Bolaño’s treasure; a review of Amulet

Bolaño’s “Amulet” caught my interest with its gripping first line – “This is going to be a horror story”. The narrator, Auxillo is an unlikely choice and voice of a book. She is far from ordinary; impulsive, thoughtful and ambivalent. It is fascinating to follow her writing style, which is a stream of consciousness,  because she seems interested in all her mundane details and instances of quiet rebellion that grips the youth of Mexico and is reflected in her own thoughts. The novel is told in a strange manner, with scattered thoughts and loops within loops of time being created.

Bolaño challenged the linear model of passage of time in a person’s life, and introduces us to think about life, as “ full of enigmas, minimal events that, at the slightest touch or glance, set off chains of consequences, which, viewed through the prism of time, invariably inspire astonishment or fear” (p.23). This perspective is reflected through Auxillo’s experience of being stuck in the bathroom of the UNAM university during the siege by the Riot Police. 

In the novel, Auxillo, an Uruguayan woman living in Mexico,  moves through her bohemian lifestyle, referring to herself as the “mother of all poets” in a non-traditional Mexican way of life. Her vivid descriptions of young poets she encounters and takes under her wing were fascinating to read. The importance of poetry in Auxillo’s life remains explicit in the book, and I particularly liked its relevance when she is stuck in the bathroom of the university, surrounded by the riot police. She remarks “the laws of tyrannical cosmos are opposed to the laws of poetry”, highlighting the importance of art, the comfort provided by poetry and the chance encounter with a riot police member where she remains unfound.  

With Amulet, it is difficult to not view the writing, or the use of words and diction, as anything short of extraordinary. On p. 86, Auxillo describes the setting of Guerrero as a “cemetery..bathed in the dispassionate fluids of an eye that tried so hard to forget one particular thing, that it forgot everything else”. This idea can be traced back to Auxillo’s own attempt to try and escape her experience in the bathroom stall  university, as well as the broader landscape of Mexico- where many things are forgotten or lost. 

To end, the erratic tone of the book may make some wonder if Auxillo is crazy and doubt her sanity. But upon closer examination, we may find that her poetically charged account may be a woman’s way of seeing the world and its intricate details by sharing her observations. 

Food for thought: 

How did you interpret the “birthing” scene on page 31, within the broader context of the story?