[b:A Long Petal of the Sea|46042377|A Long Petal of the Sea|Isabel Allende|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565211383l/46042377._SY75_.jpg|69307454] is the second Isabel Allende novel I've read. Looking at my review of [b:The House of the Spirits|9328|The House of the Spirits|Isabel Allende|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1621672028l/9328._SY75_.jpg|3374404], it seems the experience of both was similar. Allende writes in a moving, powerful fashion about families caught up in dramatic political upheavals. In this case, the end and aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. As Franco advances, several of the main characters flee into France and are imprisoned in concentration camps. They are lucky to escape the deadly camps by securing places on a refugee ship to Chile, organised by the poet Pablo Neruda. Much of the plot deals with them building new lives and families in Chile, until political upheaval strikes there too.

I've read much more about the Spanish Civil War than about the overthrow of Allende and the oppressive General Pinochet regime, so found the chapters covering latter pariod especially interesting. (I can't believe it's taken me until now to wonder if Isabel is any relation of Salvador! It seems not.) The characters are compelling and the sweep of their lives conveyed beautifully. Allende appears particularly good at conveying the impact of historical events via personal perspectives, which is by no means easy to do well. I saw the twist at the end coming, but enjoyed it no less for that. My only critique of [b:A Long Petal of the Sea|46042377|A Long Petal of the Sea|Isabel Allende|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565211383l/46042377._SY75_.jpg|69307454] is that no specific passages stood out, although I enjoyed the whole. ( )

En plena Guerra Civil española, el joven médico Víctor Dalmau, junto a su amiga pianista Roser Bruguera, se ven obligados a abandonar Barcelona, exiliarse y cruzar los Pirineos rumbo a Francia. A bordo del Winnipeg, un navío fletado por el poeta Pablo Neruda que llevó a más de dos mil españoles rumbo a Valparaíso, embarcarán en busca de la paz y la libertad que no tuvieron en su país. Recibidos como héroes en Chile -ese «largo pétalo de mar y nieve», en palabras del poeta chileno-, se integrarán en la vida social del país durante varias décadas hasta el golpe de Estado que derrocó al doctor Salvador Allende, amigo de Victor por su común afición al ajedrez. Víctor y Roser se encontrarán nuevamente desarraigados, pero como dice la autora: «si uno vive lo suficiente, todos los círculos se cierran». ( )

guerra civile spagnola, dittatura di Franco
Golpe cileno, dittatura di Pinochet

(isabelle Allende è sempre una grande scrittrice ma ha perso la poesia) ( )

This book was written based on someone that Isabel Allende knew, named Victor. He lived until he was 103, dying right before she was to send him the manuscript. the fictional character, Victor, and his wife Roser enter into a marriage of convenience during the upheaval of the Spanish Civil War. Through the rest of their lives, they depend on each other and experience displacement, revolution, imprisonment as well as failed love affairs, and the joys of domestic tranquility. It is only at the end of their long lives do they acknowledge their deep love for each other. ( )

Historical Fiction of Spanish Civil War/Franco, WWII France, and Chilean Pinochet repression from late 1930s to 1990s. Following the lives of an extended family and an eventual Doctor named Victor Dolmau. I listened to this on an audio CD with Edoardo Ballerini narrating. His reading was OK but not brilliant. This was an enjoyable work by Ms. Allende, but not her best of the 5 other books by her that I have read. ( )