Paula

Very narcissistic.It was all about Isabel A. and next to nothing about Paula.
I did not understand the point of this book when is named Paula and all the author talked about is Isabel's life,Isabel's romances,Isabel's sadness,Isabel leaving her home country ... I mean, i thought i was going to learn more about her daughter Paula and how the family dealt with her illness (Porphyria) and her childhood and so. It is very little mentioned her illness and for those no familiar with it ,it's confusing and leave the readers wondering many things.
The best part is when the author talked about Salvador Allende and the coup, that was very interesting as i remember very little about Pinochet.
The narrative was the thing that kept me reading ,because is good. Althought ,in some parts is a drag and pretty boring .

Her daughter has a rare disease that changes the lives of the entire family. The author devotes time, energy and whatever resources she has to help Paula conquer this malady. As the months pass, the author writes her thoughts about life, Paula and other members of her family to share with her daughter. In addition, she jots down much about herself, what she did and why. The book reveals much about herself and what is important to her. This book is as much about the author as about her gravely ill daughter. I often felt that I was by Paula's bed watching her struggle between life and death. This was not an easy read for me. I found that I needed time to process and understand it so I would turn to fiction to allow me to think internally about the messages within this novel. I found its depth helped me understand some of the illnesses in my own family as I watch members cope with their own health problems and issues. It's a most revealing read.

PAULA ISABEL ALLENDE
Hola, Mama, sé que quizás no puedas leer esta carta, pero de todos modos quería escribirte. No sé si habré heredado de ti esa necesidad de ficcionalizar la vida o los largos meses de inmovilidad me han hecho hacer esto. Agradezco los cuidados que me prodigaste desde que entre en este mundo donde puedo sentir, ver, oler, pero no hablar. Sé que mis grandes ojos te miran a veces desde el umbral de la consciencia, desde esa fracción de alma que aun permanece atada a mi cuerpo. Hubiera agradecido mas si desde el principio hubieses luchado menos por mantenerme mas tiempo a tu lado y me hubieses dejado partir, pero tu orgullo de madre te ha tomado por no solo conservarme viva durante casi un año sino también preservar la parte de mí que esta en el hospital en tu larga carta que ahora todos leen. No serás una premio Nobel mama, pero gracias por el empeño en mantener la imagen de alguien común y corriente que tu cariño de madre transformo en un ángel y en ser lleno de sabiduría. Sé que en este mundo existen seres aun mas perfectos y acabados de los que piensas y con peores fines y vidas truncadas. Alguna vez te dije que buscaba a Dios y no lo encontraba, quien sabe si ahora estoy con él. Esa duda no voy a despejarla yo, debo dejar que tú lo hagas, como debo dejar que cada ser humano encuentre su camino y mi camino era morir para inspirarte vida y un éxito de ventas. Que ironía madre, verdad.? Yo que jamas me afane por lo material me veo convertida en dinero, en unas cuantas paginas de una novela... Gracias también por dejarme ver el lado de Chile que nunca vi, pues estaba muy pequeña, puede que desde tu óptica las cosas no sean más verdaderas que en los libros, pero es la historia tal como la viviste y en eso no tengo derecho a cuestionarte. Sé que la vida continuara sin mí, que Ernesto seguirá vivo y aunque jamas me olvide sobrevivirá a esta crisis, al menos se que tu ya has alcanzado la catarsis con tu larga carta que no termina. Un beso a todos, los amo y desde donde estoy no puedo cambiar la vida, ni los hechos que sucederán, solo puedo mantenerme observadora de las cosas y confiada en que todo saldrá bien
Te quiero. PAULA
Luis Mendez

This book was very highly recommended. Because memoirs are usually full of blame, victimization, and whining, this particular book didn't get purchased, in spite of the high praise it garnered from friends. And then one day it just jumped into my cart, and the journey began with Allende as she examines her own life and speaks to her own daughter lying in a coma in the hospital.
The journey takes one back to the beginning in Chile where Allende's family roots are explored, along with her own life, laying bare her thinking and sometimes her regrets as she looks back on her experiences. This is not a whining work by a Pitiful Pearl who recounts her victimization! This is a lush, rich exploration of the adventures of an extraordinary woman, recounted in words as poetically beautiful as one could find in any genre. Allende is so extraordinarily talented that she made a work of literature from something she began as a coping mechanism while in the hospital. Cutting back and forth from past to present, and from South to North America and thence to Europe, the book is bound together by the beautiful words framing extraordinarily poignant thoughts from a masterfully talented writer. Each tense -- past and present -- is equally fascinating, and each experience in each country is something one cares deeply about the outcome, savoring the journey and the beautiful words describing the experiences.
This book will definitely enrich one's life. Pick it up with an open heart and prepare to be mesmerized by the blazing talent of the writer!! Highly, highly recommended!

