What do You think about The Skating Rink (2009)?
I think I’m rather on the fence about this one; Bolano’s first novel. It is a mix of genres; a touch of murder mystery, which is entirely secondary to the plot. Throw in obsession, political corruption, immigration, poets, a seaside resort on the Costa Brava, a homeless opera singer, an Olympic skater, a ruined mansion, the influence of Borges, a secret skating rink, a love triangle and lots of individual oddities.The novel is set in a Costa Brava town over a summer season and the narrative is told alternately by three men; a Mexican poet, who is an illegal immigrant and works as a night watchman at a camp site; a civil servant who embezzles public money to build the skating rink for Nuria Marti, a beautiful skater who has been dropped from the Olympic team and needs somewhere to practice; and a Chilean writer who runs a group of jewellery shops. Working out who the victim will be is fun; working out the murderer much more difficult and unimportant. There are some stunning descriptive passages, but also some oddity and a few passages that, for me, didn’t work. One of the issues I had was that the narrative voices were a little alike and tended to merge into each other. However it is a minor point and the word play is very good; the sky appears like “a lung dipped in blue paint” before going pink “like an enlightened butcher”.It’s a good read, quirky and off the wall; a little slight with the narrators too alike, but colourful and interesting.3.5 stars
—Paul
I've heard a lot of good things about Bolano, but this his first effort is probably not a good place to start if you want to tickle your taste buds. I like to read first books by authors before reading their magna opera (in Bolano's case '2666'), just to give a bit of background. This has a promising premise, and the way the novel is constructed is interesting (three converging first-person narrative threads), but it just didn't seem to deliver, it lags; it is tedious to read even though the language is so simplistic. There is an interesting description of a novel within the novel, which describes a character called Saint Bernard, which is simultaneously "The dog, or the saint, or delinquent", which hinted slightly that the three separate main characters are actually avatars of one being, but the idea was not sufficiently explored, and only occupies a fleeting moment in the better second half of the book near the end.This hasn't put me off Bolano though, I've already got my copy of 2666 and hope to crack on with that soon!
—Avnish K.
This is Bolaño's first published novel and the first of his novels I've read. Told by three narrators, a Catalan public ifficial, a Chilean expat business owner, and a down and out Mexican poet who is working for the Chilean, an old friend.At first, it seemed like Bolaño was telegraphing what was going to happen in this seaside murder mystery. By the midway point, I was sure I knew what was going to happen, but once the crime was revealed, I was pleasantly surprised. And after the reveal and its aftermath, Bolaño threw in another surprise when the real murderer was revealed, which gave the story an unexpected twist that took the book out of the usual mystery genre and made it something else - something more political in nature that left me with more to ponder.An excellent debut novel and worth the read.
—Jim
