2666
Roberto Bolaño's final novel, published in 2004 after his death, runs across five parts that can be read separately but build a single, dark picture. Critics chase a vanished German author named Archimboldi, a professor settles in northern Mexico, a journalist arrives to cover a boxing match, and the longest section catalogs the killings of women in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, modeled on Ciudad Juárez. Bolaño writes in long, flat sentences that pile detail on detail until the violence feels both ordinary and unbearable. The book was assembled from his manuscript by editors and friends, and it became one of the most discussed works of world literature in the early twenty-first century. It is huge, unsettling, and difficult, and it rewards readers willing to sit with its scale.
Also by Roberto Bolaño
All works by Roberto Bolaño →
What you might want to know about 2666
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Five loosely linked sections circle a fictional Mexican border city where hundreds of women are being murdered, and a reclusive German novelist whose work connects the characters.
Bolaño left detailed notes and a near-complete manuscript, and his editors assembled the published version after his death in 2003. It appeared in Spanish in 2004 and in English in 2008.
Yes, though loosely. The sections share the fictional city of Santa Teresa, the murders of women, and the figure of the German novelist Archimboldi, but they can each be read on their own.
2666 was written by Roberto Bolaño, published in 2004 by Vintage Classics.
2666 is 912 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, 2666 takes most readers 14 to 20 hours to finish.
2666 is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.