I can understand why this novel was considered Mr Donoso's masterpiece. It is pure art: startling in its beauty, horror, complexity, and originality. I've never read anything quite like it. It's now the standard to which I will hold all other books.

This book is not one that you simply read, it is a book you experience. It makes almost no sense at times and can come across as incoherent but I find that this how this story unfolds, dealing in broad brushstrokes of ideas branching and flowing off a central idea. Last time I read it I was in high school, and I was a little unsure if it would still hold up 9 years later. Turns out my fears were unfounded and it has held up phenomenally. I found myself drawing more from the book than I had my first time around. This being my second time reading it, I can safely say that it is still one of my all time favorite books.

The story constantly flows between perspectives, even in a single paragraph it may feel like there are a couple of narrators fighting to rule the page. It turns the story into a challenge for the reader. A book that engages the reader in a way that pushes the limits of narrative coherency. I love the uniqueness of the story and how it tackles so many varying aspects of life without ever setting off to preach a certain worldview. One of the overarching themes of the book was how we gain a sense of self and the nebulous way in which we exist in a world of constantly changing variations.

The imagery the book conjures up brings to life a vividly twisted world in which the old and new are never exactly how they seem. The symbolic nature of many of the characters and objects is one of the reasons I love the story so much. It's a book in which the reader can find what they want to find while also stumbling across hidden treasures. The narrative format is very stream of consciousness, with some paragraphs taking up multiple pages.

I'm glad I got to revisit this book and explore the expansive tale it offers up. It is definitely a challenging and uncomfortable book to read at times, so I can't recommend it to everyone, but if you want a book that is spellbindingly complex, confusing, meaningful, and meaningless, then this is the book for you.

Qué pedazo de libro. Brillante, confuso, tosco, de un lenguaje tremendamente chileno y una construcción de diálogos y personajes brutalmente auténtica. Es que la chilenidad de este libro se desborda por los costados. Es además uno de aquellos libros que, aunque uno trate una y otra vez de aislar un párrafo o frase para citar, no logra conseguirlo: el libro es demasiado bueno, complejo, enmarañado como para aceptar citas.

Curiosamente, este pedazo de literatura de Donoso no parece ser particularmente popular en Chile. Otras de sus obras, como Coronación (un libro terrible, a mi parecer) gozan de mucho más reconocimiento. No puedo más que recomendarlo a cualquiera que haya gozado de libros como Pedro Páramo, Rayuela, o Sobre Héroes y Tumbas. Para mi, El Obsceno Pájaro de la Noche está a la altura de todas estas obras maestras.