When Isabel Allende's daughter suffered a calamatous illness, Allende did what came naturally. She wrote a story. On its most basic level, this book is about a mother who is losing her child. She goes through the stages of grieving, sometimes even arguing with herself on the pages about what might come next. It goes much deeper, though. There is a point in the book when it seems she has discovered she is no longer writing the book for her daughter. A seer told Allende that her daughter would be known throughout the world. At some point in the writing, Allende discovered it would be through her own efforts, not her daughter's.
Allende has so many fascinating pieces in the story of her life, not the least of which is the fact that she is an extremely famous author. She is also a historical figure, being the niece of the Chilean president ousted by a military coup. She witnessed this and talks about it in the book. She was also raised by a man in the Foreign Service of Chile. She has traveled around the world and experienced what it is like to be accepted and what it is like to be rejected. She has been an exile as well. She wonders in the book whether her life has been very interesting. To her, it seemed normal and boring.
This is really one of the best books I have read. The vulnerability with which Allende writes is devastatingly beautiful. In her sorrow, she chooses to share her story and the story of her daughter with us. I feel honored.

This is a really hearbreaking and great work. Allende wrote this book in a hospital in Madrid, when her daughter Paula fell into a coma. It's sort of like a letter to Paula, telling her about the Allende family, and Isabel's own childhood and life. This was such a moving book, especially since Paula never woke up from her coma. It sort of has the feel of The House of the Spirits, because Allende accepts magical and spiritual worlds as a matter of course. I just love Allende's writing, and I really felt for her throughout this book. It was more immediate; it was her own daughter. (Though I did find out that The House of the Spirits was written as a tribute to her grandfather.) Her writing just feels to real and true; it's just wonderful. You really must read at least one of her books.

*You can read all of my book reviews at my blog, novareviews.blogspot.com*

This is such a beautiful book, a beautifully written story of Isabel Allende's life and the life of her family. I was not expecting the book to be what it was in this context - there are a lot of family stories and stories about her life in Chile. The book is fascinating, but is also quite sad as well. Indeed there are many passages about Allende's daughter Paula being in a coma and later in a vegetative state, and these passages, although well written are often times very emotionally difficult to read. My heart goes out to the author - it must have been an incredibly difficult book to write. I found the book easier to read a bit at a time, and as I was reading it in the original Spanish, this was not difficult. It is well worth reading. I waited too long to read this book because I thought that it was going to be nonstop depressing news of Paula in the hospital and for the most part, it really isn't, but it is sad and it probably will make you cry at the end, but go for it anyway - it's good to have feelings to know that you are alive, right?

Initially, Paula was written by Miss Allende with the conscience intentions of reminding her porphyria stricken daughter, who lays dying in a coma, of her family's history, and the unconscience intention of keeping her own sanity through such a trying time. She explains her purpose to her daughter as, "For the time being, I will tell you about myself and the other members of theis family we both belong to-", and this is precisely what she succeeds in doing. Her vivid memoir serves both as an open window to the bizarre and seizing lives of many generations of Allende's family as well as an extremely realistic record of the dreadful struggle to save a dying child. This book causes readers to shed tears from laughing at humorous family stroies and from crying at the death of characters that through such deep description, have become members and friends of their own family. Allende manages to blend aspects of intimate autobiographies
with fiction-like stories. Not only is the book a pleasure to read for the actual story, but also for the wonderful description and Allende's exotic way with words.

Escucha Paula... te voy a contar una historia.
I read this book a few years ago, and many passages are still with me over the years. It is extremelly well written, simple yet very profound and manages to take you through a very sad and painful road we will all eventually go through, in a very loving way, the loss of a loved one.
It sometimes made me laugh, most of the time I had to remove tears from my face to keep on reading, but I am very thankful to Isabel Allende for sharing with me the most difficult time of her life, her story, and her suffering. I had never felt so identified with an author, and never had a book given me the chance to enter the author's mind, heart and soul.
What is trully remarkable about this book is that it wasn't inteded for us to read, it was only meant for Paula, so she wouldn't feel lost when she woke up, and yet you can immediatly identify with what goes on, and sense the everlasting, unmeasurable love of Isabel for her daughter.
It covers many subjects... history, family, war, illness, success, failures, but most of all, this is a book that celebrates life and LOVE.

