Bolaño 2666 Read-A-Long – Week 9
April 30, 2011 6 Comments
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 9
This week, we read the following
Section IV The Part About the Crimes (4 weeks)
9. Pages 567-633 (66 pages) April 30st
Read until the end of this section.
My summary (may contain spoilers)
Not so many dead women this time. Just a few more. And hey, we’re used to it now, so who cares any longer?
There are several stories running parallel now. There is the story of Haas in prison, who holds another press conference and gives the journalists the name of Antonio Uribe as the killer of all those women in Santa Teresa. However, that man seems to have disappeared and also, Haas doesn’t really give any explanation for his accusation. So, a dead end?
Another story is that of Albert Kessler. He is a expert in serial murders and has come to investigate the Santa Teresa killings. He travels around town, especially in the unsafe areas and in particular wants to see some of the places where bodies have been found. In addition, he gives a well-attended lecture at the university.
Sergio González Rodríguez (whom I probably should have remembered from earlier but I forgot) asks Azucena Esquivel Plata to tell him about her friend Kelly, who has gone missing (maybe she’s one of the women that was found dead? I can’t remember). Plata is a journalist and also representative of a political party. Her friend Kelly worked as a kind of party organiser, but when she looks into the further, it seems she arranged escort girls for rich men.
Discussion
There’s so much going on, I’m losing track. Part of the problem in the size of the book, so much happening, and much of it not relevant to the further story, it seems. On the other hand, reading just a section per week doesn’t help. I seem to miss any overview.
The murderer(s) have not been found, the killings seem to be getting less frequent. The police doesn’t care much. Journalists are looking into Haas’ storry.
Discussion questions
Well, was Kelly killed or not? Do you remember?
The next part is about Archimbold again. Do you expect to find an answer about the killings? I’m starting to doubt it.
What do you think of this part of the story?
Next week (Week 10)
This week, we’ll read the following
Section V The Part About Archimboldi (3 weeks)
10. Pages 637-723 (86 pages) May 7th
Read until: “In any case, storm clouds hovered over Ivanov, though he never even dreamed they were there…“
What did you think of this week’s read?
About Leeswammes
I’m hopelessly lost, seems one needs to draw a map of all the sub-plots to keep track.
Well Cin, apparently it doesn’t matter whether one reads the book or just follows my summaries on Saturdays because I am also very lost. I have the feeling a lot of the sub-plots are dead ends so it’s very hard to know what to concentrate on in the summaries. Well, only 3 or 4 more weeks!
Feeling lost, like a character in a Bolano book & just when you think there’s a hero to solve the crimes, he disappears in a darkened room, never to surface again in any form.
Well, indeed. I thought we were getting somewhere, Parrish. But no, still no solution! Sigh.
I felt a lot of the plots are dead end too! I lost faith in trying to find an answer to any of these, perhaps it is just a long ramble of Bolano! sigh 😦
p/s: I’m still reading though. Quite a relief to finish the section!
Glad you’re still rading, Jo. Yes, I’m also glad that this section is over. The next one is about Archimboldi. I have vague hopes that some threads will come together, but to be honest, I’ve forgotten a lot about the story/ies along the way.