Bolaño 2666 Read-A-Long – Week 6

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 6

This week, we read the following

Section IV The Part About the Crimes (4 weeks)

6. Pages 353-424 (71 pages) April 9th

Read until: “In November, on the second floor of a building under construction…”

My summary (may contain spoilers)

Well, the Part about the Crimes certainly is about crimes! Most of this week’s instalment consists of reports of women found dead: the place where they died, who found them, whether they were raped (often), and whether there was a likely killer. Lots of dead people are found on the various tipping sites in town and most women were raped.

Meanwhile, a strange man is sighted in various churches, where he sits on a bench, urinates a copious amount and then beheads some of the churches’ statues with a basebal bat. He is named the Demon Penitent. Although people are present when he is in the church, no one apprehends him and he escapes every time. Sergio Gonzalez is a journalist who is sent to report on the Demon Penitent for a newspaper.

Lalo Cura is a rural boy that is enlisted first to protect the wife of a rich men, but after he kills some men who were in the process of attacking the wife, he is transferred to do police work.

In charge of the investigation is detective Juan de Dios Martínez. He appears in the story a few times when he is present at a murder scene. He has an affair with Elvira Campos who is the director of a mental institution (I think). They meet up every two weeks.

And, leafing further through the book, it looks like the reports of the murders are continuing for some time still.

Discussion

I expected to really dislike the descriptions of the murders and the bodies. I didn’t. I didn’t find it too gruesome and I guess they are important enough to mention. I was surprised, though, how many dead women are found over the (few) years.

I find myself totally distanced from what is happening and from the characters. There isn’t any person that I can identify with or care about. That makes the book a little tedious to read.

I have the feeling that there is “something”  (like something in the air, or the water, or some mysterious power), that makes all kinds of different men murder women. I don’t think there is just one (or a few) men (people, I should say!) responsible for all the killings. Well, we already know that some of the murders were committed by partners or acquaintances.

I was surprised by the way the police treated their prisoners. In fact, I was amazed how they just arrested anyone they wanted, anyone that had some vague connection to the dead person.

Discussion questions

What is your opinion about this part of the book? Did you read it in one go? Or did you, like me, have to force yourself to read it in time?

Do you believe it’s “something in the water” (or equivalent) that causes random men to murder? Or are there just a few misogynistic murderers around?

Next week (Week 7)

This week, we’ll read the following

Section IV The Part About the Crimes (4 weeks)

7. Pages 425-496 (71 pages) April 16th

Read until “The next two dead women were also found in December 1995.”

What did you think of this week’s read?