For those of you who are familiar with this author, I believe this is Isabel Allende's best work. In order to cope with the pain and impotence of seeing her cherished daughter slowly dying, she tells her the story of their family and examines their relationship between themselves and those around them, intertwined with the development of Paula's illness and her progressive decline. The stories are outrageous, droll, sad, endearing, and moving; those who have read her previous books will find many interesting things here to complement them, taken right out of the author and her family's lives. Nobody can resist this mixture of laughs and tears, and the author manages to convey her feelings of despair and sadness, but without too much sentimentalism; it is impossible to pity her, the way she fights with all her strenght to keep her daughter from suffering and the ravages of her disease. This is not only a memoir, but also a mother's testimony of love and courage.

In this book, Isabel Allende downplays her first two traumatic experiences. The central focus is her third trauma, her daughter's illness.

The first trauma is a predator who's incomplete seduction is enough to scar a child; moreover, she sees the man's death. The second trauma is that of her uncle forced from office in an air bombardment and dies (perhaps at his own hand) along with many supporters, precipitating a military coup in which thousands die, flee and/or are tortured. She is not numbed by these, but she is by her third trauma, her daughter's coma.

It took about 100 pages for me to get into it. I almost put it down. After about 100 pages, the breezy language and cryptic metaphors seemed to stop and Allende opened up. She became frank about about her married and extramarital life, but continued to restrain the prose relating the first two traumas. For instance, the childhood predator story is told like it was someone else's. Her uncle is like a stranger, and if how she is related to him is mentioned, I don't remember it. There is some discussion of family members who oppose the uncle, but nothing about their actually knowing him.

There is some of the language of magical realism present in her novels. This book is worth reading for it's description of letting go. There are some vague descriptions (admittedly not the focus of the book) of life in Chile after the coup and life as an exile. I think there is a bigger memoir inside of Isabel Allende yet to be written.

I have read several books from Isabel Allende I can not say
that there is one better than the other!!!, but personally,
I think this is a very special book because you can see how
is the personality of this writer and all the good feelings
she has for her family, life, moments...

On each word in this book you can find many aspects of your
own life: funny situations, sat situations, love, hopes ...
It could reflects anybody's life. The book is also have parts
of others books she had wrote, and is also a biography of her
life. If you really like the author, you will enjoy this
book very much!!!

I do not know if my english is good, but I hope everybody
can understand want I wrote. I am venezuelan, so my language
is spanish. But I could give an opinion in Spanish also.

Isabel Allende is truly a brave woman as she shares a very personal tragedy. The thing that is so refreshing about the book is that while the imminent death of her daughter hangs over your head, Isabel is masterful at telling not only the story of her daughter but the history of a very confusing, wonderful country. I have never laughed aloud and cried by reading words on a page, but Isabel has made me do that. She is an expert story teller. I don't know how the english version stands up, but as someone who has been to her home country and someone who is very interested in literature from Latin America, this (the spanish version for those who can read it) is a must must must read.

Isabel Allende's usual style of thickly descriptive, almost surreal, writing doesn't generally appeal to me. I read Eva Luna, then House of Spirits; after that, I was over it. But this book is different. Paula is the straightforward telling of Allende's colorful family history interwoven with the account of her daughter Paula's death from a rare disease. The economical writing instantly won me over, and Allende's gift for storytelling comes to the fore in the many anecdotes she shares.
While Death is the book's key element, it doesn't overwhelm with pity or sorrow. As Allende distracts herself by writing this book as a long letter to Paula, who lies in a coma for months, the author distracts us as well. Absolutely superb.

This book involves the slow death of Paula, actually Isabel Allenda's daughter and not fiction. As Paula is in the process of taking her last breaths her mother tells her the story of her life, which actually becomes an autobiography. We learn of the family background, of the complexities that reveal the characters, their relationship with one another and the effect in which their lives are bound together. Allende's writing frequently has metaphysical overtones. In her first novel, "The House of Spirits," she has a young girl with amazing physic abilities and a gift for foretelling the future which attracts many people to come to her in order to discover what lies ahead for them. After that the story enfolds with tension that powerfully draws the reader into it with such intensity that it is almost impossible to remove oneself from the power of Allende's words and the plot that she weaves out of her own life. She is constantly at Paula's bedside, watching her last days of life. In this book too, Isabel Allende has a character with physic ability, However this does not play as important a role as it does in "The House of Spirits." Isabel Allende has an enormous vocabulary. She writes with an intellectual insight, as she views her story both from the objective and the subjective point of view. The political aspects of the chaos in her country Chile' adds to the interest of the book. There is no doubt that Allende is a master writer although there are times when I wish she would use simpler words as to make a dictionary not quite so necessary.

