Were E & P in love with each other? I was confused about that. Am I just dumb? If that's how you interpreted it, can you show me where you got that? I did get that M & L wanted to bone each other at the end.
Okay, this part is for both of you now. I started part 4 today, "The Part about the Crimes," which focuses almost exclusively on the actual murders - whereas up until now, I think it's been more in the background of the other story lines. I have two conflicting thoughts about this section of the book:
1) I may need to break up my reading with some old episodes of Felicity because what's being described is so horrible. And possibly I will need to follow this book with a Jane Austen novel or something equally heartwarming.
2) Strangely enough, I don't always feel disturbed when I'm reading this part. I think this is because I'm just reading a novel about the murders, which removes me from the actual reality of it. But I also think it's because I like the writing. Whether you're a big fan of this book or not, 2666 is considered by many critics to be an important work of literature, so you could argue that the author created something beautiful from a horrific reality, which is... ironic? And leads me to a few questions:
Is a novel, or any piece of art, an appropriate response to real, scary, often terrible life? Is it wrong/good/noble/naive to create beauty from horror?
Megan, remember when we saw Picasso's Guernica in Madrid? And you said that Picasso hadn't actually been there, so we were talking about whether he had somehow exploited that event. Well, I read a review of 2666 and it turns out that while Bolaño was somewhat obsessed/completely disturbed by the murders in Ciudad Juarez, he never actually traveled to the city and met the victims' families or other people involved. Did Bolaño exploit the murdered women to make his art? Or is what he did a completely normal, acceptable, even beautiful response to a world that we just can't deal with sometimes?
I love to read books, and I like to write stories too, but sometimes when I sit down to do that, after everything I see and hear on the news, I wonder why I continue. What could I or anyone else say that would matter when a place like Ciudad Juarez is real. Those thoughts aren't enough to make me stop doing what I love, but I guess it does make me consider it. What do you guys think?
Please take note of how I copy/pasted the n in the author's name since I don't know how to type it on my keyboard.
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