The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir
by Isabel Allende
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In this memoir, Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of tragic loss--the death of her daughter, Paula. Recalling the past thirteen years from the daily letters the author and her mother, who lives in Chile, wrote to each other, Allende ... recounts the stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her that becomes a new kind of family. Throughout, Allende shares her thoughts on love, marriage, motherhood, show more spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory. Here, too, are the amazing stories behind Allende's books, the superstitions that guide her writing process, and her adventurous travels.--From amazon.com. show lessTags
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by Cecrow
Member Reviews
This memoir is the most self reflective of Isabelle Allende's 3 memoirs. I really enjoyed how it gave me much more of a insight into both Isabelle herself and the writing behind some of my much loved novels of hers. I want to re read house of the spirits ( again!) and the infinite plan now I know a bit more about the writing of them. It was also heart warming to see that the author I so admire is probably a most lovable nightmare to live with! she reminded me of my mother some what: small in stature but fierce in heart and with family the greatest thing of all.
parts of this just shine and others wouldn't matter to anyone outside her family. still, i think those who know her from her books would enjoy this, especially as she gives some backstory to the books she writes and what inspired them. she's mostly not someone i think i'd want to know personally, but she is surrounded by interesting people and family and is quite a character herself.
Memoir of Isabel's life after the death of her daughter Paula. She discovers and embraces a "new kind of family" that is based on shared experiences (fun, support, etc) that bind us to one another.
This definition of family is relevant and current. I liked reading that someone who identifies family as an important anchor in our lives, has found a successful way to make a new kind of family that is different from what you are born to/or create through marriage and birth.
Nice to read! As always, she is insightful, honest and comes across as someone I can deeply admire.
This definition of family is relevant and current. I liked reading that someone who identifies family as an important anchor in our lives, has found a successful way to make a new kind of family that is different from what you are born to/or create through marriage and birth.
Nice to read! As always, she is insightful, honest and comes across as someone I can deeply admire.
This book is a sequel of sorts (for lack of a better word) to Allende's earlier memoir, Paula. I found the writing style in this book to be far less intense, precise, evocative, and engaging. Yes, her "tribe" and their various different trials and issues are still mostly interesting, and I found some wisdom in her words and perspectives. However, I felt a distance in her words and emotions that were not present in Paula. Of course, she is covering a much longer span of time in Sum of Our Days (1993 - 2006) without the anchor point of Paula's illness, so perhaps I am seeing the difficulty of writing across a large expanse of memories with the same focus and presence as was found in Paula, which only encompassed the span of one very show more difficult year - even though so much of the book discussed her entire family history. By the end of the book, I almost got the impression that maybe, she is done with writing for a while. I sensed a kind of a weariness with the process. I certainly don't feel that she has another memoir in her - I got a feeling that she cameto a point where she was even boring herself while writing it, and eager to be done with it! show less
When Isabel Allende’s daughter Paula passed away, her entire life and family structure changed out of necessity. This book, written to Paula, is mainly about that family, changing and growing and loving, interspersed with her own feelings and successes. We get an inside look at her writing, her beliefs, and how she does it all. This book truly sums up the days of her family.
I found this book extremely compelling. I’ve read and loved several of Allende’s books and having an insight into her life was amazing for me. I knew so very little about her. I also found it relevant to my own life because I’ve watched my mother deal with her grief over losing my brother and so I felt deeply for Isabel as well. It’s impossibly hard. I’ve show more actually recommended that my mom read this book because I found it heartening; Isabel finds meaning in her life even though the hole is always there.
Isabel paints the characters of her family in a way that makes us feel like we know them, that we could bump into them on the street. I was amazed at some of the intimate details she revealed and am not sure I could deal with the world knowing such things about me, but by the end of the memoir, they are our friends too, and we want them to get through their own individual struggles and hardships.
I’d very much recommend this memoir. Not only is it an insight into Isabel’s life, but she highlights many issues that she and her family members struggle with. I think many people would not only enjoy this work but benefit from thinking about what she has to say.
http://chikune.com/blog/?p=573 show less
I found this book extremely compelling. I’ve read and loved several of Allende’s books and having an insight into her life was amazing for me. I knew so very little about her. I also found it relevant to my own life because I’ve watched my mother deal with her grief over losing my brother and so I felt deeply for Isabel as well. It’s impossibly hard. I’ve show more actually recommended that my mom read this book because I found it heartening; Isabel finds meaning in her life even though the hole is always there.
