This was the first work by Bolano I had read. It took a little while for me to settle into this dreamy, freewheeling stream-of-consciousness approach, but once it clicked it was one addictive rollercoaster of a novel. Unlike anything I had read before or since. I'd describe it as a postmodern odyssey through Latin America, and more generally through the world of literature. Bolano creates a nuanced profile of the politics/social landscape of the art world at a staggering scale. Fixates and fascinates itself with the mundane moments and incongruencies of modern life in a way that almost makes them feel fantastical. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in postmodern literature, as long as you're comfortable with something freewheeling, open-ended, and which doesn't answer any obligation to explain itself for you