“One of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date, and one of the strongest and affecting works in [Isabelle Allende’s] long career” — —The New York Times book review.AGREE!!!!!!I’ve read 15 books by this powerhouse pint-size extraordinary author.... both fiction, and nonfiction. I’ve met Isabel Allende three times...I admire Isabel Allende’s exceptional storytelling skills while educating me about history: ( people, places, and dates) —This global humanitarian- feisty...

I just can't get into this one. The historical period was specifically what attracted me to the book but it overwhelms the story- too much research, too little character- all feeding into the list-like nature of the prose. It's impossible to feel any kind of emotional connection to a catalogue of: this happened and then this happened, this is what this person thought of it. And then this happened. Page after page.I've read academic history books with more feeling.

I really struggled with this book and was shocked as I really enjoy Allende's work. Ines of My Soul being my favorite of her books. I enjoyed the beginning, Roser comes from nothing and is adopted by a wealthy man and she has a gift for the piano. She falls in love with a young soldier who dies before their son is born. His brother Victor marries her to give the boy a father and to help her get to Chile with him. You see, people are fleeing Spain and Roser and Victor can get on a boat sailing to...

It is January and that means the winter doldrums. I am afflicted with seasonal affective disorder each winter and combat it with a jolt of vitamin d and an annual trip to Florida. A week in the sun under the palm trees usually does the trick until I return to the winter gloom. There have been years where I haven’t picked up a book for five weeks and been miserable until this year when I realized the best way to combat winter blues- magic, or more specifically books by my favorite authors. I firs...

I enjoyed a number of Allende’s earlier books, but a few of the more recent ones have not been quite as satisfying. Yet, I could not resist the opportunity to read this one because I was looking for the Allende of those earlier novels and I found her . It felt like Allende at her best - a family saga with richly defined characters deeply connected to their family, their culture, their country, their lives shaped by the political landscape. There were times when I felt a bit bogged down by the po...

‘Years later, Neruda was to define it as a long petal of sea and wine and snow…with a belt of black and white foam...’ Keep in mind that this was my first adult book my Allende that I've read (I read her YA books as a teen). I didn't know anything about the Spanish Civil war and I struggled to keep up with everything in the beginning. The first 50 pages were a bit hard for me to get through but once the plot started moving forward, I got used to her writing style and I became hooked. None of

| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | |Isabel Allende is one of my all time favourite writers. When I was in middle-grade I fell in love with her Eagle and Jaguar series and in the years since I’ve enjoyed other novels by her. Having loved her memoir of Chile, My Invented Country, I was looking forward to A Long Petal of the Sea as it promised to be an evocative account of Spanish refugees in Chile. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, this novel tells the story of a young docto...

I came across Isabel Allende when I was 16 and was looking for books similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude. Somebody recommended The House of the Spirits (her first novel) to me which I read in a day and is one of my all time favourites. I've read a couple of other novels from Isabel Allende who in my opinion consistently delivers well written books often with aspects of magical realism intertwined with the rich history of Chile, and political and social insights.  A Long Petal of the Sea is

Isabel Allende brings the history of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War and the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat to vivid life as the backdrop of this dramatic story. She begins each chapter with the powerful and heartfelt poetry of Pablo Neruda, setting an emotional tone for the terrible cost of war, longing for one’s country, romantic ardor, and political ideology. Like little jewels, her fictional characters are carefully set into the tapestry of historical fact. In 1939, it is Pablo Neruda as Special C...

Loved it.

Isabel Allende is one of my favourite authors and I have read a lot of her books over the years. This one is a real epic in every sense of the word and I read with fascination, admiration and at times horror at what humans inflict on fellow humans. The central characters are Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera and the novel takes us from the Spanish Civil War to Chile in 1994. Victor and Roser fight on the Republican side against Franco’s Nationalists, they flee Spain and go to France, from there t...

Allende can romanticize the simple things Just as she does with this title to describe where Chile snuggles into South America and the Pacific Ocean.Her descriptions are so vivid you can smell the ocean; see the vibrant colours; hear the voices of country.A story of the Spanish war that leads to a migration. Another generational story rich with characters, relationships and history. Maybe a little slower than some of her other works but appreciated the work that went into the research. Gives me

I can’t believe this is the first book by Isabel Allende that I’ve read. If this is any indication, I’ve been missing out. This is such a well done historical fiction. It fulfills all my requirements for HF - teach me something new, but incorporate facts without overwhelming the story. I was surprised how much of this book resonated with me, drawing parallels with current times - the political divides, the migrants at the border. I also loved what she had to say about both socialism and fascism....

4+"We're going to put an end to the privileges of the oligarchy, the Church, the big landowners, all the other exploiters of the people. We have to defend democracy."Where is home? Where is your heart? Is it the country of your birth? Is it where you grow old, or is it some country in between? These are questions Roser and Victor, the main characters in A Long Petal of the Sea, face. They are the same questions thousands of displaced people face today. Whether escaping countries torn by war, aut...

With her latest book, I am reminded once again why Isabel Allende is one of my favourite authors. She tells a political story of love, hope and compassion. She paints beautiful portrayals of each character so that her readers can relate to and empathize with them and their imperfect humanities. Allende brings to light historical events I was totally ignorant about until now. Her extensive research of Spain's Civil War beginning in 1938, the Spanish refugees who escaped to France and then sailed

Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || PinterestI've read a lot of Isabel Allende's stuff before and I really like some of it, but some of it is also too weird for me. A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA is actually a pretty good introduction to Isabel Allende because it's mild, and doesn't have any magic realism, so you get a sense of her literary style without the surrealism that can sometimes make her stories hard to follow.A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA is set in Spain in the 1930s, under the fascis

I was drawn to this book by its setting in the Spanish Civil War and by the story of the Winnipeg, the ship chartered by Pablo Neruda to take 2,000 refugees to Chile. The preface by Isabel Allende whet my appetite and the first few pages were a very strong and shocking opening. It soon became so, so dry though. I struggled to feel any emotion behind the words. This happened, then this happened, she said and he said, then this happened.......with a lot of historical detail behind events. The hist...