Rating: 
Summary: A ROMANTIC DANCE WITH DIVERSITY
Review:
a romantic dance with diversity
Isabel Allende's THE INFINITE PLAN poses a unique question: namely, what happens when a writer born in Chile authors a book about an Australian immigrant's son who grows up in a California Latin barrio? By way of an answer, Allende treats readers to a profoundly American novel of struggle and conquest, anguish and deliverance, and brutal war in the midst of ever-intriguing romance. Through the character of Gregory Reeves, the author maps the migration of one man's soul from childhood trauma and self-betrayal as an adult to eventual hard-won salvation. Through Reeve's lifelong friend, Carmen Morals, she demonstrates the power of the human spirit when determined to experience life and love on its own terms. Reeves grows up in a Latin barrio, where his traveling mystical father, the not-so-divine creator of "The Infinite Plan," is forced to settle and eventually dies. Reeves becomes an exile in both his home and his community. At the age of 50, he battles with the horrors of his life and stakes his claim to an uneasy peace.
The cast of females in THE INFINITE PLAN is exceptional. Carmen is disowned by her family after undergoing an illegal abortion and suffering abandonment by her lover. She subsequently experiences, like her friend Gregory Reeves, a series of failed affairs. In the process, she evolves into a respected artist who becomes a millionaire. Like Alice Walker, Allende displays a keen interest in the effects of male culture on feminine sensibility.
Although the bulk of THE INFINITE PLAN revolves around the lives of Gregory and Carmen, it includes an interwoven braid of characters from different cultures and races. Perhaps more than anything else, the mixture of racial and cultural perspectives in THE INFINITE PLAN implies that even when we as individuals believe ourselves abandoned in the world, fate and circumstance often act to connect our lives. To the degree that we carry within ourselves often identical experiences of love or grief or confusion, we are extensions of each other. What we refer to as differences are mostly artificial and not essential to peace or happiness.
Aberjhani
author of I MADE MY BOY OUT OF POETRY
and ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Rating:
Summary: good story!
Review: Amazing book. The characters find a way to weed themselves into your psyche. You cannot help but feel for their plight and longing for something better in a society consumed by itself. This story does not need to be believable but you need to believe in the story. It is about the longing for something better and the regret that may sometimes bring. I've lent this book to many people and they've felt the same way about it
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am a very big fan of Isabel Allende, but I just couldn't get into this book. It was okay, but her other books are better.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to snuff
Review: i devoured _house of spirits_ in a day, and _of love and shadows_ in two, but _infinite plan_ took nearly two weeks. it's not that it's that long, but it simply lacked the drive that i found in allende's other novels. the beginning is stellar: well written, with a good lead in and great characterizations. it's when we hit the part about the vietnam war that the novel goes down hill. instead of the freshness i expect from allende, this section seemed to be made of cliches, and an ignorant racism that caricatured the vietnamese people as sweet/naieve enough to completely except a known american spy into their community. i just couldn't go along with that. all in all, it isn't a bad book, it's just no where near as good as the rest of allende's work.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to snuff
Review: i devoured _house of spirits_ in a day, and _of love and shadows_ in two, but _infinite plan_ took nearly two weeks. it's not that it's that long, but it simply lacked the drive that i found in allende's other novels. the beginning is stellar: well written, with a good lead in and great characterizations. it's when we hit the part about the vietnam war that the novel goes down hill. instead of the freshness i expect from allende, this section seemed to be made of cliches, and an ignorant racism that caricatured the vietnamese people as sweet/naieve enough to completely except a known american spy into their community. i just couldn't go along with that. all in all, it isn't a bad book, it's just no where near as good as the rest of allende's work.
Rating: 
Summary: A good, but not necessarily believable story
Review: I enjoyed the book and found it an easy and fast read. It is a story about human nature, the need to find one's place and the journey through life. The characters do reflect the normal up and down emotions that we go through in life, but the characters are not necessarily always believable as a whole. For example, would the male leader of a latin barrio in LA be a follower of the made up religion of "The Infinite Plan"? Probably not. All the main characters seem so "extraordinary"; even the adopted nephew of Carmen is a math genius. The coincidences that occur to the characters in the book are even more unbelievable. So, if you want a good story, if not a necessarily believable one, then read the book. If, however, you like to read fiction that "could have happened", then pass.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: I found this novel a bit different than her others but still an intriguing story line.
Rating: 
Summary: Isabel disappointmented me for the first time!
Review: I have read nearly all of Isabel Allende's books and have loved them. This is the first one that truly disappointed me. It is certainly not representative of her fine writing. It seems disconnected and doesn't flow. I also felt there were too many characters and too much history packed into an average length book.
Rating:
Summary: Not her bset piece of work but readable.
Review: I read this book because I have enjoyed the other ones by Allende. This book's main character is a male and I found that her characterization of females is much more interesting than males. The tale told here was well done but not the best of her work. I enjoyed the many colorful characters and would have preferred a book about Olga.
Rating:
Summary: This book is perfect.
Review: I think this is one of Allende's best books and the one that particularly reveals the strength of her insightful power. In a story told with her characteristic artistry, the author opens up not only the depth of a man's soul but also the essence of an era in a portion of the soul of American society. The characters in this story seem sometimes unbelievable, but that is what makes the book great. Each one of them is portrayed with exaggerated traits that make them distinctively symbolic. The fresh and honest perspective from which this story is told reflects the generous view of someone exploring American society with the curiosity of an outsider, and the understanding of a deep believer in the goodness and value of all human beings.
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