Isabel paints the characters of her family in a way that makes us feel like we know them, that we could bump into them on the street. I was amazed at some of the intimate details she revealed and am not sure I could deal with the world knowing such things about me, but by the end of the memoir, they are our friends too, and we want them to get through their own individual struggles and hardships.
I’d very much recommend this memoir. Not only is it an insight into Isabel’s life, but she highlights many issues that she and her family members struggle with. I think many people would not only enjoy this work but benefit from thinking about what she has to say.
http://chikune.com/blog/?p=573 show less
I really enjoyed reading about Allende's family. She talks of many challenges and doesn't hold back when it comes to giving her opinion. She's frank and honest and I admire that. Writing about your own family cannot be easy. One thing that really moved me is that she addresses Paula, her daughter that passed away, as if she is still there. As if she is just filling her in on what has happened since her illness. I was so touched by this.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the family members and how they called themselves a "tribe". Their strength and loyalties came through for me. Reading this book was like visiting a very close-knit family at dinner time. Warm and inviting. I'm also glad that she shared some of the writing process with show more her readers. I am always fascinated with the creation process. Overall, it was a satisfying memoir and memoirs are not usually my thing. show less
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the family members and how they called themselves a "tribe". Their strength and loyalties came through for me. Reading this book was like visiting a very close-knit family at dinner time. Warm and inviting. I'm also glad that she shared some of the writing process with show more her readers. I am always fascinated with the creation process. Overall, it was a satisfying memoir and memoirs are not usually my thing. show less
Poignant. I can now appreciate her novels with greater knowledge of who she is and how she thinks.
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85+ Works 84,614 Members
Isabel Allende was born in 1942 in Lima, Peru, the daughter of a Chilean diplomat. When her parents separated, young Isabel moved with her mother to Chile, where she spent the rest of her childhood. She married at the age of 19 and had two children, Paula and Nicolas. Her uncle was Salvador Allende, the president of Chile. When he was overthrown show more in the coup of 1973, she fled Chile, moving to Caracas, Venezuela. While living in Venezuela, Allende began writing her novels, many of them exploring the close family bonds between women. Her first novel, The House of the Spirits, has been translated into 27 languages, and was later made into a film. She then wrote Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, and The Stories of Eva Luna, all set in Latin America. The Infinite Plan was her first novel to take place in the United States. She explores the issues of human rights and the plight of immigrants and refugees in her novel, In The Midst of Winter. In Paula, Allende wrote her memoirs in connection with her daughter's illness and death. She delved into the erotic connections between food and love in Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses. In addition to writing books, Allende has worked as a TV interviewer, magazine writer, school administrator, and a secretary at a U.N. office in Chile. She received the 1996 Harold Washington Literacy Award. She lives in California. Her title Maya's Notebook made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2013. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir
- Original title
- La suma de los dias
- Original publication date
- 2008
- Quotations*
- "En estos años sin ti, he aprendido a manejar la tristeza, a hacerla mi aliada. Poco a poco tu ausencia y otras pérdidas de mi vida se van convirtiendo en una dulce nostalgia. Eso es lo que pretendo en mi tambaleante práct... (show all)ica espiritual: deshacerme de los sentimientos negativos que impiden caminar con soltura"
"La tristeza se manifestaba en las noches en vela, la ropa oscura, el deseo de vivir en una cueva de anacoreta y la ausencia de inspiración. Llamaba a las musas en vano. Hasta la musa más zarrapastrosa me había abandonado.... (show all) Para alguien que vive para escribir y vive de lo que escribe, la sequía interior es aterradora". - Publisher's editor
- Ottewell, Miranda
- Original language
- Spanish
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genre
- Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 863.64 — Literature & rhetoric Spanish, Portuguese, Galician literatures Spanish fiction 20th Century 1945-2000
- LCC
- PQ8098.1 .L54 .Z46 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures Spanish literature Provincial, local, colonial, etc. Spanish America
- BISAC
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- Reviews
- 41
- Rating
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- Languages
- 11 — Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 71
- ASINs
- 19