Best novel of 2007 (and I haven’t even finished it).

Bolano actually published The Savage Detectives in 1998, but the English translation just came out last year. In the tradition of vivid, mystical Latin American novelists like Allende and Marquez, Bolano captures the zeitgeist of ‘60s and ‘70s Mexico City, where everyone is a poet and no one knows where they’ll sleep tonight (or with whom). While I haven’t finished the novel, Part One was an enjoyable bildungsroman and Part Two has shifted to a multi-voiced mystery about ulterior motives that isn’t always easy to follow, but is always satisfying. Bolano died young, but left a decent body of work that I’m looking forward to reading.