Leaving the Atocha Station

I have no idea how to rate this book because:

- CON: I could die happily before reading another novel about a young white man abusing substances while having Thoughts and Feelings about women and the nature of art
- PRO: it's beautifully and uniquely written; I learned like eight new words while reading it (e.g., duende: the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm)
- CON: there's plenty of navel-gazing digressions
- PRO: it's pretty funny at points
- CON: the thinly veiled roman a clef reveals many pathetic traits of the author
- PRO: we're all pathetic so we may as well be honest about it

Three stars it is.

After reading quite a few that didn't quite hit the mark, I loved Leaving the Atocha Station. It's the right mix of pace, detail, sensitivity, and variation for me.

I understand the criticisms of this book, I think they’re valid, there is a fair amount of navel gazing in this book, but I think that’s kind of the point? At least that’s what I took out of it. It was very much my shit either way.