Author Archives: david chen

Reactions Reading the third part of Quiet Chaos has been an intense and immersive experience. So much has happened in such a short span! It’s starting to feel as if everything in Pietro’s life is beginning to unravel, leading towards the long-awaited grief. Things are taking a turn! Commentary In the third reading, Pietro continues […] Continue reading →

Photos: Front cover of the novel « The Savage Detectives » and image of author Roberto Bolaño This week’s reading felt extremely long and dragging, and it was sometimes a gruelling experience. I had to stop, re-read, and return to certain passages several times over the course of two weeks just to begin to comprehend what was […] Continue reading →

First major reaction: I can’t believe I finished Amulet in four sittings across the weekend! There’s something almost compelling about this short novel by  Bolaño. With this book, I felt that pull from the first few pages, and I kept turning pages, curious about where Auxilio Lacouture’s mind would take me next, page after page. […] Continue reading →

Observations: In the subsequent part of Sandro Veronesi’s novel Quiet Chaos, Pietro’s days continue to unfold in quiet suspension, marked by moments that feel filtered yet intensified through the absence of his late wife and his grief. While picking up Claudia from school, he notices small details (i.e., gestures, tones, silences and movements of life […] Continue reading →

I have to say I’m quite surprised by the shift in style in the second part of The Savage Detectives. Obviously, I knew from lectures that we hear less from Garcia Madero, but I certainly did not expect a major shift in the approach that Roberto Bolaño writes. In general, I have mixed feelings about […] Continue reading →

Introduction: Sandro Veronesi is a novelist, essayist and journalist from Florence, in the beautiful and endless rolling hills of Tuscan region of Italy, who has written many celebrated works, such as Quiet Chaos, The Hummingbird and Black September. Veronesi’s writing often explores both the softer and the deeper themes of fragility between what is love […] Continue reading →