This is a very odd stream of consciousness novel, following a priest, poet, and literary critic over the course of his life and involvement with the literary elite in Chile under Pinochet. Long sentences and unravelling thoughts drift back and forth across time, linking politics with literature and generational divide. Darkly funny, but always distant, By Night in Chile feels more like a fever dream than a coherent narrative, expressing the complicity and unwanted regret of artists who flourish under tyrannical regimes.