By Night in Chile

Roberto Bolano's By Night in Chile takes place over a single moonlit night, and is structured as a feverish and phantasmagoric deathbed confession of a Chilean priest. ("I am dying now, but I still have many things to say.”) The narrative is told in one long paragraph, as it recounts the priest’s thoughts and memories on everything from Marxism and Augusto Pinochet to religion and literature. Even Pablo Neruda briefly makes an appearance and speaks to the moon. The book has a rich atmosphere — the nocturnal imagery is front and center — and it reveals deep levels of self-deception and personal regret. It's a haunting and elegiac story. Highly recommended.