A review by janetreads
The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende

adventurous dark reflective
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I love Isabel Allende, but this felt pale in comparison to some of her other work. So much of the writing — especially the clear visions of place & culture intersects — were so wonderful. But the structure of the story ultimately moves to hold on to just Gregory, who became a less interesting & less sympathetic character during the course of the story. Allende has a mark of hinting at later scenes early in a book— of having a narrator who knows the whole story ahead of time and can reassure you that this character will live on enough to have this satisfying moment I’m hinting at. I love this mark. In her other books, when the hinted-at-scene occurs at last, it has a richness & complexity that the reader couldn’t have imagined when it was hinted at. In “The Infinite Plan” I didn’t feel that. 
All in all, if you’ve read Allende before why not add this one in too? There’s beautiful writing throughout, things to ponder on, etc even if I didn’t find the structure, overarching flow, and ending satisfying. However if you haven’t read Allende before, start elsewhere and enjoy yourself more!!
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