Reviews

The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

rmperezpadilla's review

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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. 
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eunicek82's review

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dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

This was an excellent look into the surreal nature of living under a brutal, totalitarian regime — in this case, Chile under Pinochet. The author expertly weaves a narrative that is mostly fact and memoir (with some lightly fictionalized bits) to highlight what it feels like to grow up during this time and to face a country’s complex history/historical figures as an adult. 

emperadorapb's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

4.0

pennyforyourthoughts's review

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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.
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frantasmagorica's review against another edition

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5.0

Este libro es necesario. Hay tanta información sobre el periodo de la dictadura chilena y aún así sigue habiendo una “dimensión desconocida” en la que hace falta hurgar.

Nona Fernández tiene una forma de escribir que no permite la indiferencia. Realmente me estremeció.

queenali's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

rody_lamoree's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

sarahweyand's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really appreciated what this book set out to do and thought the plot and structure of the story was very compelling. I enjoyed that the title, The Twilight Zone, is a dual reference to not only the TV show but also the nebulous region between recounting facts of history and imagining/humanizing it. The writing was well-done and the topics and themes were obviously very heavy and important.

I think I made a mistake by listening to this book on audio, which isn't something I say often. This book has a lot of timelines and listening to the audiobook was a little confusing in this regard. I also got the impression that there were quotes or excerpts throughout the book (maybe just at the beginning of chapters), but I didn't recognize this until over halfway through the book. I think this confusion didn't help with my comprehension and made things more muddled than they needed to be.

I probably wouldn't have picked this book up were it not for the literary awards reading challenge I created on StoryGraph. I'm always interested in being exposed to fiction outside of my comfort zone, even if it isn't my all-time favorite. Overall, I thought this was an engaging read and I'm glad I came across it.
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gurofl's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

annikkeli's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.5