El mayor regalo de Bolano es hacernos sentir la magnitud de la oscuridad sin que consigamos ver exactamente que esconde . -Will Blythe, The New York Times Book Review

En la primavera de 1938, monsieur Pierre Pain, acupuntor y seguidor convencido de las teorias mesmericas, recibe el cometido de tratar el hipo de un sudamericano abandonado a su poca suerte y escasos medios en un hospital de Paris. Lo que a priori parecia un extrano caso de fi ebre alta, no obstante, se presenta ante sus ojos como un entramado de proporciones inimaginables y abre la puerta a preguntas cuyas respuestas Pain tendra que desvelar. ?Que identidad se oculta tras ese rostro pobre y agonizante? ?Quien, quienes o que podrian desear su muerte? ?Y que provecho sacarian de ella? Enfrentado a una red compleja y oscura, el mesmerista habra de lidiar con sus pasiones mas intimas y el implacable fantasma de la soledad, con el infimo atisbo que a la humanidad le resta de dignidad y con la tristeza que, ola tras ola, trago tras trago, todo lo anega

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Occult sciences, Cesar Vallejo, WWII, hopeless love, and a
final Epilogue for Voices : Monsieur Pain is a hallucinatory masterwork by the great Roberto Bolano. In
this work, Bolano takes us into an odd, dark, but comic underworld in this
strangely tender noir novel.

Paris, 1938. The Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo is in the hospital, afflicted
with an undiagnosed illness, and unable to stop hiccuping. His wife calls on
an acquaintance of her friend Madame Reynaud: the Mesmerist Pierre Pain.
Pain, a timid bachelor, is in love with the widow Reynaud, and agrees to
help. But two mysterious Spanish men follow Pain and bribe him not to treat
Vallejo, and Pain takes the money. Ravaged by guilt and anxiety, however, he
does not intend to abandon his new patient, but then Pain’s access to the
hospital is barred and Madame Reynaud leaves Paris…. Another practioner of
the occult sciences enters the story (working for Franco, using his Mesmeric
expertise to interrogate prisoners) as do Mme. Curie, tarot cards, an
assassination, and nightmares. Meanwhile, Monsieur Pain, haunted and guilty,
wanders the crepuscular, rainy streets of Paris…