The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernandez

There is a lot of serious material contained within this relatively slim volume, where the ugly brutality, secrecy and repression of the Pinochet regime is compared to an old style American television science fiction show. That is the short version of a review of this book--the longer version is that the book's conversational, essayistic narration guides the reader sure-footedly through a minefield of political absurdity, shining a blacklight on doublespeak and empty political theatre. The narrator is refreshingly down-to-earth. It’s fair, and uncontroversial. . The prose is unfussy, limpid, direct. The overall effect is the sort of lightness championed by Italo Calvino—a lightness meant to counterbalance the weight of living. The book illuminates rather than bludgeons. This translation comes at a timely moment. US institutions must now decide how they will handle the still-fresh aftereffects of the Trump regime. Post-Pinochet Chile might provide a what-not-to-do guide on the matter. After his overdue dismissal from the presidency, Augusto Pinochet was granted a perpetual presence in politics (a lifelong senate seat, a military commandership) and impunity from his three-thousand-plus criminal charges.