pages 163-228 (65 pages) March 19th (the whole of Section II)

My summary (may contain spoilers)

This section, as the title suggests, is all about Amalfitano. If I remember well, neither the critics, nor Archimbaldi are mentioned at all in this piece.

It is set a little before the critics come and visit, as it tells us how Amalfitano decided to hang a book on the washing line. In the earlier section, the critics were amazed about a book hanging on the line at Amalfitano’s house.

We find out that Amalfitano is living with his daughter Rosa who is seventeen. His wife Lola had left them seven years ago.She claimed that she wanted to visit her favorite poet and left in the company of Immi, a friend of hers.

Every now and then Amalfitano hears from Lola, who is moving from one place to the next. At some point she apparently gave birth to a son, conceived with a lover in Paris.

Amalfitano moves from Spain to Mexico for a new job at a university but finds it really hard to get settled. University teacher Pérez takes pity on him and invites him out for a ride. Her son and his daughter come along too, but Amalfitano is distracted and not the best company.

Meanwhile, he’s started to write geometric shapes with in the corners the names of writers or philosophers. He seems to do this uncounsciously. Later on, he seems to lose the plot. He reads about Mexican history. Ok, let’s say that *I* lost the plot here!

Discussion

I found this part a little boring. Amalfitano was not an inspiring and happy man and he made me feel depressed while reading about him.

I did think it was funny that the poet that Lola wanted to visit is living in a mental institution, just like the artist Edward Johns in the first part of the book. As I mentioned last week, I’m not really sure what the purpose is of John’s story in this book, but maybe there’s a pattern emerging?

The book that Amalfitano hangs on the washing line is most likely from Lola, but for some reason Amalfitano doesn’t seem to entertain that possibility. Is the book from the poet that Lola was visiting? I think that’s very probable.

Otherwise, we now know how Amalfitano ended up at the university in Mexico, and how he seems to descend into madness. However, in the first part of the book, I didn’t get the feeling that Amalfitano was a special character. I didn’t notice anything particular about him.

Discussion questions

What was your general opinion about this part? Did you find it boring, too?

What do you think about the book on the washing line, do you agree it’s from Lola’s poet?

Do you think he’s going mad?

What is so special about Amalfitano (in the first part)? Why did he need a full part of the book just for himself?

Next week (Week 4)

This week, we’ll read the following

Section III The Part About Fate (2 weeks)

4.  Pages 231-291 (60 pages, about half-way this section) March 26th

End at “Fate kept the appointment.”

What did you think of this week’s read?