This was an interesting book, definitely one of my favourites that we have read. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. Something that really stood out to me was how different the overall writing style of the book was, in a way it was a lot less magical then the other books we have read. Also, I found the way the characters were written and the way the story was narrated to be quite interesting. I was definitely captivated by the way the story was progressing.

Throughout the novel I couldn’t help but fixate on two characters, Carlos Wieder and the narrator. I found Carlos to be such an interesting and complex character. He was seen and described as being a brilliant poet who wrote poetry when flying his airplane (which is so cool), and attracted a lot of admirers for his poetry. The way he is described makes him seem like a normal character, however when it’s later discovered that he is a serial killer, there is something new added to the story. Something I kept coming back to with his character was how you can’t really escape your past. It didn’t matter that Alberto changed his name and essentially started a new life for himself, he still couldn’t escape that desire or need to kill people and portray it in some way. I found it ironic how when he was known as Alberto, he was a mysterious poetry student that not many people knew too well, and then when he changed his name to Carlos, he became this famous poet. The attention and power he had as this brilliant person who writes poetry with his airplane in the sky, ended up becoming his downfall. In a way he became more corrupt as he grew more famous, and he allowed his true-self to be shown when he displayed those horrific photos. It seemed that Wieder/Ruiz-Tagle couldn’t escape his love for poetry…and killing.

Moving on from the character of Carlos, there is one piece of imagery that I haven’t been able to move on from, and that was Lorenzo’s attempted suicide. With everything else that was going on throughout, it felt kind of out of place to mention suicide, but also made sense at the same time. Regardless of that, the way it was described “Then he went under again. This time too he kept his eyes open: he turned his head calmly (as if under anaesthetic), looking for something, anything, as long as it was beautiful, to be his last memory.” (pg.81), was one of the most poetic lines written in the novel. This writing style and imagery was such a stark-contrast from overall writing in the book.

Question to think about: Why was poetry a central theme throughout the novel? The actual concept of poetry isn’t really expanded on, like actual poems, but instead its used as a foundation for the storyline. I’m just curious to know why Bolaño chose to use poetry, as a backdrop for a, relatively, dark-themed novel.