Een boek van Isabel Allende dat zich niet afspeelt in Zuid-, maar wel in Noord-Amerika. Ik had er al vanalles over gehoord en gelezen. Sommigen waren wild-enthousiast, anderen teleurgesteld.
Ikzelf vond het zeker en vast goed. Het is opnieuw geschreven in Allende's stijl en die bevalt me zeer goed. Het is verfrissend haar verhalen eens in een andere context te lezen, alhoewel ze er wel in slaagt altijd rond dezelfde thema's en binnen gelijkaardige sociale milieu's te werken.
Dat is ook een beetje hetgeen mij soms wat stoorde in het boek. Bij veel passages had ik een "déjà-vu" gevoel, personages die ik precies al kende, levensverhalen die ik precies al gehoord had. Ik weet niet zeker of het ook effectief zo is dat personages van dit boek ook in andere boeken voorkomen. (?)
Misschien is het gewoon even tijd om iets anders dan "Allende" te gaan lezen, te veel van 1 auteur te snel na elkaar is vermoedelijk niet ideaal.

After talking about books we have read, or wanted to read, my co-worker and I decided to swap books. This was the first book he shared with me.

The books started off well enough. The characters were interesting and developed at a good pace. After the first fifty pages or so, I began to feel disappointed; I continued to feel this way until about the last fifty pages.

The authors portrayal of the Morales family, beginning from Pedro and Immaculada's journey to the United States to the dynamics of their relationship and their family was bordering on impertinent. I imagine that the author was attempting to portray the typical story of Mexican immigrants with a realness and rawness that would allow people to relate to it. Unfortunately, her depiction of this story was stereotypical bordering on offensive. As I read it, it felt as if the writer had read numerous third person interpretations of what it meant to be a Mexican immigrant in Los Angeles and then regurgitated. Then later on when she describes every stereotype of San Francisco, a city she is very familiar with, in one page in an attempt to provided a vivid description of the city, I began to wonder if this was just her writing style, or just her ability. It felt weak in both instances.

I also felt disappointed when, in several instances, the story became terribly predictable. One example, the final incident between Greg and Martinez. As I read, I was aware of what was going to happen a good three pages before it did, it felt anticlimactic.

I did enjoy the fact that Gregory and Carmen's stories were developed independent of each other while still tied to each other. At first, I thought that this story was meant to resemble something that could be a real experience instead of some fantasy. I never quite understood Carmen's story. While everything in this world is possible, Carmen's story seemed unbelievable. It may have felt this way because of the lack of explanation behind a lot of what happened to her. First she was a child in a poor, immigrant Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles. She struggled with and fought against the cultural constraints of her family and Mexican American identity, and that was great. Then she is travelling to and through or living in Mexico then Europe then Thailand, where she by chance ended up at a party with a man who changed her life a decade plus years before. The author took the time to mention here and there that Greg gave her money or provided some flimsy explanation of how she was able to have these amazing adventures, but I feel it was either her own privileged background or her usual fantasy writing style that crept into a story where it didn't quite feel like it fit.

I did not enjoy the book, in fact I struggled through the last 200 pages, only able to read a few pages at a time during the Vietnam story line, but I am never one to start a book and not finish it. I don't claim to be a critic, and I am honestly apologetic to the friend who gave me this book that this review seems so negative. This is just the interpretation of a person who took the time to read the book and was disappointed upon learning that this author is hailed as a recent great Latin author who represents the Latin voice, an honor I can acknowledge she may not have asked for. I believe there are amazing Latin authors that I enjoy reading much more.

دائماً ما اقع تحت سحر كل ما يكتبه قلم إيزابيل ، هي لا تفتش فقط في التاريخ عن المهمشين والمكافحين ولكن تركز علي اكثر الاماكن ظلاماً وتيهاً بداخلهم لتخرج من حكاياها بعصارة تجارب انسانية عظيمة الي جانب ما ترمي إليه من أبعاد سياسية وثقافات متباعدة وأيديوليجات مختلفة .. وهذة قصة عن المعاناة والهجرة والتخبط والطموح والندم والضياع والأمل ثم البدء من جديد ، قصة الهجرة من بؤس الجنوب أملاً في اللحاق بقطار حلم الشمال ، حياة الجسارة وليس الحكمة كما يقولون.. رائعة رغم عدم شهرتها ولكني لا أراها تقل جمالاً عن بيت الأرواح أو الحب والظلال .. والشكر لرفعت عطفة عالترجمة

“La sera in cui ci siamo conosciuti mi chiedesti di raccontarti la mia vita. È lunga, ti ho avvertito. Non importa, ho molto tempo, hai detto, senza sapere in che pasticcio ti mettevi con questo piano infinito.”
Masterpiece

Dal mio profilo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manifestoab...