Louise Cabral

I first read Isabel Allende when my friend's mother recommended "The House of the Spirits." Later, I told my friend's mother how much I had enjoyed the novel. On that occasion she handed me her copy of "Paula," saying, "Hear. Read this." I obliged. "Paula" is the author's autobiography, written for her daughter, as she tries to nurse her daughter through a rare illness that has left her comatose. Allende visits the events in her past as she copes with the present. "Paula" moved me on many different levels. Allende's story of her own past is captivating. Her present day struggle to heal her daughter is heartwrenching. Despite the sadnesses of the book, it is a book that affirms life. I read it whenever I feel have wallowed in self-pity for too long. It reminds me that it is I who am in charge of my destiny. After crying the many tears I cry when I read "Paula," I feel cleansed, rejuvenated, and ready to live life again.

Kieley Vieweg
B Block
The very touching book Paula was written by Isabel Allende. It was published by HarperCollins Publishers and was copyrighted in 1994. Paula has also been translated from the Spanish version to the English version by Margaret Sayers Peden.
The theme of Paula is hopefulness, as the mother Isabel hopefully awaits the awaking of her daughter Paula from a coma. The main character in Paula is Isabel Allende the mother of Paula. Throughout the book she talks to her daughter about all their family history. She talks about how Paula's grandparents met, and how Paula's father took off when she was young. Isabel discusses how and when she began writing and how she always starts her books on January 8th.
Isabel is hopeful as she awaits for her daughter to wake up for the coma, she talks to her daughter and states how when she wakes up she doesn't know if she will have to retell her life, and how it may take weeks, days, or years. She's hopeful Paula will wake up and relearn the life she once had, perhaps make it the life she always wanted. This results in the theme being hopefulness.
I liked the book Paula, except for some parts seemed very slow. Isabel Allende wrote "however, Chileans are sober, circumspect, and formal, and suffer an acute fear of attracting attention, which to them is synonymous with looking ridiculous.". I liked that Allende not only wrote about her family history and her feelings, she also stated how people as a society are, she didn't just keep it personal, she explored to the outside world.
From reading this book I learned how Chileans are and I saw difficultness of having an ill child. I felt at certain times as if I was Allende experiencing the exact pain she was feeling, I felt the fear of having the uncertainty of knowing someone might not wake up again, the fear of never hearing their voice, or feeling their touch.
I would recommend this book, mostly to girls. I recommend this book because it makes you feel as if the events taking place are actually happening to you. You are able to experience the feelings Isabel Allende felt at the time of her writing. Paula is a very well written book that opens you up to emotions that not everyone feels.

I did not expect to enjoy "Paula" when my English teacher described it as a book full of little stories about the author's life and family. Adding in the fact that it was translated from Spanish, I assumed that I had a long and unenjoyable assignment to complete. But my assumptions were wrong. The translation is wonderful - the writing is smoother that many books first written in English. And the beginning, with funny little anecdotes concerning various family members is very entertaining. Later the book shifts over to focus on Isabel's life, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed wondering what she would do next, from writing in a feminist's magazine, to enlisting superstitious cleaning rituals in order to make a failing business succeed. When I was finished, I was only dissapointed that it had to end - I hope Allende will update us in a few years! I would recommend this to anyone that wants to read about a family and life so funny and interesting it almost belongs in a novel (sometimes it doesn't seem real!) Very fun, and a quick and easy read!

