Book thoughts: 2666

It's moments like these when I wish I was reading books in a book club or an English class so I would be able to complain about them to other people. Instead I have you!

This is the most divided I’ve felt about a book in the past 10 years (since A Little Life).

There is some absolutely intoxicating writing in this book. There are characters and scenes that I will probably never forget. The hint of a mystical evil lurking in the background is so well done.

At the same time, this book is sprawling to the point of distraction. I almost quit this book on multiple occasions because I had grown so interested in parts of the story just to be dropped in another location and time to start over again. To the authors credit, the final portion of the book does make an effort to tie the threads of the story together but so much is left disconnected.

It reminds me of Michelangelo’s Slaves. Obviously the work of a master… and yet unfinished.

2026-05-02