Ostensibly the story of two poets in search of a third, this freewheeling roman à clef mines the revolutionary landscape of the 1970s, the violent history of Latin American politics, and a rich trove of contemporary literature for a bold, bracing, and utterly original take on the conventional road novel. Often credited with breaking the long spell of magic realism over Latino literature, Bolaño uncovers in this remarkable book the painful, often...