The Twilight Zone

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By Nona Fernández & Natasha Wimmer

Publisher Description

* Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature *

An engrossing, incantatory novel about the legacy of historical crimes by the author of Space Invaders

It is 1984 in Chile, in the middle of the Pinochet dictatorship. A member of the secret police walks into the office of a dissident magazine and finds a reporter, who records his testimony. The narrator of Nona Fernández’s mesmerizing and terrifying novel The Twilight Zone is a child when she first sees this man’s face on the magazine’s cover with the words “I Tortured People.” His complicity in the worst crimes of the regime and his commitment to speaking about them haunt the narrator into her adulthood and career as a writer and documentarian. Like a secret service agent from the future, through extraordinary feats of the imagination, Fernández follows the “man who tortured people” to places that archives can’t reach, into the sinister twilight zone of history where morning routines, a game of chess, Yuri Gagarin, and the eponymous TV show of the novel’s title coexist with the brutal yet commonplace machinations of the regime.

How do crimes vanish in plain sight? How does one resist a repressive regime? And who gets to shape the truths we live by and take for granted? The Twilight Zone pulls us into the dark portals of the past, reminding us that the work of the writer in the face of historical erasure is to imagine so deeply that these absences can be, for a time, spectacularly illuminated.

113 Reviews

4.0

Ant C

Created 14 days ago

katherin 🍉

Created about 1 month ago

“such a unique writing style. Loved every part of this! I had it on my tbr for a while and after watching Ainda Estou Aqui I decided it was time for me to read this.”

Challenging Stylistically unique Violence War violence

Nic

Created about 2 months ago

“In "The Twilight Zone," Nona Fernández creates a powerful literary lens through which to examine the horrors of Chile's Pinochet dictatorship. By interweaving references to Rod Serling's classic television series with accounts of real historical atrocities, Fernández constructs a narrative that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally devastating. The novel's central metaphor proves remarkably effective. Fernández draws particularly striking parallels between episodes of the show. One that specifically stayed with me was an episode featuring a man with many faces and the operatives of Pinochet's regime. Just as the show's character could transform his appearance at will, the novel reveals how torturers and killers could shift between ordinary citizens and perpetrators of unspeakable violence. This duality creates a frightening portrait of how evil can exist behind unremarkable facades, how the monsters were also neighbors, colleagues, and countrymen. This exploration of dual identities extends beyond individual characters to Chilean society itself, examining how a nation can simultaneously contain both normality and nightmare. Fernández skillfully navigates this by showing how the surreal logic of "The Twilight Zone" television series provides a framework for understanding the absurd horrors of authoritarian rule. The book's relatively slim size does not mean it holds back when it comes to its emotional and intellectual weight. Fernández demonstrates remarkable restraint, crafting a narrative that communicates the magnitude of historical trauma without resorting to exploitation or unnecessary graphic detail. This approach makes the work all the more powerful, as it forces readers to confront the reality of political violence without looking away. "The Twilight Zone" stands as both an important historical document and a relevant warning for contemporary readers. In an era where authoritarian impulses continue to threaten democracies worldwide, Fernández's examination of how ordinary people can become complicit in extraordinary cruelty remains disturbingly pertinent. Through its innovative structure and unflinching gaze, this novel ensures that the victims of political violence are not forgotten and reminds us that the line between normality and horror may be thinner than we care to admit. *Also I must give the translator - Natasha Wimmer - praise; part of why I picked up this novel was because I have read other novels translated by Wimmer. I find Wimmer's translation to engaging and well done.*”

Captivating Educational Engaging Moving In-depth analysis Personal experience Thorough Murder War violence

Mel

Created about 2 months ago

Thought-provoking Timely Authoritative Personal experience Abuse Murder

Elzapallo

Created about 2 months ago

Captivating Educational Engaging Clear Engaging

About Nona Fernández

Nona Fernández was born in Santiago, Chile. She is an actress and writer, and has published two plays, a collection of short stories, and six novels, including Space Invaders and The Twilight Zone, which was awarded the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize.

Natasha Wimmer is the translator of Space Invaders by Nona Fernández, as well as nine books by Roberto Bolano, including The Savage Detectives and 2666. Her most recent translation is The Dinner Guest by Gabriela Ybarra.