Sum of Our Days
by Isabel Allende
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 276)
Read in May, 2008
This is a sweet and absorbing compendium of the goings-on in Allende's family in the years since her daughter's death. Though it recounts heartaches and sadnesses, the overall tone is wry and upbeat. It's really just a tale of life in a kooky but loving extended family, with emotions and ups-and-downs that a lot of us can relate to--not the specific events, of course, but the general feelings. Not that many of us take regular trips to the Amazon or India, have a daughter-in-law come out of the c...more
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Read in May, 2008
Wow, what a rollicking read. I kept having to remind myself that this was a memoir and not one of Allende's novels. Lesser women would have crawled into a hole having lived through the tragedy and day to day uproar of her life, but Isabel Allende just keeps drawing the hurt and struggling into her family circle and that extended family supports each other and moves forward together. She is truly a matriarch who, as she admits, sometimes needs to be reined in a bit.
Sometimes she needs to reac...more
Sometimes she needs to reac...more
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While Allende's fiction books (such as The House of the Spirits) have never grabbed me, this memoir is one of the best books I've read in a long time.
Allende wrestles with understanding her family- and love-life after the death of her daughter. Her writing, at turns poignant, elegant and humorous, conveys the peculiarities of her relationships with a range of eclectic people. Yet the themes she wrestles with are universal; how to balance change and continuity in relationships, the double-edged...more
Allende wrestles with understanding her family- and love-life after the death of her daughter. Her writing, at turns poignant, elegant and humorous, conveys the peculiarities of her relationships with a range of eclectic people. Yet the themes she wrestles with are universal; how to balance change and continuity in relationships, the double-edged...more
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hmmm I read the English version, but it doesn't show up here. I could leave you with the impression that I can read Spanish but...
I am a huge fan of Isabel Allende's in fact I would count her as one of my favorite authors. This being said I wish she would stick with fiction. Unlike fiction real life doesn't have an over-riding theme and thus this memoir became a series of random memories with no particular beginning or ending. And what a cast of characters! Are they truly real people ...more
I am a huge fan of Isabel Allende's in fact I would count her as one of my favorite authors. This being said I wish she would stick with fiction. Unlike fiction real life doesn't have an over-riding theme and thus this memoir became a series of random memories with no particular beginning or ending. And what a cast of characters! Are they truly real people ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Meagan, Donna, Jenn
I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't imagine that a memoir would capture my attention and make me want to keep reading but this book was so good and her writing style so engrossing that I didn't want to put it down. I love her family and their dynamics!!! After hearing Isabel Allende interviewed on NPR about this book I knew I had to read it- just listening to her talk about it inspired me so I bought it the next day. I recommend it to all but especially to those who read her fiction as many o...more
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Read in August, 2008
Allende's gossipy tale of her family/"tribe" seems like the sort of thing that would eventually be written by someone who aims for a book a year, always started on the exact same day. That doesn't make it any less interesting. Having a smart, funny woman telling about her life and the people important to her kept me engaged as I puttered around the house, and I enjoyed the little tidbits about how and when she had written various other books. So, good read to pass the time, just not...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
This is a very entertaining follow-up to Isabel Allende's painful memoir, PAULA, which describes the long illness leading to the death of her beloved daughter at the age of 28. SUM consists of deeply personal vignettes from the author's personal life since that tragedy. It is written in the form of letters to Paula. But, in true Allende style, the author faces horrific events with an attitude to be envied. Her sense of fatalism and humor never cease to amaze and entertain. This author is definit...more
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Read in July, 2008
It was moving and enlightening. The description of feelings and the evolving of relationships was well written. The underlying sadness was always there, but somehow there was still always a glimmer of hope. She feels like a friend, and to her friends she is as loyal as she is to her family. Her ability to make the reader understand where she is coming from and explaining her stance based on her latin upbringing is fantastic. This is the first of any of her books I have read, and I will defi...more
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Read in April, 2008
I picked this book up meaning to read just a couple of chapters before finishing my taxes. Four hours later, my tax papers were still sitting in a file. Ms. Allende writes to her late daughter Paula of the family's life since Paula's death. Ms. Allende pulls you effortlessly into her warm world of work, family and friends. Sometimes when I read a translated book I wonder what I am missing by not being able to read it in the original language. That did not occur to me with this book - the pro...more
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Read in April, 2008
I LOVE Isabel Allende! Though not as good as Paula, this book is still engrossing. What I love about her, is that not only does she admit fault in certain areas of her life, she writes about them, so the entire world knows she's a little over-protective of her adult son, but she does it with such humor that you don't really think of it as a fault. I love her fiction books, but I really love her non-fiction, because then I can hear her voice, because it is filled with such humor and grace.
