Monthly Author Read for September

Do we have one?

Nope.

Pick one and whoever wants can join in?

How about Isbael Allende? She is always on my TBR list. Or maybe Kate Atkinson?

I'd vote for Isabel Allende because I've been meaning to start Zorro for a month or so.

I read Daughter of Fortune and enjoyed it.

Just checked and I can get some of her books from a branch that I want to visit anyway.

Are we good with Allende then? I really want to finally get to House of the Spirits and possibly Portrait in Sepia although I also have Zorro. Not that I need an excuse to read something but it's much more fun this way!

I just finished Portrait in Sepia, so if anyone wants to discuss it, it is fresh in my mind.

Wow! That was easy. Women can make up their minds. I like your choice and will be joining you for this month's read. Thank you.
~belva

See - ll it took was someone to ask, someone to tell them to pick and someone to pick and we have an author. :)

Now the question is do I have anything by her on the kindle.

I'm in! I do have some of her books, but mostly the older ones.

We can make up our minds and it only took 2 days to decide unlike other threads... :)

I think I will start with Portrait in Sepia as I already have a discussion buddy signed on! I know I tried it once but didn't get very far. I think it was more of a mood thing than anything else though so I am curious to see how far I get this time.

Bucketyell - I found Portrait of Sepia pretty straightforward and I got into it pretty quickly. At first there seems to be a lot of characters, but they soon fall into place. I did find myself checking the family tree quite often and was glad it was there.

I didn't realize that Daughter of Fortune was the first of a trilogy. I read it some time ago but I think I need to read it again before going on to the other two as I got it right after it came out. So I have The House of the Spirits and Portrait in Sepia on hold at the library. I think I want to read all three of them. I will begin Daughter of Fortune as soon as I finish my Orange of the Month for Darryl's Challenge and I am over half way through The Long Song. It is very good, by the way.
I am guessing that these are works of non-fiction as my copy of the first one says nothing about it being a work of fiction. Does anyone know offhand? The work/book pages tend to make them look like historical 'fiction' going by the tags.

I'll be picking up Portrait in Sepia and Paula tomorrow.

Is House of the Spirits part of the trilogy? The only one of those I've read is Portrait in Sepia, and I thought it was the second book following Daughter of Fortune. I also thought there was a trilogy, but couldn't figure out what the third book was.

Here are the publication dates:

House of the Spirits 1982
Daughter of Fortune 1999
Portrait in Sepia 2000

HofS doesn't fit in my mind. First, it's written 17 years earlier than the others, and second, it's categorized as magic realism. PiS is definitely not magic realism, and from what I've heard of DoF, it's not either. One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong . . .

So if HotS is not part of the trilogy, what is? Or is there even a trilogy? I dug around a few weeks ago trying to figure this out and I got nowhere. I'd really like to know!

#14 - I've read Paula, and remember it well enough to discuss it. I've also read Ines of My Soul. If anyone wants to talk about those, I'm available.

I am guessing that these are works of non-fiction as my copy of the first one says nothing about it being a work of fiction. Does anyone know offhand? The work/book pages tend to make them look like historical 'fiction' going by the tags.

Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia are historical fiction, although I think all the characters are fictional (unlike historical fiction that is inspired by real people). House of the Spirits is also historical fiction, but is also famous for its magic realism. I'm not familiar with the other book you mentioned.

Paula is a memoir with fictional stories interspersed throughout. Ines of My Soul is also historical fiction, this time using real people who lived in colonial Chile and Peru. I think Allende has also written at least one other memoir. She has also written books for children.

Should we mark this as being about Allende, now that we are beginning to discuss her work?

In further searching, this is what I found:

"Allende's very popular novels have attracted both critical approval and opprobrium, often at the expense of genuine analysis. This sophisticated study explores the narrative architecture of Allende's House of the Spirits (1982), Daughter of Fortune (1999), and Portrait in Sepia (2000) as a trilogy, proposing that the places created in these novels subvert the patriarchal norms that have governed politics, sexuality, and ethnicity. Rooted in the Foucauldian premise that the history of space is essentially the history of power, and supported by Susan Stanford Friedman's cultural geographies of encounter as well as Gloria Anzaldúa's study of borderlands, this study shows that, by rejecting traditional spatial hierarchies, Allende's trilogy systematically deterritorializes the elite while shifting the previously marginalized to the physical and thematic centers of her works. This movement provides the narrative energy which draws the reader into Allende's universe, and sustains the 'good story' for which she has been universally
acclaimed."

