2666

By: Roberto Bolaño

Narrated by: John Lee, Armando Durán, G. Valmont Thomas, Scott Brick, Grover Gardner

Length: 39 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Critics Circle, Fiction, 2009

Composed in the last years of Roberto Bolaño’s life, 2666 was greeted across Europe and Latin America as his highest achievement, surpassing even his previous work in its strangeness, beauty, and scope. Its throng of unforgettable characters includes academics and convicts, an American sportswriter, an elusive German novelist, and a teenage student and her widowed, mentally unstable father. Their lives intersect in the urban sprawl of Santa Teresa—a fictional Juárez—on the U.S.-Mexico border, where hundreds of young factory workers, in the novel as in life, have disappeared.

©2004 the heirs of Roberto Bolaño (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

This winner of the 2008 National Book Critics' Circle Award for Fiction is the master work from "one of the greatest and most influential modern writers" (New York Times Book Review)

"...think of David Lynch, Marcel Duchamp (both explicitly invoked here) and the Bob Dylan of Highway 61 Revisited, all at the peak of their lucid yet hallucinatory powers." (New York Times)

"It is safe to predict that no novel this year will have as powerful an effect on the reader as this one." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

A long view of Life as it is

Vivid characters that I am sure will stay with me for some time. little man and woman in the middle of history.

A Groundbreaking Masterpiece

Any additional comments?

Advice for listening to 2666: Go with Bolano's drift, surrender to the dream you’ve woken up into here and take in all the sights and sensations the way you would somewhat sleepily from your window’s perch on a guided tour bus through hell. One thing a novel like this lets us do is to live the many lives Rimbaud suggested were due to each of us. All these people’s living rooms, hotel lobbies, bars, ranches, churches, streets and landscapes you would never have access to on your own, Bolano has given you a passport to. Don't listen to this book the way you would a conventional novel that pulls you onwards towards an inevitable conclusion. There is no light at the end of the tunnel you're in here, the book does not gravitate towards a conclusion but rather around and around an abyss at the center, a black hole surrounded by a kaleidoscope of intuitively related experiences and details. Drink the Kool-Aid, buy the ticket, take the ride!

2666 By: Roberto Bolano

Bolano's writing is quite hypnotic, his ability to keep the reader / listener engaged and waiting in anticipation of the next word is truly magical. His goal of writing a "work" of substance and girth was certainly achieved, however it was disrupted by untimely circumstance. The book is incomplete, thus the 3 star rating.

Intriguing

What made the experience of listening to 2666 the most enjoyable?

The uniqueness of the story and the minute details

What did you like best about this story?

That the story was complicated and extremely thought provoking.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The several narrators brought and individual personality to each section.

If you could take any character from 2666 out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Hans Reiter. He had so many different experiences in his life.

Wonderful combat between the writer and that “thing”

This is a masterpiece well worth spending time over. The audiobook performers are super amazing and the content is immersive.

What can become of an unlikely center?

This was very close to a 5/5 book for me and nearly had the same type of impact. The Part About the Critics and the Part About Archimboldi were masterful bookends to an exceptionally grisly tale that starts in Europe, but is ultimately centered in the fictional browser town of Santa Teresa, with the former being among some of the best literature to which I’ve been treated.

Furthermore, the story around the posthumous release added to the intrigue and lore of the late Roberto Bolaño, of whom I’d not read until now, and even after 1,200 pages, I still feel the desire for more of his work.

For the Audible release, I commend all of the narrators. I certainly have my favorites, but the work as a whole was impeccable.

a absolute beast of a book

a bit slow at the beginning, a bit slow at the end. a confusing overwhelming rollercoaster that goes on for 32 hours. and I don't regret a minute of it.

...a beautiful book about horrible things...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes and I do frequently. It is amazing.

What did you like best about this story?

This book is a journey in which everything is terrifying and everything that is terrible is deeply meaningful and symbolic.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

All of the narrators do an excellent job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The reference to Duchamp's Unhappy readymade was a detail in the book that I found particularly poignant.

Any additional comments?

I read this book before I listened to it on audio, and I couldn't put it down. However, this is not an audiobook to listen to while cleaning the house, or driving around. To truly experience what an awesome book this is- it requires one's full attention. If you cannot really dedicate yourself to getting into a 40 hr long audiobook, that is understandable- but if you can, you will not regret it.

Best audiobook experience so far

Would you consider the audio edition of 2666 to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version yet, but I think this novel was perfect for audio. Listening to an audiobook can sometimes feel excruciatingly slow. For this novel, however, the slow tempo was perfect for experiencing the book and its characters, stories and stories within stories.

What other book might you compare 2666 to and why?

I've never read a similar book. Perhaps I could compare it to Murakamis 'Kafka on the shore' because of it's mysterious/supernatural parts, but I found Murakami not to be to my taste, while 2666 was a wonderful experience to read.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

There's no particular favorite, but at the end of each part I sort of missed the old characters.

A work of genius!

One of my absolute favorites...dark, but hilarious at times, poetic, cerebral. This is one of those books I'll always return to. Pure Bolano.