✍️ «Sapevo che il mio viaggio in questo mondo sarebbe sempre stato un arazzo surrealista pieno di fili staccati, però potei almeno vederne il disegno».

Esta es la historia biográfica del esposo de Allende, un joven americano que debe vivir entre hispanos en California.

Especialmente interesante cuando vivía con los padres, seres con costumbres extrañas.

ليست اولي قرائاتي لايزابيل الليندي ولكنها أقواها وأعظمها علي الإطلاق. أستعجب من عدم انتشار هذه الروايه البديعه وسط أعمال الليندي المشهوره، فهي تستحق الخمس نجوم عن جداره لما لمسته من غوص حر في أعماق النفوس البشريه المختلفه. هي تحكي عن المهاجرين اللاتينين الي الولايات المتحده في النصف الأول من القرن العشرين ورحلات حياتهم ونجاحهم واخفاقاتهم علي مدار أكثر من نصف قرن. الشخصيات بديعه في رسمها ووصف مشاعرها وطموحاتها وأفكارها وصراعاتها النفسيه، الترجمه رائعه لرفعت عطفه عن دار ورد، الحوارات قليله وتعتمد أكثر علي المشاهد الوصفيه والمونولوجات الشخصيه في لغه رائعه وتحليل يتميز بالدقه والعمق ويحتاج لقراءه متأنيه ..
أكيد سأعود لقراءه ثانيه لهذا العمل الرائع ان شاء الله.

3,5/5,0

More like 3,5

This is a classic Allende book, with lots of interesting characters and a life journey.

The novel tells the story of Gregory Reeves, a man who grows up in a dysfunctional family and tries to find his own way in life.

This is my third book by Allende, and I'm starting to see a pattern: lifelong character developments, magical realism, and generations of life stories. I'm not complaining; I like that, and this book doesn't differ from the others I've read.

Allende's strength is definitely her diverse characters. Her descriptions of the characters and environments are detailed and captivating, creating a vivid picture of Gregory's life journey. The characters are multifaceted and well-developed, and their interactions provide insights into human relationships and conflicts.

In this novel, Allende addresses topics such as immigration, identity, and family dynamics, giving it a deeper meaning. Gregory's experiences as an immigrant in the USA provide an interesting insight into the American dream and the challenges and opportunities that immigrants face.

At the same time, the book felt way too long. There was some unnecessary fat-shaming that lowered the rating. This book has a few years on it, and some things and expressions haven't aged well, unfortunately. Otherwise, this is a classic Allende book that took me on an exciting journey with interesting characters.

Me gustó mucho, sin embargo creo que habían algunas historias de relleno que poco aportaron a la idea medular del libro.

I regret to report that the last two Isabel Allende books I've read (this one and La ciudad de las bestias) have not really done it for me. My complaints about the two are fairly similar: like that one, El plan infinito ends up being weirdly socially conservative & relies on a lot of stereotypes. There's also quite a lot of sexual-assault-and-harassment-as-plot-devices, which, hmmm. On top of making the book kind of uncomfortable to read, the stereotyping of huge categories of people (Chicanos living in LA! 1970s absentee parents! Vietnamese villagers during the Vietnam War!) made it also feel fairly unoriginal, which was too bad because the premise of the story is interesting enough.

On the other hand, I learned from the internet that the book is based on the life of Allende's second husband, and she would've written it fairly soon in their marriage. While this doesn't let the book off the hook for being weird and hackneyed, it does give me some empathy for Allende. I've been saying for YEARS that you can tell when someone has a crush because their stories get more boring, because instead of filtering stories by how interesting they are, they start filtering stories by how relevant they are to the crush in question. (This whole theory is just me subtweeting myself.) So I guess if I were writing a whole novel during the honeymoon period of my marriage ABOUT my new spouse, my novel would probably be less interesting, too.

The thing I did like about the book was that it was fun to read about 1940s-1970s California, especially Berkeley and San Francisco, which are major settings for the novel. I always like reading about places I'm familiar with, and though Allende definitely leaned into the crazy-1960s-Berkeley-sex-parties image, it was still interesting to read a version of the history of some places I know.

There is just something about Isabel Allende that clicks with me. I enjoy her work so much, and I don't think there are many authors who can incorporate magic realism into their work so completely. Ever have one of those authors who just speak to you? This is mine. Keeping that in mind, my review is obviously a bit biased.

In this book we move beyond the traditional female protagonist and into the world of Gregory Reeve's. From his unusual upbringing to his struggles through life, Allende does a wonderful job of showing how experiences shape us in ways that we cannot begin to imagine. I don't want to say too much, but would highly encourage you to read the book and slog through it even if you find it difficult. It is very much worthwhile.