Cracks In Sidewalks

I think writing about Milton Nascimento yesterday put me in a S.American mood.  Actually I’ve always been drawn to the writings and music of South and Central American countries.  I like the way they put words together.  I like the warmth.  I like the poetry.  I like the passion. And being someone with a pretty vivid imagination I also really enjoy the “magical realism” style that many of those authors tend to use.

Reading Isabel Allende for years now, I’ve read most everything she’s written for adults.  Her first published novel “The House Of The Spirits” remains one of my favorite books and might be one that would accompany me on that deserted isle, if put in that position.  And if you only saw the movie, don’t judge, read the book!  There is no comparison.  It’s a great cast and I had high expectations, but was sorely disappointed by the movie.

The pictures Allende paints of the characters in her novels, both real and imaginative, are always full of color and very painterly with subtle nuances that lift them up, bringing them to life as one continues reading and they hit the page.  Actually along the subject of this style of writing, one time I was taking a walk along the Hudson River with a Argentine girlfriend of mine and I was telling her about some of the Central and South American novelists I liked and why.  My friend having lived through the “disappearance” of friends and family in Argentina did not appreciate some of my reasons.  She did not appreciate anyone who wrote of these experiences using language that sounded in anyway flowery or romantic.  She was passionate about that.  For me it was very interesting because many of these writers, my favorites, who lived through these horrible times in Chile, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, tend to weave bits and pieces of those tales into their stories.  For me as an American, I always appreciated it because it was not my personal experience and I didn’t think of it as flowery.  It gave me a sense of history and context, but for her as a girl having to escape with her family, it was too personal.

For over close to 40 years now, if you count her writings as a young woman, Allende who was born in Peru where her father was the Chilean ambassador, has had a very successful and distinguished international career.  Although her life reads like one of her novels, and some are very biographical, although seemingly blessed, Allende’s life has not always been easy or without tragedy.  Her Uncle (cousin) Salvadore Allende, who was President of Chile, the only communist president ever elected in a democratic election (I believe that is still true), was assassinated in a military coup purportedly staged by the United States which gave Pinochet power, and forced her family to flee Chile.  And years later Allende sadly lost her daughter Paula to illness and writes about it in her book “Paula.”  It’s a very touching and moving story.  But Isabel Allende also came from a family of privilege where the likes of people such as the famous poet Pablo Neruda were family friends.  Neruda encouraged a young Isabel who was working in journalism to give it up and to write novels instead.  He said she had too much imagination for journalism.  It’s funny there is a story of a young Allende working one of her first jobs, which was to translate books from English into Spanish.  I guess Allende of course not with the knowledge of her employers, use to embellish the stories she was translating with her own ideas and writing.  When discovered it was not greatly appreciated and as a result she lost her job.  I believe she probably made the books more interesting as she is such a wonderful storyteller.

I think for me I just stumbled upon her magic.  She is a brilliant magical storyteller, be it  “The House of the Spirits,” “Eva Luna,” “The Infinite Plan,” “Portrait in Sepia,” or her tales of “Zorro,” where she was asked to create the story of “Zorro’s” early life and how he came to be the man and infamous swordsman we all know.  When I read Allende, it’s like she is sitting next to me whispering the words with her expression and Chilean accent into my ear.  I just can’t get enough and it continues like this until I fall asleep then wake up the next morning and start again.  Her storytelling and her magic caste their spell on me and I gladly let them take me prisoner.

It’s hard to write something short about Isabel Allende because her life and personal history just cover too much ground.  But if you are looking for a good book to read, all you have to do is pick any one of hers and my guess is that you’ll probably find yourself like me, mesmerized from start to finish.

If you want to find out more about Isabel Allende below is a direct link to her website.  Either click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser.

http://www.isabelallende.com/

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 4:40 am and is filed under Daily Crack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.