Bolano’s Amulet

Hi Everyone!

This week I’ll be reflecting on Roberto Bolano’s novella, Amulet. I really enjoyed this read. As many have already mentioned, it was the opening few lines of the novella that immediately caught my attention and encouraged me to keep reading: “This is going to be a horror story. […] But it won’t appear to be…” (1). I was intrigued to know what a horror story that wouldn’t feel like or appear to be like a horror story was. And I have to say, after reading it, I wasn’t surprised by what I read. Although, yes, it didn’t feel like a typical horror story,  –in fact, the style of writing actually made me feel quite calm and comforted– it most definitely still was one. This novella wasn’t about ghosts or something else of the sort, instead, it was about the “terrible crimes” that highlight the true horrors of history. After all, the worst kinds of horror stories aren’t the ones we hear around a bonfire at camp, but they are the ones like these, the ones that are based on the truly terrifying accounts of reality.

On another note, through this course, I found that I really enjoyed the whole ‘stream of consciousness’ style of writing –a feature that many of the novels we’ve read have had, including Amulet. I like how it feels a lot more casual and intimate and that the relationship between you and the narrator feels comforting. Almost as if I’m conversing with a friend. I also really like the ‘flowly’ that comes with it – ‘flowly’ might not be the best word to use, but reading such novels, makes me feel like I’m floating with their thoughts, truly getting lost in the words and letting them guide me to wherever it is I am supposed to go. Kind of like I am flowing away with each word.

In Amulet particularly, our narrator is very unreliable. She struggles to remember many key details throughout the novella, including the date of when she moved to Mexico. All in all, she’s sorting through and organizing her thoughts as she shares them with us. Openly reflecting on and recounting her past experiences while we read her inner monologue. This unreliability paired with a stream of consciousness style of writing makes understanding and following the timeline of the plot a little challenging. It is very easy to get lost and confused about what is true and what is not, as well as, what happened when. However, it is this pairing that also makes it extremely entertaining and interesting in my opinion. And also realistic. After all, how many of us can remember exact details about things that have happened in our past.

Another aspect of the novella that I really liked was the imagery and attention to detail. Once again, like many of the texts we’ve read in this course, attention to detail has been a prominent feature. However, unlike some of the other novels, Bolano’s descriptions aren’t extreme in the sense that they take away from, or leave you confused about what is being described. Instead, they seem almost perfect in the sense that they create an incredibly clear image in one’s head. It made reading the little stories and reflections really enjoyable!

Now on to the question of this post, I am curious to know how having an unreliable narrator affected your reading of/understanding of the text. In other words, to what extent did the unreliable narrator impact your reading of this text?

: )