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Completing the trilogy that includes her bestselling novels Daughter of Fortune and The House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia is a stunning novel about memory and family secrets Set at the end of the nineteenth century, Portrait in Sepia is a richly imagined historical novel featuring the colorful and intrepid del Valle family. The protagonist, Aurora del Valle, suffers a brutal trauma that shapes her character and erases from her mind all recollections of the first five years of her life. Raised by her ambitious grandmother, the regal and commanding Paulina del Valle, she grows up in a privileged environment, free of the limitations that circumscribe the lives of women at that time, but tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal by the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she decides to explore the mystery of her past.… (more)
User reviews
I have not read Daughter of Fortune, which apparently precedes this tale. Although there were allusions to the previous history of several characters, I did not feel as though this story suffered from a lack of more information about them. If it suffered from anything, it would only be the inclusion of more than I’d ever sought to know about Chilean political history. :)
The Epilogue is short, but so poignant. Should you consider it a spoiler (although I don’t believe that to be so in this case), be warned, for I copy half of it here:
‘Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of, and so embroider the broad tapestry of our lives. Through photography and the written word I try desperately to conquer the transitory nature of my existence, to trap moments before they evanesce, to untangle the confusion of my past. . . . In the end, the only thing we have in abundance is the memory we have woven. Each of us chooses the tone for telling his or her own story; I would like to choose the durable clarity of a platinum print, but nothing in my destiny possesses that luminosity. I live among diffuse shadings, veiled mysteries, uncertainties; the tone for telling my life is closer to that of a portrait in sepia.’
Interesting story; well imagined and well told. I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed this book which tells the story of Aurora del Valle & the secrets her family kept from her. Throughout the story we meet the usual contingent of whacky aunts & uncles, gentlemen callers, & strong women who defy their time & society's limitations. The book was partly set in San Francisco & I liked that, too, although I think she writes about Chile with more conviction than she does about the Bay Area.
I agree with those felt that this wasn't Allende's best work. Certainly when compared to The House of the Spirits or Eva Luna, it lacks something undefinable, but perhaps soul is the correct word. I was struck by the narrator's claim at the end:
"Each of us chooses the tone for telling his or her own story; I would like to choose the durable clarity of a platinum print, but nothing in my destiny possesses that luminosity. I live among diffuse shadings, veiled mysteries, uncertainties; the tone for telilng my life is closer to that of a portrait in sepia."
Maybe that's the ultimate problem - this narrator's voice lacks the vibrancy of others the author has written. A good read, but not outstanding.
I'm not denigrating the psychological effects of witnessing a personal tragedy, or saying rich people can't be unhappy; just that it didn't make for compelling reading in this particular book, especially against the background of poverty and war that Allende provides. The most interesting parts, for me, were catching up with the characters from Daughter of Fortune and seeing the seeds planted for The House of the Spirits (both of which I very much enjoyed). There are several more engaging characters than Aurora, which make the book worth reading; including Severo and Nivea del Valle, the parents of the main characters in The House of the Spirits. The Chilean history is also interesting and well integrated. I would recommend Portrait in Sepia for folks who want the bridge from Daughter of Fortune to The House of the Spirits, truly enjoy character-driven fiction and/or are interested in Chilean history. For those who like more plot-driven fiction, this will be a disappointment.
The hallmark of all these stories is the presence of strong women, all of whom defied the conventionality of the time and went on to do what they wanted with their lives. Although Portrait in Sepia is narrated by Aurora, the granddaughter of one of the characters who appears in Daughter of Fortune, the central character of the story is Paulina del Valle, an eccentric, imperious woman who is in incredibly sharp businesswoman, living in San Francisco at the story’s opening. Eventually, she and Aurora live in Chile, surviving two wars.
The history that forms the background against which the characters move is fascinating. Not only do we get the political and military history, but also the customs, attitudes and social mores of the various levels of Chilean society during that time.
But nothing compares with the characters that Allende draws, especially the women, both conventional and non-conventional. It is through their eyes that we learn what is occurring politically, through their eyes that we see the outcomes, through their eyes that we observe the movers and shakers of Chile.
Portrait in Sepia doesn’t have any magical realism in it, but it doesn’t need it--the events of the times are bizarre enough without any fabrication. And Allende can write.
I was born in the early morning, but in Chinatown the clocks obey no rules, and at that hour the market, the cart traffic, the woeful barking of caged dogs awaiting the butcher’s cleaver, were beginning to heat up.
Not only is she wonderfully descriptive, but powerfully imaginative, incorporating eccentric details into the story that leave you marveling.
Portrait in Sepia is worth reading if only for the history, but the central characters are unforgettable, and some of them will go on to their fates in House of the Spirits .
Highly recommended.
great read. couldn't put it down. third book of isabel allende; want to read more of her books
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Took me a while to get into it, but it really is very well written, full of vivid characters and with a definite South American, magic
Audiobook note: The narrator was fabulous, and very convincing (although I'm no scholar of Spanish or Chilean native, so I could easily be deceived.)
This book was sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time, and I was looking forward to reading it
Allende obviously has talent, but this title at least was not particularly in my favorite writing style -- her sentences are lengthy, paragraphs go on for pages, and there aren't really chapter divisions. It felt very dense to get through and too much like "work" instead of enjoyment.
The characters were interesting and quirky, but sometimes felt a little one-dimensional. In addition, because the book kept jumping around in time (and small perspective shifts as well), it felt difficult to get a real handle on a character as they kept being reintroduced. I later found out this book is technically a sequel to one of Allende's other titles, so perhaps reading that first might have helped. However, I just don't think it was my cup of tea.
This is the third book Allende has written about the Del Valle family. Though it was the last published, in chronological order it falls between Daughter of Fortune and House of the Spirits, but can easily be read as a standalone novel. The sweeping scope of this
I love Allende’s writing. There is a decidedly Latin beat to the flow of her sentences. And her descriptions are full of sensory highlights – the reader smells the sea air, feels the quality of fine fabrics, suffers in the tropical heat, hears the cacophony of a busy marketplace, and tastes the herbs and spices of Chinese or Chilean cuisine.
The characters are larger than life and run the gamut from a wealthy Chilean grand dame to a Chinese herbalist to an English butler and a Serbian physician. I greatly appreciated the family tree printed in the text version, and wished that I also had a map handy to help with the geography.
While she is known for magical realism, there is little of that in this book, aside from a reference to the ghost of Aurora’s grandfather being ever present. I think I need to go back to House of the Spirits and read it again….
Blair Brown does a fine job performing the audio version. She has good pacing and enough skill as a voice artist to clearly distinguish the many characters.