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The Savage Detectives: A Novel
 

The Savage Detectives: A Novel

by Roberto Bolano

New Year’s Eve, 1975: Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, founders of the visceral realist movement in poetry, leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala. Their quest: to track down the obscure, vanished poet Cesárea Tinajero. A violent showdown in the Sonora desert turns search to flight; twenty years later Belano and Lima are still on the run.

The explosive first long work by “the... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  mexico,  surrealism,  translation,  roberto bolano (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (4)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

muque and shylock tomes
  • Rated 5 stars

“A study in perceptual bias and how the same story is different depending on who tells it. Another good novel in this same vein is Fowles' _A Maggot_. Bolano makes us realize that "truth" is a relative thing that can only be partially revealed.”

muque and shylock tomes’s full review »
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Didn’t Like It

mickeymab
  • Rated 1 stars

“I tried hard and made it to the 2nd chapter but I just cannot get into this book... I guess I just don't connect with the characters and the entire era... :(”

mickeymab’s full review »
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Community:
  • Rated 3.453488 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 3.75 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Infinity

    infinity said:

    “I agree that just after the beginning, few pages are kinda drag. But that is only few pages...then it takes a rare impetus...It is incredible...It is a masterpiece!!! Masterpiece in craft, theme, characters and concepts!!!”

    posted Monday, June 30 2008
  • Perkywarrior

    perkywarrior said:

    “I am just about to give up on this book and I never do that. It's very slow moving, most of the literature references are unfamiliar to me. I might like it better if I were more familiar with Latin American poets. ”

    posted Monday, February 18 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
  • Jen L

    jen l said:

    “I'm about 50 pages into this and so far it's incredible! Great command of language, funny, and highly original. I can't wait to see how it turns out.”

    posted Wednesday, January 9 2008
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