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The author of The House of the Spirits and The Stories of Eva Luna returns with the tale of one man's search for identity as he struggles to overcome a childhood of neglect and poverty. His quest takes him from the tough barrio of Los Angeles to law school in pursuit of the American Dream.

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Library Journal Review

This novel by renowned Chilean author Allende ( House of Spirits , LJ 4/15/85) is the story of Gregory Reeves's journey from childhood to middle age and long-sought peace and happiness. Gregory's journey is marked by the contending philosophies of his mother's Bahai faith; his father's personally revealed, metaphysical explanation of the universe, called ``The Infinite Plan'' (the selling of which provides the family's income); and the traditional Catholicism and sense of nostalgia that permeate the Latin barrio where Gregory lives as a child. Though the book is not provocative and the plot is somewhat predictable, it is held together by a deep interest in the colorful, enchanting characters and their evolving relationships to one another. This is recommended for all fiction collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/93.-- Sherri Cutler, Brennemann Lib . , Children's Memorial Medical Ctr . , Chicago (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

A richly embroidered, ambitious tale, Allende's latest novel charts one man's spiritual progress against five decades of history and cultural change. Allende relies less on her customary magical realism (The House of the Spirits ) than on concrete, often graphic details in her first attempt to depict North American characters and settings. Greg Reeves, the son of an itinerant preacher who claims that life is governed by an infinite plan, spends the latter part of his childhood in the L.A. barrio where his family settled when their father became ill. His best friend and soul mate there is Carmen Morales, the daughter of a hospitable Latino family. The novel follows Greg and, to a lesser extent, Carmen through turbulent experiences as each searches for identity. Greg discovers several different kinds of racial discrimination in the crowded barrio; later, he taps into the social and sexual revolution in Berkeley; and he suffers through the crucible of Vietnam, from which he emerges determined to become rich and powerful no matter the cost in morality or peace of mind. He enters into disastrous marriages with two beautiful women, both of whom, he belatedly realizes, resemble his passive, remote mother; he also fails as a father. Allende's intensely imagined prose has clarity and dimension; she describes the exotic and the mundane with equal skill. The rambling, diffuse narrative nicely mirrors the random quality of life itself: Greg discovers that ``there is no infinite plan, just the strife of living.'' In portraying Greg as all too human and fallible, however, Allende risks making him an unsympathetic character. By the time he gains insight into the emotional factors that govern his personality (``at last I felt in control of my destiny . . . the most important thing was to search for my soul . . .''), readers may have tired of his self-destructive behavior. 100,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; BOMC alternate ; author tour. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

On the basis of only three novels and one collection of short stories, Allende, niece of the Chilean president killed in a 1973 military coup, has earned a high place in contemporary Latin American literature. Now a resident of the U.S., Allende has relocated her fiction to her new home: her novel is set in various places in California and her protagonist is a recognizably American type caught up in distinctively American situations. Gregory Reeves was born the son of an itinerant lay preacher whose answer to the meaning of life is encapsulated in a personal philosophy he called "The Infinite Plan." Despite his father's pretense of worldly wisdom, Gregory grows up financially, socially, and emotionally disadvantaged; adulthood, on the other hand, sees him from Vietnam to law school, through a legal career, and marriage, but it's a rocky road he still must traverse to garner success. While not set in her native South America, Allende's latest novel nonetheless rests on a thematic framework common in the fiction of that area: the perpetual yet unanswerable question of whether there is really method to life's madness. An artful blend of aching realism and provocative meditation that is sure to please Allende's growing audience. (Reviewed Feb 15, 1993)0060170166Brad Hooper

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

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 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)