Roberto Bolaño's 'Un petit roman lumpen' Reviewed

A review of Roberto Bolaño's novel 'Un petit roman lumpen' (published by Christian Bourgois) focuses on the story of Bianca, a teenager who loses her parents and lives with her brother in Rome. They drop out of school; Bianca works as a hairdresser while her brother frequents a gym where he meets two strange men, the Bolognese and the Libyan. The orphans host these men, who maintain the house and share Bianca's bed. The novel eschews grandiloquence, blending epic and peplum elements with the appearance of Maciste, a fallen bodybuilder rumored to possess a safe with fabulous contents. Bolaño, an heir to Borges, was also a poet. Two other simultaneous publications include 'Le Secret du mal' (Bourgois, 2009), a collection of short texts blurring genre boundaries, featuring 'Labyrinthe', a variation on the Tel Quel group with a character on a Honda 250 cc. The review notes the author's last known address: art press.