2666
By Roberto Bolaño
Published by Picador
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The fictional city of Santa Teresa becomes an emblem of the corruption, violence and decadence of twentieth-century European history.
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Book Review
2666 was written in the last years of Bolano's life and was greeted as a masterpiece.
The fictional city of Santa Teresa on the Mexico-US border draws in lost souls: convicts and academics, an American sportswriter, a teenage student with her widowed father, and a reclusive, 'missing' writer. But there is a darker side still. As in the real town of Juarez, on which Santa Teresa is based, girls and women are disappearing at an alarming rate.
A creeping sense of conspiracy permeates 2666, from the apocalyptic overtones of its title, to the ways in which Santa Teresa becomes an emblem of the corruption, violence and decadence of twentieth century European history.
Translator: Natasha Wimmer
