2666

I had one of the best meals of my life tonight (more later), but for the moment am thinking about 2666, the much lauded book by Roberto Bolano.  Can anyone out there explain to me in what sense precisely Book 4 of the five book oeuvre is not one of the most gruesome slogs in the history of writing?  

To be clear, "gruesome" refers to the dozens of rapes described without narrative, and "slogs" refers to the dozens of rapes described without narrative.

What is the purpose of this 300 pages? Why does anyone believe it to be worthy of merit? I am very confused.