Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Wind Knows My Name

Ese libro intentó cubrir demasiado. Aprecié que Samuel y Anita experimentan cosas similares en situaciones y épocas diferentes, pero no sentí el impacto. La mayoría del libro no incluye conversaciones ni los pensamientos de los personajes, solo párrafos largos de información. Siento que nunca llegué a conocer a los personajes más allá de la superficie, y por eso no logré conectar a nivel emocional.

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anaisjessica's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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himpersonal's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

In some ways, a very different kind of story for Allende, and in others, still so clearly her voice writing about the issues important to her through multiple generations. An important story that needed to be told.

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boekentrol's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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hagen69's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Deeply emotional and thought-provoking. Pretty on-the-nose with little space for ambiguity. No thinking of your own required.

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boxcar's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A soul crushing examination of the horrors and trauma of the loss of parents. Allende connects a jewish child whose parents were murdered by Nazis with a Salvadorian girl who is separated inhumanly from her mother at the US border, never to see her again. Human cruelty and the way marginalized groups are treated are forefront. I think that Allende went a little overboard with the different perspectives, and while none are first-person or totally confined to one person, there are like four different perspective chapters, it got a little confusing. When all of the different perspectives converged, it made it worth it, but for the first 100 or so pages it felt disjointed. I really enjoyed this book and the overwhelmingly compassionate approach Allende has towards humanity. Through her fiction, this book included, she shines a light on various injustices to humans, many of which I am blind to as a white man living in Pennsylvania.

Allende is my favorite author, I think that's clear at this point. I would like to outline some gripes I have with her though, present in this book but also throughout her work.

- pedophilia and sexual abuse of children is present in nearly all of her works. This isn't to say she glorifies it! The abuse is heinous and is written in no vague terms as evil and disgusting. I think stuff like this needs to make you uncomfortable, and it certainly does! Isabel Allende was sexually assaulted by a man as a child, and I can't imagine the trauma that entails, and I don't doubt that is a huge factor in its prevalence in her works. One of my favorite thing about her as an author is how much her characters and stories are infused with her voice, her life. Reading Paula and some interviews really gave me a different understanding of her fiction, so many parallels between life and writing. As a reader, I just want one or two books where she doesn't include child sexual abuse. As an author, she can write whatever the hell she wants, and I love her for doing just that. Ya dig?

- so many characters cheat! I know monogamy isn't some morally righteous position, and it isn't something that a "good" person needs to exemplify. It's just hard for me to like a character that is virtuous in all regards except for being unfaithful to a partner. Allende herself has been open about her own infidelity/affairs, and like every other part of her and her life it finds its way into her fiction. It's often more nuanced than a man or woman simply cheating for the sake of cheating, and love strikes quickly and doesn't take heed of societal expectations, at least in the world of Allende. I suppose that gets to the core of the matter. I love how Allende portrays love as visceral, impassioned and inevitable. It's a force to be reckoned with in her fiction: her romances are more profound to me than any other author, a big part of my love for Allende. So I get behind that love, feel it and then there's infidelity! Again, it's not a bad thing, and she's absolutely smashing it at making me feel complicated emotions. It's just sometimes disappointing, you know? But, that's life. Not a critique of Allende of an author, but rather me as a reader, I suppose.

(I hope no one reads these, I kinda write them without considering it's public.)

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