So I was really enjoying 2666 for the first three sections, but when he finally engaged with the focal point of the monster book, The Part About the Crimes, it just became very difficult. Three hundred pages with a few evolving plot lines scratching out their place, but for the most part it's a list of one murdered nameless woman (or girl) after another. Not so much harrowing, just monotone. The sheer repetition of the phrase 'anally and vaginally raped' is actually kind of macabrely funny.
I'm going to finish it but I needed a small break so I started another book, which isn't normally my style.
Now, as a picture of a derelict aboriginal community this is harrowing. But also very compelling because of the very human characters at the centre of it.