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CompleteMartialArts.com - The Savage Detectives: A Novel


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Manufacturer: Picador
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780312427481
ISBN: 0312427484
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 672
Publication Date: 2008-03-04
Publisher: Picador
Release Date: 2008-03-04
Studio: Picador

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Editorial Reviews:

National Bestseller
 

In this dazzling novel, the book that established his international reputation, Roberto Bolaño tells the story of two modern-day Quixotes--the last survivors of an underground literary movement, perhaps of literature itself--on a tragicomic quest through a darkening, entropic universe: our own. The Savage Detectives is an exuberant, raunchy, wildly inventive, and ambitious novel from one of the greatest Latin American authors of our age.




Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Imperfectly entertaining
Comment: This book was a lot of fun. It has serious things to say about literature and especially the particular literary scene where it's set, but it's also really funny, even kind of daffy. Many reviewers have pointed out that it rambles and ambles and doesn't always cohere, and that's a fair assessment. This is a book that could have used a good edit, but the author is dead and the book is what it is. I disagree with the reviewers who call it slow, but I did have to force myself to speed up some and not linger and labor over the details and names. Then it was, as I said, a lot fun and yet deadly serious in what it has to say. It wasn't quite the book I wanted it to be, but it was definitely worth the time it took.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: you may go insane
Comment: It's tough to write this review given that i've read, loved, and reviewed with profuse enthusiasm several other Bolano titles. but The Savage Detectives, I agree with several recent reviewers, lapses into spectacular and permanent tedium less than half-way through. Bolano has never lost me, until this book. When I reached page 400, knowing there were still a couple hundred pages left, I experienced something akin, I think, to torture?

Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Summary: The worst book I ever read!
Comment: I kept waiting for something to happen. But, it seemed the same thing just kept happening and it never really went anywhere. The drank, they smoked, they had sex, they thought about having sex, they smoked, they ate, they spouted poets' names as if it was the most important thing in the world, they stole books and wandered in some sort of depressed state. I didn't get the depressed part. I guess to be really really deep, you need to be depressed.
I came to a point when I could take no more. I threw the book into the trash bin and felt compelled to write to the publisher. I was so amazed that this book is thought to be one of the ten best of last year. I admit that I'm not exactly a well read person, but I know the difference between entertainment, art and crap. This was crap.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: Overrated, in my opinon
Comment: This book tracks a handful of young, Latin American poets and their cohorts around the world and through time from the 1970s to the 1990s. Widely hailed by critics, The Savage Detectives has developed a devoted following among literary types. After suffering through all 500+ pages, I'm not ashamed to say I don't get the hype. The book seems self-indulgent and sloppy to me. There's very little narrative or character development to sustain the reader's interest. Instead of substance, the book is clogged with obscure poetry terms, small Mexican towns, down-and-out poets, and other annoying things that will leave many wondering "why bother?" I'm giving this book 1 star for its exhaustive use of an interesting structure, ½ star for some entertaining subplots and engaging characters, and ½ point for its overall hip tone, for a grand total of 2 stars out of 5.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: Please enter a title for your review
Comment: the bit at the start about the two rival poetry gangs was cool but when the most distinctive thing about the next 40 pages were contextless passages of erotica i thought it was safe to conclude that the author doesn't have much to say. the central character's sensitive dork persona probably seemed less like a cliche when the book was written. characters relationships are also presented vaguely, progressing alternatingly in crawls and leaps which left me with little understanding of where anyone stood in relation to anyone else.


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