Reviews

The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

andifigueroa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Primer libro que leo de Nona Fernandéz y en verdad no me decepcionó. 
Su escritura estan agil y facil de leer, es capaz de describirnos una escena donde la podemos imaginar e incluso nos describe los olores o los sentires de les personajes. Aunque igual puede ser algo malo dado que escribe mayoritariamente sobre la dictadura chilena. 

bushraboblai's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

purplepierogi's review

5.0

One of the intrinsic horrors of the fates those thousands 'disappeared’ by the regimes of the 1970s and 1980s in the Southern Cone is that of not knowing. One knows the basic outline, that there are detention centers torture sites throughout the country, that unimaginable pain and suffering go on there; but one will never truly know the fate of their loved one, their suffering, their final resting place, or even confirmation of their death. What this book does, quite well, is put a face to the horror in hypnotic, elevated speculations. Our narrator was a child when, in the 1980s, one cog in the Pinochet regime comes forward to a journalist and gives an interview of his experiences, known after as “the man who tortures people.” The narrator, even in the present day thirty-odd years later, fabricates his encounters in the violence just out of view of her own life. The man who tortures people lingers in the background, giving a real story, or at least a snippet of one, to the crimes that haunt our narrator’s mother, or the names on the wall of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. Our narrator imposes humanity upon this torturer-turned-confessor, and inso gives voice and reflection to the complicated nature of memory in a conflict so well hidden. Additionally, as the title implies, we are given constant reference to the mundane, a way of making sense of the surreal aspects of living under a violent dictatorship, and it works really well.

Also, as an aside, it reminded me of how in her book [b:The Undocumented Americans|41880092|The Undocumented Americans|Karla Cornejo Villavicencio|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581615133l/41880092._SY75_.jpg|55079158], author [a:Karla Cornejo Villavicencio|16366056|Karla Cornejo Villavicencio|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1585433388p2/16366056.jpg] presents us with the narrative of a man's death in the basement of a building during Hurricane Harvey, with a little mouse, maybe real or maybe completely elaborated for our sympathy, and how stories and images allow for so much more emotion than dates and names on a page. For Villavicencio, she takes liberties with what could have evoke emotion in her audience feel for an otherwise neglected population, an undocumented immigrant, homeless and addicted to alcohol, but human and tragic and worthy of mourning nonetheless. This book, fictional, is a person groping for explanation or closure with the clues and hints of a purposefully obscured history, but it evokes reaction and mourning when before there was power in keeping the acts sterile.

This is not an audiobook for the absent listener — it’s atmospheric, haunting, and different names and spaces are interwoven to the point that it isn’t for casual listening in the grocery store. I really savored this book, and especially loved the ending timeline mixing quotidian with macro-politics, because yes, that’s life, situated among horrors and birthdays.

Thank you so much to HighBridge Audio and #Netgalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. #theTwilightZone

victoriathuyvi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

hannahleewhite's review

challenging dark emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Torture

ivaelo's review against another edition

5.0

Ще бъда честен. Огромен фен съм на "Зоната на здрача", и заглавието автоматично ми грабна вниманието. Когато прочетох, че става дума за роман, който хвърля светлина върху диктатурата на Пиночет, и методите използвани от властта за справяне с неудобните хора.

Книгата е художествена литература, но са посочените толкова много лица и събития от времето, че много лесно може да се сбърка с разследваща журналистика.
Един човек влиза в офис на списание с думите "Аз измъчвах хора". В по-голямата част от книгата, разказвачката ще се обръща към него с "Човекът, който измъчваше хора". Този човек се превръща във фикс идея за нея. Какво го е довело до тази врата на офиса, и какво е изпитвал, когато е вършил самопризнатата дейност. Но тя не се среща никога се него, затова тя запълва липсата на отговори с хипотези, едни "може би"-та, които поне малко да успеят да обяснят нечовешките деяния. Но всичко е пречупено през нейните спомени, затова опреличава него на персонажи от сериали, които е гледала като дете.
Но това е също така книга за изчезващите хора. Хора, изтръгнати от живота, и захвърлени в нищото. Търсени хора, но никога ненамерени. Сякаш заличени от снимка, където ясно се вижда контура, където някога е имало човек, но вече само хората на снимката знаят кой е бил там, и усещат липсата му.

Докато четях книгата се сетих за един епизод от "Чамкория" свързан с Гео Милев, няма да навлизам в подробности кой е, но хората чели книгата ще се сетят. И се замислих, може би и на нас ние е нужна една такава книга. Да, най-вероятно всички търсещи отговори за изчезналите хора отдавна са си заминали, но все някой - син, внук, правнук може би очаква отговор. Тази врата трябва да се отвори, и тези хора да бъдат изведени от "Зоната на здрача".

vanessabc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

marcelaibarra's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.75

hollowistheworld's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This was... Wow. This is so different from what I usually read I didn't expect to find it more than mildly interesting but it was phenomenal. Beautifully, masterfully written. I feel like my brain's been rewired. I've been learning Spanish, and my new goal is to get good enough to read this book in its original language. I listened to it on audible and I am going to buy both the English and Spanish physical versions. I loved this. It was tragic, hopeful, dark, illuminating. Full of monsters and men and rats and ravens. I nearly cried. And it was so human, so feeling, in a way that most books of this type are not. There was no stiffness, no feeling that the author was an alien trying to get me to care about a concept too foreign to comprehend. It was no mere regurgitation of facts. Fernandez looks at history and wonders about the missing pieces, the human pieces. The people and moments who have been lost to us forever. She gives life to them - a life which may not be entirely truth, but which reminds us that history is made of people, not facts or symbols or numbers. 

pasearlibros's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5