"Literature isn't innocent. I've known that since I was fifteen."—page 137, The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Book 3 of The Savage Detectives is entitled "The Sonora Desert (1976)." It is a return to the diary entries of Juan García Madero, picking up on the day after the last entry of Book 1.
Interestingly enough, it answers some of the questions raised in Book 2, since Book 3 happens chronologically earlier than anything in Book 2. The events of Book 3 are what make me feel a need to return to the novel again. Book 3 obviously should follow Book 2, but pieces of Book 3 flesh out some of the stories and recollections of Book 2. The Savage Detectives is some sort of literary Möbius strip that threatens to collaspe in on itself. But, then what would be left?
This novel is brilliant. It is a must read for all.
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I know. This amounts to not much of a review of the final section of a great novel. To say too much about Book 3, however, would ruin the narrative for anyone who does want to read it. Just believe me: get your hands on a copy of the book and read it.
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