2666

2666 (2004) is a novel by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño, published one year after Bolaño's death. Centering around a reclusive German author and his role in investigating the ongoing unsolved murders in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, Mexico, 2666 jumps in location, narrative style, location, and characters over its five sections. The novel is widely acclaimed and was adapted into stage plays three times. The New York Times Book Review ranked 2666 as the sixth-best book of the 21st century, and the novel won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

This guide uses the 2009 Picador edition, translated into English by Natasha Wimmer.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual assault, rape, murder, child abuse, death by suicide, and mental health conditions.

Plot Summary

2666 is divided into five parts, with each part relating to the unsolved murders of over 300 largely young, poor Mexican women. The story is told through different characters and settings. The first segment, “The Part About the Critics,” focuses on a quartet of European literary critics—the French Jean-Claude Pelletier; the Italian Piero Morini; the Spanish Manuel Espinoza; and the only woman in the group, the British Liz Norton.