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I read this book in between breastfeeding, changing diapers, eating my meals, sleep deprivation..
and I made sure that I had time to read it! It's that good!
Allende is straighforward, passionate, hilarious, and intimate in writing her memoir.
As a non-famous person it amazes me to think that someone with her famous author life, that she actually has a normal life - a life like all the rest of us do - where you have to deal with the hardships of family problems.
and I made sure that I had time to read it! It's that good!
Allende is straighforward, passionate, hilarious, and intimate in writing her memoir.
As a non-famous person it amazes me to think that someone with her famous author life, that she actually has a normal life - a life like all the rest of us do - where you have to deal with the hardships of family problems.
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A Another excellent, fascinating memoir by Allende. She looks at how she had deal with her life since Paula's death, picking up where PAULA left off, telling the tales of divorce, love, heartbreak, fun, growing older, and life, in her "tribe," her family...I love Allende, and love this book. I want to hug her after reading it. A must for any Allende fan (but read PAULA and MY INVENTED COUNTRY first).
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Read in April, 2008
This book was great -- I was really excited because I had gone to a book reading by Isabel Allende that was by far the best and most entertaining book reading I had been to, and this book definitely met the high expectations I had after that book reading. This was an entertaining, fast-paced, humorous memoir that was a lot of fun to read. I'm glad I read it!
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Read in July, 2008
Picking up where Paula leaves off, this newest book by one of my favorite writers chronicles the lives of Allende and her family since the death of her daughter. Amazing as always, Allende firmly believes (and thus makes me believe) that love will hold sway over the world, even during the most difficult times when you fear it has gone forever.
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Read in July, 2008
Anytime I pick up a new Isabel Allende book I'm hooked and can't put it down. This was no exception. I always feel as if she's talking to me and I get completely engrossed with the narrative and the characters. This autobiography was no exception...and to find she's married to a Willie (as I am)...made it all the more delightful.
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Read in April, 2008
Who knew Isabel Allende had such a sense of humor? I saw her read excerpts from this at a book reading in Chicago, and she had us all cracking up. Of course, this was not as gripping as Paula by any means, but it provided neat insight into the author's more recent life/influences for her stories.
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Read in April, 2008
This is a memoir of Isabel Allende and I just kept thinking, "Wow, she's annoying". She keeps talking about her tribe (very Bay Area, very self-congratulatory) and how they "put up with her..." Blah, blah. I guess because I found her difficult, I found it a hard story to like.
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I knew I liked Isabel Allende from reading "House of Spirits," and even though this book is a memoir, it still carries Allende's characteristic mysteriousness. It is an easy read and anyone who has read her other works will find it fun to hear some of her characters mentioned.
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Read in May, 2008
I didn't think I would ever be as engrossed in a memoir as with "The Glass Castle", however this one comes in a close second. A very interesting person, who ia not afraid to admit faults and "quirks" in her personality and her extended family.
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Read in April, 2008
I have read all of Isabel Allende's work, and this one is up there with my favourites.
I was completely drawn in by the story and her family, who she (slightly annoyingly!) refers to as a 'tribe'.
A wonderful evocative read.
I was completely drawn in by the story and her family, who she (slightly annoyingly!) refers to as a 'tribe'.
A wonderful evocative read.
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