Now if anyone understands that please 'bersplain' it to me as if I were a '2 year old'. It is way over my head but does allude to a trilogy (of sorts). And if it is a trilogy (of sorts) which one is 1, 2, & 3? IDK>

~belva

P.S. It rather reminds me of: "Who's on first?" "I don't know." "No, he's on second."

Let's see.

Critics spend more time saying that they like her or don't like her, than really talking about what she says.

This good study really talks about the trilogy. Men made up the rules that the world moves by - politics, how men and women live together, and who counts as 'our group' and who doesn't. These books show how silly those rules are.

Three famous people (whether or not you ever heard of them) wrote about how gepgraphy and power are related. the person who wrote this study says that the trilogy breaks up geography, and therefore makes the elite that had power lose ground, which gives space to those who were weak before.

This is what makes you keep wanting to read on.

I think that is the jist of it. The other question is whether the study really knows what it is talking about, and whether the person writing the paragraph understood the study at all.

I like that MarthaJeanne. Thank you so much. Now I feel like a 3 year old. lol!~!

I finished Paula this evening. I hadn't realized that it wasn't fiction, and found myself reading it in parallel with Wild Swans. This was a mistake, as I ended up switching back and forth between the Cultural revolution and Pinoche's coup. Luckily the book I have been reading in German (one about Vienna's cemeteries) is a lot less depressing. Luckily both Allende and Chang hold your interest, and I should be finished with the other tomorrow. But the next few books will be on more positive themes.

Just started Daughter of fortune. What an easy book to fall into. Very nice writing. I have The House of the Spirits and Portrait in Sepia awaiting the pick-up at the library. I think I am in for an Allende week.

#18> It said "Foucauldian" and my brain refused to process it any further.

Ok, so I just finished Portrait in Sepia and then realised that it's the sequel of Daughter of Fortune. D'oh!

Portrait is a great book. It started off slow and I found it a little confusing with all the characters being introduced but after 50 pages or so, things settled down nicely and the story started to flow. Allende has an awesome way of communicating mundane things in a complex kind of way. Even simple things come to life and become complex. I loved her use of foreshadowing and to be perfectly honest, I didn't see the ending coming at all.

Next will be House of the Spirits but probably not for a bit.

It said "Foucauldian" and my brain refused to process it any further.

Ha ha! That would happen to the best of us.

Portrait is a great book. It started off slow and I found it a little confusing with all the characters being introduced but after 50 pages or so, things settled down nicely and the story started to flow. Allende has an awesome way of communicating mundane things in a complex kind of way

I'd agree with that completely. I found myself referring to the family tree a lot, but then all of a sudden they all fell into place and it seemed quite manageable.

Potrait is the other one I borrowed, and I'll give it a try once I have finished digesting Paula and Wild Swans. I'm only reading easy books for a few days.

I said complex in my post above but I guess what I really meant was more intriguing and intricate. She takes an ordinary situation and then writes about it like it's the most interesting thing ever. She adds details about it without going overboard with details. It's not exactly an easy read but it flows well and the story was engaging.

I am a little over half way through Daughter of Fortune and must run out to the library (a 90 mile round trip) tomorrow or next day to pick up two more of Allende's as I wish to go right on into Portrait in Sepia. 'Daughter' is not what I expected it to be. I was expecting something along the lines of Stolen Lives, not that I am disappointed in it. I am finding it a very nice read and so far am not able to tell what is coming up around the next corner. Yes, I am liking it.

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

My thoughts & comments: As it has already been reviewed several times you all know the story line.

The verdict is in:
I found the lead character to be an interesting girl who endured much change throughout the book. I loved her sidekick, the little Chinese man. I enjoyed all of the eccentric, colorful characters they ran into in San Francisco and on the trail. I could have done without the whole storyline of the 'boyfriend'.
For me this was rather a meh read. Good enough to finish but not good enough to write home about. I gave the book an optimistic 3 stars thinking there is something I perhaps missed and I may or may not go on to read Portrait in Sepia and The House of Spirits. I have them on hold at the library but am debating.
***5 minutes later***
Debating no longer. I was just over reading the reviews on those two and I think I will take a pass. Ho Hum.

Looking forward to next month's author read.