I am whelmed by this. I think what makes Bolaño's work enduring to some is precisely why I didn't latch onto it: the novel, though brief, is meandering. Which makes for moments of supreme beauty; but it makes for moments that can also be tedious or tiring to get through. I feel like the dying thoughts of a narrator should be convoluted, but I also feel like the reason this novel seems so enduring is partially because its readers reflect only on the parts they found memorable, not the chaff in between.