Rating: Summary: Conmovedora Review: I had enjoyed Daughter of Fortune so much, that I thought that Paula would be great. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Although there are some wonderful passages looking into Isabel's past, too much of the book deals with her socialist and new age perspectives of life. Her writing depicts a very self-centered life. Unfortunately, she is never able to come to grips with her daughter's coma and eventual death. Her writing has been sadly affected by events and her personal outlook.
Rating: Summary: A passionate and startling memoir, written with love Review: Isabel Allende has made her name as a writer in the genre of magic realism, where fantastical events occur, often without warning. When her daughter Paula collapsed into an irreversibly coma due to a rare disease, Allende found herself desperate for a story to tell her dying daughter. This is the book that arose out of a mother's need to understand the past, the future, and the mysterious connection between the two. Allende tells of events before her birth, of Chilean politics and how it affected her famously political family, of falling in love, of becoming a writer, of motherhood, of her journey through Paula's illness - while embracing the spirituality that pervades her fiction. Surprisingly, the story of Allende's life bears remarkable resemblance, both in fact and in imagery, to her bestselling novel THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS. While sadness frames this memoir, the core of it pulses with life and faith. Beautifully written, with moments that will make you pause with admiration, this book is startling and powerful. Every fan of Allende should read this, both for the context it provides for her writing and for the force of her storytelling.
|