Book Review: The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

About:

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is a novel spanning decades about the plight of refugees. Ms. Allende is a prolific award-winning American-Chilean author.

• 272 pages
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593598105

My rat­ing for The Wind Knows My Name — 4
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More Books by Isabel Allende*

Thoughts:

This novel brings together a cast of characters that probably never would have met without the aid of the author. Even though this is a different kind of book, The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is still a well-written story, with an interesting story and engaging characters.

Ms. Allende focuses on children, and how policies of cruelty use them as pawns. Only the fact that good people have attempted to help them save those children. There is clearly a political agenda in this book, the author leans into it, and it seemed it’s something she wanted to get off her chest for a few years.

The narrative in this book is very lovely, but it drags on in some parts and feels disjointed at times. Here and there the story seems forced. This is a story of survival, however, and that good people, without any power, can make a real difference in individual lives.

I thought that when the two narratives merged together it didn’t feel natural, forced. I also had a difficult time believing that a high-end lawyer and a social worker can spend so much time on Anita’s case. Including globe-trotting travels and a somewhat awkward relationship.

The strength of the book is the characterization. The story is nothing special, I read similar stories over the years. Yet each character in the book feels like a real person.

I enjoyed this book very much; it was easy to read and dealt with relevant issues we hear about daily. Ms. Allende tells a story that shows the commonality between two different experiences across decades.

Synopsis:

Samuel Adler was six-years-old when his mother put him on a train to England after Kristallnacht. In England Samuel, a gifted musician, struggles and hopes he’ll see his parents again.

In 1019, blind seven-year-old Anita Diaz has escaped certain death in El Salvador to seek shelter in the United States. However, she has been separated from her mother, as per the government’s policy at the time.

Buy The Wind Knows My Name from Amazon.com*
More Books by Isabel Allende*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books