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stindex's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, and Torture
rmperezpadilla's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Very heavy book, as should be obvious from the description. An unflinching collection of memories, documents, and imaginings of torture and disappearances during the Pinochet regime, how those horrors became quotidian, and how we think of them now, all understood through the frame of the twilight zone, a place of dreamlike unreality-based-in-reality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Gun violence, and Genocide
Minor: Suicide
pennyforyourthoughts's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is complicated. The genre confused me at first as the back of the book calls it fiction, though I would say it is more of historical fiction with a mix of memoir. The reality this book displays, even with questioning of the details is so important. It connected me to the turbulent history of Chile even though I got confused at times. The writing style was beautiful and I hope the original version was properly represented through this translation. It feels like a daydream but has enough focal points to keep the reader connected to what is going on. The brutality of the past is not hidden away in this book, only elevated. I think I will appreciate this book even more on a reread, maybe after some research of my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Violence, and War
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Incredible and concise prose about the surreal and haunting nature of what the worst of humanity can be under authoritarian that Fernandez excellently uses various pop culture such as the titular reference to the twilight zone, Edgar Allan Poe, Frankenstein, and more including videogames and pop music for springboards and analogies.
I do want ti give a heads up while I do not believe the book was ever condoning racism to Romani in Chile, it is present in the book and I think the wha it’s depicted by a more passive narrator who exists more as witness to her country then active may bother others, I did prefer his Fernandez wrote about the Mapuche.
I am familiar with this part of Chilean history but I don’t know everyone’s names so I am curious if every named character was a real person because it definitely was deliberate who is a named character and who is not. Something to check out on a reread.
I do want ti give a heads up while I do not believe the book was ever condoning racism to Romani in Chile, it is present in the book and I think the wha it’s depicted by a more passive narrator who exists more as witness to her country then active may bother others, I did prefer his Fernandez wrote about the Mapuche.
I am familiar with this part of Chilean history but I don’t know everyone’s names so I am curious if every named character was a real person because it definitely was deliberate who is a named character and who is not. Something to check out on a reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Violence, War, Sexual harassment, Torture, Colonisation, Sexism, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
cpbindel's review
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
How many people had to disappear in order for global capitalism to dominate South America?
This book conveys the irreality that comes from living under a state that regularly disappears family and friends, living in a neighborhood where the house next door could be a torture center, or living a “normal life” only by betraying friends by reporting their organizing to the police. Popular media from the Avengers to Frankenstein to Back to the Future to The Twilight Zone are woven in and around the narrator’s tale in a way that heightens the feeling of confusion and dismay at the omissions and violence of a military dictatorship.
This book is particularly powerful in its focus on one character, “The Man Who Tortured People,” and his complex moral position throughout his confession his flight out of the country and his quiet lifelong witness to his participation in his country’s crimes against its own citizens.
This book conveys the irreality that comes from living under a state that regularly disappears family and friends, living in a neighborhood where the house next door could be a torture center, or living a “normal life” only by betraying friends by reporting their organizing to the police. Popular media from the Avengers to Frankenstein to Back to the Future to The Twilight Zone are woven in and around the narrator’s tale in a way that heightens the feeling of confusion and dismay at the omissions and violence of a military dictatorship.
This book is particularly powerful in its focus on one character, “The Man Who Tortured People,” and his complex moral position throughout his confession his flight out of the country and his quiet lifelong witness to his participation in his country’s crimes against its own citizens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Torture
_inge_'s review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Read as part of the octa finals translated fiction of the BookTube Prize 2022, rating and review forthcoming when this round of judging ends.
This book was my absolute favourite of this round. Unfortunately, it did not proceed to the quarter finals.
In this book, we learn about a difficult time in Chile under dictatorship. I suppose that there may be a lot of literature in Chile that commemorates and tells the stories of (fictional) people who were among the disappeared, their loved ones and the people who knew them. This reads like a plea to not forget. It's from the perspective of someone who grew up in violent social circumstances and pieces together just how violent and how close it was later in life. Many of the events in the book are not made up (as she keeps mentioning that 'she knows, is not imagining').
The author masterfully mixes jumps in time, makes storylines tie together, trying to make sense of things by drawing parallels, putting puzzle pieces together of memories that turn out to have been about the same events or people, and creating a timeline by using cultural references (TV shows, books, songs). Repetition is used as a means to show the relentlessness of what was happening.
As always when there are a lot of characters in a book I did sometimes lose track of who was who, but that didn't lessen the impression this book made on me. I listened to it on audio, maybe a print copy would have helped to flip back pages to remember how some loose ends connect. Definitely recommend picking up this book though!
This book was my absolute favourite of this round. Unfortunately, it did not proceed to the quarter finals.
In this book, we learn about a difficult time in Chile under dictatorship. I suppose that there may be a lot of literature in Chile that commemorates and tells the stories of (fictional) people who were among the disappeared, their loved ones and the people who knew them. This reads like a plea to not forget. It's from the perspective of someone who grew up in violent social circumstances and pieces together just how violent and how close it was later in life. Many of the events in the book are not made up (as she keeps mentioning that 'she knows, is not imagining').
The author masterfully mixes jumps in time, makes storylines tie together, trying to make sense of things by drawing parallels, putting puzzle pieces together of memories that turn out to have been about the same events or people, and creating a timeline by using cultural references (TV shows, books, songs). Repetition is used as a means to show the relentlessness of what was happening.
As always when there are a lot of characters in a book I did sometimes lose track of who was who, but that didn't lessen the impression this book made on me. I listened to it on audio, maybe a print copy would have helped to flip back pages to remember how some loose ends connect. Definitely recommend picking up this book though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Torture
smuds2's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
UNFINISHED
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Torture, Sexual violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Murder, War, Gun violence, and Police brutality
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