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anpen's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Violence
marsspider42's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I found this book quite difficult to get through. I understood the premise of the book, and what it was trying to achieve, but I found the structure overly complicated and confusing. I was not connected to the characters much at all, and I was not particularly interested in where the story was going.
The topics this book raises are interesting, and it is beautifully written in parts, but it is let down by a confusing structure and lack of forward momentum.
The topics this book raises are interesting, and it is beautifully written in parts, but it is let down by a confusing structure and lack of forward momentum.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Torture, Murder, and War
abbie_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I absolutely loved this book, and was pleasantly surprised by how effective it was on audio. I was hesitant at first because I knew it jumped around in time, included POVs from different characters and article/film extracts, but it was an incredible experience. The author makes use of a lot of repetition and I thought that was conveyed brilliantly in the narration by Raquel Beattie - it was hypnotic!
.
It’s brutal, a depiction of Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship, centred around ‘the man who tortured people’ as he is referred to throughout the novel. The narrator is a writer & documentarian intent on piecing together the life & sinister work of the former member of the secret police. She fuses history, pop culture references (notably the TV show the Twilight Zone), and her own imagination to create a haunting picture of the crimes and violence that was rife in Chile under Pinochet, how it seeped into everyday life. Mesmerising!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and War
subdue_provide75's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
Very well-written.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Torture
Minor: Sexual violence
minary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Sexual violence, and Death
_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
misselise's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Dark, terrifying, haunting. This book will stick with you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
dreesreads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
Very original storytelling. A documentarian examines articles, interviews, photos, of a very real member of the Chilean secret police who came forward in 1984. She considers what she (a child at the time) was doing, what the disappeared’s families were doing—and relates it all to Twilight Zone TV episodes. And I have a book hangover.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
This book is not for everyone but it is also amazing.sasuke's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Writing that escapes a clear genre; a blend of poetry and poetic prose, fiction and creative nonfiction that beautifully describes such a dark period of history and all the cruelty and horror human beings are compelled to commit against one another. This book took over my mind a bit, like it was haunting me, to the point I couldn’t put it down. The allusions to American/Western media are both thematically and historically relevant, and felt to me like specters of the American-born neoliberalism that took over Chile from that time, giving a sense of both political and economic reality. Also a wonderful coincidence that the book’s ending features an allusion to Frankenstein which I’m reading next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence
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