The Sum of Our Days

Starred review from February 18, 2008
In this deeply revealing second memoir, after Paula
, novelist Allende (The House of Spirits
) utilizes her family and the complex network of their relationships as the linchpin of the narrative. While weaving in her candid opinions on love and marriage, friendship, drug addiction, the writing life and religious fanaticism, Allende continues to work through the grief over her daughter's death. “In these years without you I have learned to manage sadness, making it my ally. Little by little your absence and other losses in my life are turning into a sweet nostalgia.” And though Allende's insight is keen, her prose polished and her language hypnotic, it's the stories of her close-knit family that move the memoir forward. “We lived as a tribe, Chilean style; we were almost always together.” While much of the story is infused with melancholy, her world is by no means without humor, mirth and wisdom. She celebrates friends' triumphs and exploits their foibles, including the “odyssey of the boobs,” without taking herself too seriously. This is a book to savor.

March 31, 2008
Allende follows Paula, the heartbreaking memoir she wrote while her daughter lay in a long coma, with another missive to the young woman, now dead, to update her on the Allende clan's adventures and dramas, which often seem straight from her novels. For most of the narration, Brown's bright voice and careful delivery are an ideal conduit for Allende's renowned prose, working in tandem with the author's unique descriptions to make interesting what in other lives would hardly be remarkable. When speaking as Allende, she uses a husky Spanish accent that is distinctively charming and appropriate without going over the top. Brown's pronunciation of occasional Spanish phrases and names sometimes lack fluency but the frank, twangy voice she gives to Allende's friend Tabra is refreshingly at ease. By the end, even listeners who are unfamiliar with Allende's history and writing will feel they know this feisty woman and brilliant writer as a friend. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 18).

April 15, 2008
Allende ("The House of the Spirits") has a personal commitment to begin a new book every year on January 8. One year, agonizing at daybreak, she had no first sentence to report to her agent, who then requested the letter that turned into this memoir of family events since the death of Allende's daughterthe topic of her earlier "Paula". Allende appropriately describes life as a "disorderly, quick process filled with unforeseen events" and admits that she has trouble following her husband's repeated advice to "keep her nose out" of her extended family's emotionally complicated lives (addiction, divorce, children with three different mothers, and failed medical procedures are just the short list of the problems faced by her "tribe"). Allende's trademark magical realism is ever present as she writes of Paula's spirit throughout this book. She reports that her houseguests smell jasmine and feel furniture moving in Paula's room, and her grandchildren see ghostly visions on the stairs. This high-spirited, emotionally packed book enables readers to get a closer look at the life of a much-loved writerwho even shares her schoolgirl crush on actor Antonio Banderas. Recommended for all literature collections. [Visit the author online at www.isabelallende.com.Ed.]Joyce Sparrow, JWB Children's Svcs. Council, Pinellas Park, FL

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2008
In this sequel to her memoir Paula (1995), about theyear-longcoma suffered by her daughter, Chilean novelistAllende tells of the difficult years followingPaulas death. She makes a transformative journey in these pages, from the moving opening chapter, in whichthe grief-strickenauthor and her family scatter Paulas ashesin the forest, to thefinal rewarding coda, where she is able to once again experience contentment and gratitude for the abundancein her life.Framing her story around her family, and directly addressing her daughter throughout, Allendereveals herself in all her roles: feisty marital partner, intrusive mother, dedicated writer, and spiritual seeker.She takes great comfort from her wide circle of support, a loosely connected network she refers to as her tribe, which provides her with the three-ring circus material she needs for her writing. Among the manypersonal revelations she makes here are her daughter-in-laws discovery that she is gay, which broke up her marriage to Allendes son and launched the author into a laborious matchmaking process to help him remarry, and her own imbibing of a hallucinogenic tea, whichsubsequently helpedawaken her imagination during the writing of her childrens books.Surprisingly candid, frequently funny, and highly aware of her own failings, Allende isa person fully engaged inlife, and readers will findher eloquentmemoir inspirational reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)