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qatsiBook Review: A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende
I joined the local online library in the early months of the pandemic, but (not exactly to my surprise) there has been little of interest when I've browsed, so I haven't made much use of it. However, there's always the chance of coming across something new, and on this occasion I found something that has been on my to-read list for a couple of years. I wasn't quite sure what, if any, relation the author was to the sometime Chilean president. It turns out that she is extended family - not a direct descendent, but close enough to have had to seek refuge in Venezuela following the 1973 coup.
The story begins in the violence of the Spanish civil war, as medical student Victor Dalmau treats wartime patients, including a to-become-famous case where he squeezes a heart back into life. As a republican, though without strong political convictions, he and his family are on the defensive, eventually becoming part of La Retirada. Separated by circumstance but managing to cross the border into France, his medical connections reunite him with his dead brother's fiancée, where they seek passage on the SS Winnipeg to Chile, where they hope to begin a new life. Initially unwelcome, they become accepted in a highly conservative society, but there are various events over fifty years that leave marks.
From her Goodreads profile, Allende writes in the "magic realism" tradition (whatever that is); on the face of it, this book seems to be a departure from that, it's not exactly autobiographical but there is a sense of memoir to it; there are perhaps one or two twists that have a magical (but not supernatural) sense of coincidence or resolution. In some ways I found this story reminiscent of Doctor Zhivago - the never-ending turmoil, the human frailties, the exasperating politics; but A Long Petal of the Sea seems to have a more uplifting narration, there is a sense that every obstacle will be overcome, somehow.
I joined the local online library in the early months of the pandemic, but (not exactly to my surprise) there has been little of interest when I've browsed, so I haven't made much use of it. However, there's always the chance of coming across something new, and on this occasion I found something that has been on my to-read list for a couple of years. I wasn't quite sure what, if any, relation the author was to the sometime Chilean president. It turns out that she is extended family - not a direct descendent, but close enough to have had to seek refuge in Venezuela following the 1973 coup.
The story begins in the violence of the Spanish civil war, as medical student Victor Dalmau treats wartime patients, including a to-become-famous case where he squeezes a heart back into life. As a republican, though without strong political convictions, he and his family are on the defensive, eventually becoming part of La Retirada. Separated by circumstance but managing to cross the border into France, his medical connections reunite him with his dead brother's fiancée, where they seek passage on the SS Winnipeg to Chile, where they hope to begin a new life. Initially unwelcome, they become accepted in a highly conservative society, but there are various events over fifty years that leave marks.
From her Goodreads profile, Allende writes in the "magic realism" tradition (whatever that is); on the face of it, this book seems to be a departure from that, it's not exactly autobiographical but there is a sense of memoir to it; there are perhaps one or two twists that have a magical (but not supernatural) sense of coincidence or resolution. In some ways I found this story reminiscent of Doctor Zhivago - the never-ending turmoil, the human frailties, the exasperating politics; but A Long Petal of the Sea seems to have a more uplifting narration, there is a sense that every obstacle will be overcome, somehow.