Author: Roberto Bolaño (Translation: Natasha Wimmer)
Category: Fiction – Latin American
My only regret was not reading this book in Spanish, but at the time, finding an available version was simply impossible. I had the poor Barnes & Noble lady scour every last corner of her inventory and their inventory online and there was simply nothing, to the point that she leaned in conspiratorially and told me: you might just want to try amazon. Sweet of her to say that but Amazon did not have it either. Now, a few months after I read it, I see Amazon has it, but the edition that I read is no longer available. What is going on here?
In any case, the Savage Detectives is hands down one of my favorite books I have ever read, ranking up there with Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by Gabriel García Marquez, though the only thing it seems to have in common is its scope. This novel is nothing like it. In fact, comments in Amazon.com that I was browsing through compared it more to the film “Y Tu Mamá Tambien” the film by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, than anything written by the Colombian magical realist.
Being a poet at heart, Bolaño offers in this tome a novel that appears to be highly autobiographical in many aspects, at least when it comes to the complex characters which it deals with, with Arturo Belano clearly being a mirror image of himself and Ulises Lima that of his best friend. Set in Mexico, the novel itself takes an odd structure starting and ending with a series of journal entries by secondary character Garcia Madero who accidentally stumbles into a group of poets who called themselves the Visceral Realists and who are determined to take the literary world by storm, by whatever means necessary; although the only two that seem truly inspired are Arturo and Ulises, while the rest of the members seem scattered and ranging in inspiration.
The journal entries span about two months (if memory serves me right) and cover about equal lengths before and after new year on a pivotal year that changes Garcia Madero’s life, from the moment he meets the eclectic leaders of the Visceral Realist movement to the moment he finds himself on the run and trying to hide a dead body. In between those entries, which serve as bookends to the bulk of the book are a series of interviews with friends, acquaintances and enemies of Arturo and Ulises, which span about 40 years and tell through various points of view, the life of these two poets in their quest as they move not only through Mexico, but quite literally around the world.
Do not let the title fool you, this novel has nothing to do with detectives, and yet it strangely reads like one, as the group of poets are in fact searching for information about a key figure, the single female member of the original Visceral Realists, decades before Arturo and Ulises came along.
Certain critics have likened this particular novel to a road trip and in many ways this is quite accurate, not only in the sense that the characters are ambulant throughout the majority of the story, but also in the way it unfolds, with an air of expectation, of suspense, even if you have no idea why you ought to be so intrigued by its mystery. Much of the content is simply life, the accounts of people in Mexico City, with the ups and the downs and the head scratchers, told with humor, poignancy, bitterness and excitement all at once. It seems grand and epic in scope, but it touches at the lowest levels, accentuated by unexpected eroticism, violence and banality.
To try to describe this novel is a challenge, but it feels like a gem from the very start, with Bolaños background as a poet aiding to paint stark pictures in the imagination even when dealing with the most common of events. No word, it seems, goes wasted.
Bolaño also manages to do what Paulo Cohelo failed so miserably to do in “The Witch of Portobello” and that is to actually give his characters a voice, an individuality and a sense of existence. When you read their particular interviews, you KNOW which character is which, you are aware of who you are talking to.
It is also interesting that Arturo and Ulises never actually speak directly in the novel, even if they are the two main characters of the entire story. Their world, their lives, they actions, their way of thinking is all presented through everybody’s eyes around them, except their own, leaving us with a sensation that there was always more, that things were far more complex than the way they were described and because of that making them that much more interesting and human.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, though perhaps not for everybody. The language and the theme require a mind that is not looking for the next action scene or plot twist. Much like a detective novel, it is more about patiently peeling back the layers surrounding an issue, getting toward its core and learning its complicated structure, for better or worse, all the way to the end.
Rating: 
