Distant Star - Roberto Bolaño

The star of Roberto Bolaño's hair-raising novel Distant Star is Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an air force pilot who exploits the 1973 coup to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry, a multimedia enterprise involving sky-writing, poetry, torture, and photo exhibitions.For our unnamed narrator, who first encounters this "star" in a college poetry workshop, Ruiz-Tagle becomes the silent hand behind every evil act in the darkness of Pinochet's regime. The narrator, unable to stop himself, tries to track Ruiz-Tagle down, and sees signs of his activity over and over again. A corrosive, mocking humor sparkles within Bolaño's darkest visions of Chile under Pinochet. In Bolaño's world there's a big graveyard and there's a big graveyard laugh. (He once described his novel By Night in Chile as "a tale of terror, a situation comedy, and a combination pastoral-gothic novel.")Many Chilean authors have written about the "bloody events of the early Pinochet years, the abductions and murders," Richard Eder commented in the The New York Times: "None has done it in so dark and glittering a fashion as Roberto Bolaño."

Published: 2004-12-17 (New Directions)

ISBN: 9780811215862

Language: English

Format: Paperback, 150 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Genres

Cultural Novels Latin American Fiction Literature

Reviews

Dona rated it

Poets get slain.

Marcella rated it

Leerlo me tomó apenas unos pocos días, pero como tengo la maldita costumbre de marcar el "currently reading" antes de siquiera sentarme a leer, figura como si hubiera estado una eternidad leyéndolo. La aclaración viene porque en realidad es un libro muy corto y sencillo de abordar, y la historia realmente es muy llevadera, se lee muy rápido. Yo creo que es un buen policial con toques de terror, y si es muy exagerado asociarlo con éste último género, le pega al palo. La historia sigue la linea de una novela policial clásica, pero en un tono más oscuro, perverso, hasta morboso en ciertos momentos. Me gustó mucho, para ser un género que no suelo frecuentar, me resultó muy entretenida la lectura.

Marjie rated it

A much better primer for 2666 than The Savage Detectives - this one's short and involves the same sort of style, themes, characters, geographic all-over-the-placeness, lists of books and writers (some real, some so obscure they may as well be made up), soaring peaks, and dry valleys, but in this one there's skywriting! . . . Definitely a recommended wading pool if you're wary of the hype/heft of 2666 (for which the average rating on goodreads right now, somehow, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, is 5.79 . . .)

Dolli rated it

Siguiendo la linea de La literatura nazi en America metiéndose a fondo con una de sus historias, me resultó igual que la mencionada, de escritura perfecta tiene el mismo problema, parece ser un capitulo de una enciclopedia, pero todo pura ficción.

Marjie rated it

A book about poets in Chile during the 1973 coup d'etat, specifically Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an aviator. Ruiz-Tagle's real name was Carlos Wieder, and he had been part of the Chilean Air Force. Throughout this short novel, he appears and disappears, and there are sightings in unusual places such as a prison for political dissidents. It is not always obvious who the leftists are, the right wingers, or the Nazis. Some claim to be poets and not political. Was that possible in the Chile of that era? There are figures that appear, and then are disappeared. It is not a narrative that is linear or easy to follow. But Bolaño creates an impression of a time and place that pulled me in.After reading a GR friend's review of this novella, I had more thoughts to add. While reading I thought of the Ulster poets (Northern Ireland), and wondered what causes poets and poetry to flourish in certain places and times (another example, The Beat Poets). The poets of Bolaño's story are both imagined and actual living poets. It left me wanting to know more about Chilean poets, only being familiar with Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. I have visited each of Neruda's three houses - La Chascona in Santiago, La Sebastiana in Valparaiso, and Isla Negra. Neruda is one of my favorite poets, though it is notable that he stays deep in the background of this novel. Bolaño is not always easy to read, although this novella is accessible. Whether I or not I am ready to tackle his longer novels, I am intrigued. I also want to learn more about poets and poetry in Chile as knowing Neruda and Mistral, both Nobel Laureates, is not enough.