Amulet

Amulet is a short novel by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003). It was published in 1999. An English translation, by Chris Andrews, was published by New Directions in 2006. The book is dedicated to the author's poet friend Mario Santiago Papasquiaro (1953–1998), who died the year it was being written; as "Ulises Lima", Santiago was prominently featured in The Savage Detectives and gets a cameo in this story. The novel is contextualized at the time of the 1968 Movement in Mexico, specifically in the army invasion of the Ciudad Universitaria, on 18 September 1968, which preceded the Tlatelolco massacre of 2 October of the same year occurred at the end of the government of Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. Plot summary Amulet embodies in one woman's voice the melancholy and violent history of Latin America. It begins: "This is going to be a horror story. A story of murder, detection and horror. But it won't appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller. Told by me, it won't seem like that. Although, in fact, it's the story of a terrible crime."