Thursday, March 12, 2009

2666 - post V

The last section takes you off at a slight tangent telling you the life story of the german writer that connects the three critics, the town in Mexico and the other marginal characters.

But it is not until you have waded through a large number of pages you understand how be is connected, be relation, to the crimes in Mexico.

But it is at that point that the book finishes with a postscript that seems rather apologetic explaining that the reason for the book feeling unpolished is as a result of the author's untimely death. That leaves the reader in the wonderful position of being able to dream up their own ending and the answers to the main questions you are left grappling with. But after 900 pages it also leaves you feeling slighty cheated. The journey might have been interesting and no doubt there were things learnt on the way that were useful but the final destination isn't quite what you expect. After such an investment in time that doesn't feel quite like the reward it should.

A review will follow soon..