“Recounted in the voice of a young woman in search of her roots, Portrait in Sepia is a novel about memory and family secrets “, says the jacket copy. I saw it as not so much the telling of a mysterious mystery, but of the lives of a fascinating family. I really enjoyed getting to know these people, so real were they to me, as an onlooker in San Francisco to the life of privilege lived by some of them, and to the life of working hard and giving back of another part of the family; then travelling with them to Chile and witnessing how their lives changed with health issues, and during the time of political unrest; and watching as Aurora grows into her Self, with her camera as her help.

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. ( )

An excellent story from first to last ( )

I like Isabelle Allende. She's a wonderful storyteller of sweeping epics populated with people who might appear ordinary, but are far from it. Reading her books feels to me like sitting with my Mississippi grandmother & her sisters listening to their stories of my family's history (everybody's family has some magic in 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. ( )

Isabel Allende has written a trilogy of novels that span the history of Chile from 1843 to the 1960s. The first one she wrote, House of the Spirits, was actually the last in the series. Then came, in order of publication, Daughter of Fortune, which was chronologically the first, and introduced a family that would become important in the rest of the story. In 2001, she published the linchpin book, Portrait in Sepia, which spans the period from 1862 to pre-World War I.

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. ( )

to be read