Woes of the True Policeman

"The writing never feels stale but, rather incredibly, shines anew . . . The publication of a Bolaño novel, complete or not, is never anything less than an event of language and devilish wit."—The Wall Street Journal

"Bolaño's voice demands attention."—The New Yorker

"Bolaño [seems] to come from an understanding that people are portholes; that a creation can represent singular space that otherwise would go unknown . . . He allows the novel to vibrate through its box."—Vice

"Indelible Bolaño . . . [Woes of the True Policeman] may offer insight into the writer's larger project."—Los Angeles Times

"Full of delights . . . like watching a master magician unpacking his bag of tricks."—The New Orleans Times-Picayune

"The much admired Chilean writer's final, unfinished novel is a seductive grab bag filled with the mysteries of sexuality and literature."—Kirkus Reviews

"Bolaño fans, and there are many, will have no trouble delving right in to once again devour the master linguist's every word. The story, about a Chilean professor, Amalfitano, forced to flee Barcelona with his daughter to Mexico due to scandal, uses character names and themes from Bolaño's previous novels and therefore feels somewhat familiar. Still, this is far from table scraps . . . even in an unpolished manuscript, his capacity for spinning out pages-long sentences using language in new and surprising ways shows that this is quintessential Bolaño. For writers, the various stages of completion wonderfully illustrate Bolaño's creative process. With more time alive, Bolaño could have made this another treasure of world literature."—Casey Bayer, Booklist