The Write Thing

"That the main lesson of literature is courage…"  Truth.

8.13 Woes of the True Policeman

 

For the past few weeks I have watched the neighbors across the street pack up the many belongings from their home.  After 40 years, it is time to move somewhere smaller;  somewhere safer, with only one level.  She is 86 and he is 89.  I knew that they needed to move, especially after he broke his arm last year falling down the stairs backwards, but it breaks my heart to see them dismantle the life they lived in that house.  I wish I knew them better and longer.  It is heart wrenching on one hand and on the other so clearly the right thing to do, but watching them decide what to take and what to leave at this stage in their loves feels sad.

Some people don’t get the chance to make these types of decisions.  Roberto Bolano died at age 50, he had been ill but was still very young.  Much of his popularity as an author came after his death and three books have been published posthumously, most recently Woes.  It was marketed as an addition to 2666, and it is, but it also felt like I wasn’t meant to read it.  It feels like a character study that he did for himself in order to better understand the characters he wrote about there.  It feels like a sketchbook that was set aside and not meant to be a part of anything.  If you haven’t read 2666, this story makes no sense (not that he is known for writing linear stories), if you have read 2666 you will eat this up with a spoon, as I did.  You will relish each new detail, you will want more.  But kind of like too much ice cream, maybe not such a great idea.  I love Bolano and I love his work, but I want to read what he wanted me to read and I am starting to feel a bit dirty as each new piece comes out.