Book Review: "Woes of the True Policeman" by Roberto Bolaño

Roberto Bolaño is a great author. I read 2666 some time ago and annotated my copy with all of the profound quotations I could find upon major themes. Read the first impressions I had of it about five years' ago here. Apart from 2666 though, I don't think I have had more interest in his novels until now. Woes of the True Policeman might be so much shorter than 2666 but that doesn't mean it loses any of Bolaño's wit, depth of fragmentation. (It also has some pretty cool connections to the earlier book). By the time he died at the age of 50 years' old, this author had done so much and written some fantastic books - this one included.

The book starts off with Oscar Amalfitano - a professor in Barcelona - and he is pushed to resign after he has an affair with a student. It is also a homosexual affair and so, there are even more connotations that come with it. He then moves away with his daughter to a border city of Mexico which is, at that point, rife with femicide. Honestly, when the book started off, I was already familiar with this character but not this side of his story. It seems like the corners of the character are being edged out here, just a bit more.

But, even though he was pushed to resign and he moves away, he still engages in communications with the student-lover he had in Barcelona via letters. This student's name is Padilla and there are definitely times where I wondered about that guy and how intense he is about his emotions. His letters are described as almost tempestuous. However, once underway it is clear that this young man has AIDS. And that is absolutely heartbreaking. Bolaño's writing can be really moving at times and this is a part where he doesn't leave out that talent.

Then we obviously have the daughter who is going on her own search for identity after striking up a letter-based romance with a basketball player in Barcelona. But whilst on the border of Mexico, she sees her father strike up a friendship with a man named Castillo - an art forger. This obviously makes her conflicted about her father since the relationship he gets into mirrors the one he had with Padilla, just less passionate and emotional. I like how Bolaño leaves the daughter like an incomplete portrait. She's meant to be someone we feel grounded by but also sorry for.

Another section of the book focuses on the character Pancho Monje who is an officer, given the job of following Amalfitano. He is obviously a character who is meant to mirror Lalo Cura in 2666 and Bolaño is doing a great job of keeping us in the loop with it. I can't lie, it's been a while since I've read 2666 and well, it took me some time to grasp all the connections though it was definitely fun to do. Though the femicide stuff was definitely easier because 2666 is obviously a crime novel more than anything else.

I would say that perhaps the reason why this book is not as popular as 2666 is because of its lack of polishing in the writing. 2666 definitely feels like an epic whereas, this feels more like a side-story. It would have been possibly better if I had read this whilst reading the other one but I genuinely had no idea it existed at the time. There are lots of connections from characters to settings and even to the idea of crime, art and detectives.

All in all I would say that in this novel, Bolaño's best quality is his ability to give his characters deep, intense inner-lives without overstating too much. There's not these long explanations of backstory too much of the time, but there is definitely a sense that these are real people with incomplete lives, unfulfilled hopes and dreams that have turned into nightmares. If you're looking to read this book though I would definitely recommend reading 2666 first. It is not an absolute must but it will definitely help you to understand the novel better and the characters within. Though I will say 2666 is quite a big one, you'll need to take your time.