The Suicide Museum

Starred review from August 14, 2023
Was Chilean president Salvador Allende’s death during the 1973 military coup a murder or a suicide? That real-life historical inquiry animates this engrossing work of autofiction from Dorfman (Death and the Maiden). In 1990, enigmatic Dutch billionaire Joseph Hortha commissions protagonist Ariel Dorfman—an Argentine Chilean author and activist living in exile in the U.S. who bears a more than passing resemblance to the author—to dig into Allende’s fate. Ostensibly, Hortha craves the information as part of the secretive project he’s planning as “a wake-up call to humanity,” but it’s clear to Dorfman, spinning the tale three decades later, that the puzzle holds a far more personal meaning for Hortha. It certainly does for Dorfman, an Allende associate who, but for a last-minute change of plans, was scheduled to be at the president’s side on the day of the coup and would likely have died as well. The ensuing odyssey wends its way from Santiago to the Chilean hinterlands, North Carolina to London, as Dorfman delves into dark truths about Chile’s past as well as his own, and gradually unearths some of Hortha’s secrets en route. Less a conventional thriller than an erudite riddle that gracefully melds history and fiction, this feels like the capstone to Dorfman’s literary career. It’s a brainy, dazzling treat. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency.

Starred review from December 22, 2023

Throughout Dorfman's (Darwin's Ghosts) long and distinguished literary career, themes of social protest, political oppression and injustice, and exile have been at the forefront of the Chilean American writer's work; this novel is no exception, but with an ecological twist. Billionaire Holocaust survivor Joseph Hortha generously commissions an indigent Chilean writer (also named Ariel Dorfman) to secretly ascertain whether the cause of Chilean president Salvador Allende's death during the 1973 coup was suicide or murder. The reason: Hortha must decide whether to include Allende's portrait in his gallery of famous suicides. Hortha intends for his museum to represent humankind's collective death by suicide caused by climate change, the proliferation of plastics, and mass destruction of the environment. This docufiction memoir, blending history and fiction, recalls the investigative technique of Javier Cercas as Dorfman pursues evidence and interviews eyewitnesses to uncover the truth. Despite being fairly sure of the facts, however, the author lies to Hortha about the results of his research. VERDICT Though digressive at times, Dorfman's novel is a fitting tribute to the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled socialist Allende's legitimate presidency. It will keep readers engaged as they follow his quest but may disappoint some with its ambiguous conclusion.--Lawrence Olszewski

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