A novel about poetry, youth and disappearance. In Mexico City in the 1970s, a young poet joins a rebellious group of writers called the visceral realists, led by Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima. The story is told through diary entries and then through many voices, whose testimonies span two decades and several continents. Together they build a picture of the two friends as they search for a forgotten poet and drift through exile. The book is funny, sad and full of life, and it made Bolaño's name.