In The Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
As the book club leader I picked this book for January. It's winter. Winter is in the title. Why not? I've read other Isabel Allende novels in the past and always found them to be interesting and enjoyable.
I'm just not sure what to say about In The Midst of Winter. Richard Bowmaster is a sixty-ish college professor, set in his ways, living in Brooklyn. Lucia, is his basement tenant also a college professor whose expertise is in the political upheavals of the seventies in her native Chile. They are both looking for a love to mend the tragedies of their pasts.
Evelyn is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. In the midst of the worst blizzard in memory, Richard rear ends her in a traffic accident. He hands her his business card and says to call him to file the insurance claim. When she shows up at his door, he calls Lucia to translate.
What unfolds is each character's tragic story of persecution in south and central American countries. Woven in is the current story set in motion by the car accident. I'm not going to spoil what that story is about but I thought the decisions the trio made together were bizarre. And they made them in what seemed to me to be a very nonchalant manner. But as I continued to read their stories, I realized the past guided their present and their future in a very profound way.
I wouldn't say In The Midst of Winter is Allende's best novel but in the current state of immigration in the United States, there is a lot to be learned from the stories within these pages. Book club is next week. I can't wait to hear what they think.
As the book club leader I picked this book for January. It's winter. Winter is in the title. Why not? I've read other Isabel Allende novels in the past and always found them to be interesting and enjoyable.
I'm just not sure what to say about In The Midst of Winter. Richard Bowmaster is a sixty-ish college professor, set in his ways, living in Brooklyn. Lucia, is his basement tenant also a college professor whose expertise is in the political upheavals of the seventies in her native Chile. They are both looking for a love to mend the tragedies of their pasts.
Evelyn is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. In the midst of the worst blizzard in memory, Richard rear ends her in a traffic accident. He hands her his business card and says to call him to file the insurance claim. When she shows up at his door, he calls Lucia to translate.
What unfolds is each character's tragic story of persecution in south and central American countries. Woven in is the current story set in motion by the car accident. I'm not going to spoil what that story is about but I thought the decisions the trio made together were bizarre. And they made them in what seemed to me to be a very nonchalant manner. But as I continued to read their stories, I realized the past guided their present and their future in a very profound way.
I wouldn't say In The Midst of Winter is Allende's best novel but in the current state of immigration in the United States, there is a lot to be learned from the stories within these pages. Book club is next week. I can't wait to hear what they think.
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