Isabel Allende is by far my favourite author, and I had always thought that 'Paula' was my favourite of her works.
However, stepping back from her books for sometime, then re-reading 'Paula' recently, I have had mixed feelings regarding the work.
The piece strikes me as somewhat more repetitive then I remember. While I completely understand a mother's love and the sorrow Allende must have felt during this period, her laments are almost word-for-word repetition. By far, the more interesting section of the book is that related to the family history and specifically, Paula's personality and place in the family scheme of things. Additionally, the continous use of similar metaphors and talk of spirits begins to wear down on even the most devoted of fans.
Paula's condition is never explained, and while I understand that it is as simple as a websearch, I felt that it was a major oversight to put it in relation to the context of their family.
Likewise, I felt that Paula's life was discussed too little, and Isabel's perhaps too much. Of course, it was Isabel's attempts to make sense of something completely senseless, and thus we can hardly blame her from trying to think of things unrelated to her daughter and ensuing sorrow.
A final criticism, much of the material covered in 'Paula' is again covered in Allende's 2003 biography 'My Invented Country'. If anything, 'Paula' serves as a suitable testment to the woman's extraordinary life.
Don't get me wrong, the work is still of four star quality. The writing is vivid, spiritual and alive, the story is un-put-down-able, emotions are wrenched from within, and the piece has a round cohension of which I truly admire.

This book is a perfect blend of beautiful writting, eccentric and loveable characters, political intrigue, magical events, romance and the pain of loss.
Allende not only takes us through her life and times, but also her most painful and personal experience. This being the illness and death of her
daughter. She does an amaizing job of bringing us through the depths of her dispair and yet never letting us forget the joy that life can hold.
I would highly recomend this to anyone who has ever suffered the joy and despair of love and loss .

Isabel Allende writes in such a way that you find yourself swimming inside her words. The passion with which she writes makes you become as passionate as her. You find yourself living along with her characters. In this particular memoir, the devastating loss of her daughter becomes something more. It becomes a testament to all the wonder life holds. I have read almost all of Isabel Allende's work and fell in love with every single one. She never fails to educate and amuse at the same time.

Though this is definitly a very well written book, as all of Allende's are - there were many disturbing elements to it. The most disturbing element was that Allende states she is writting this "letter" to her dying daughter, and is "cashing-in" on her illness and death. I found this initial premise very difficult to swallow.
I found her discussions of her sexual relations with her lovers disturbing - i don't know how many mothers discuss this with their daughters, nor did i see a need for it.
The whole Chile, Pinochet dictatorship is disturbing beyond reason as she so eloquently describes the brutalities committed by this regime - the loss of life, los desaparecidos, the constant fear of the people, the exilees, etc.
Her daughter's illness and the inability on the part of the doctors and nurses to do anything for her is disturbing and heartwrenching.
Despite these disturbing elements we are privy to the innermost thoughts of a mother in despair over her dying daughter, to the real life experiences of one who lived Pionochet's dictatorship, and to the most interesting life/family of Isabel Allende.
I would not recommend this book to those feint of heart as it is overall a very disturbing book. I would however highly recommend it to those who can stomach such drama and tragedy.

Ms. Allende shares her story of growing up in Chile which is chronicalled while her daughter lies in a coma. She stays by her daughter's bedside and describes her growing up years to her, knowing in her heart that her daughter is listening. A soul-searching memoir that keeps you in suspense. You feel that this writer is embarking on a journey with her past and also with her present. Paula is her daughter and you can see that this author is trying to hold herself together by her art of storytelling during an horrendous event in her life. I couldn't put the book down. It was truly a gift.

Isabel Allende shares with a vast list of authors, García Márquez, Ecco, among them, the passion for telling stories. The author tells us in this extensive letter to "Paula", Isabel's daughter who is in a coma, her own story: her life, a life experienced by other people in the history of many countries. In this sense, her story has been the story of many: dictators are a common enemy to all nations. Dictators like Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, or Pinochet triggered numerous tragedies in history. They imposed the power of a minority by force at the cost of the liberty and equality of the majority.
The once ruler of Chile, Pinochet, forever changed the lives of thousands of people and Isabel Allende is an example. She became a subversive.
In this introspective trip she tells us about the deep scars of a dictatorship, about a way of escaping the horror, about a way to survive in exile, and the pain of leaving everything behind: childhood, family, friends, and homeland.
This story tells us about ourselves in other ways because it construct the frame in which the quintessence of the human being hangs: innocence, ignorance, curiosity, mistakes, love, and death.
Isabel Allende makes evident the fragility and, at the same time, the endurance of the human being, and to her surprise her own. Human mind and body are malleable and thanks to this quality are able to adapt to the most inhospitable of cultures and situations.
And the author tells us about the writting process: a metamorphosis carried by the language from the inner experience to the creature called the novel.
This is a deep story. The author takes you with her on a trip to hersefl and makes you experience her pain and joy, always written with beautiful prose, making this trip worthy.

I've been reading Allende since one of her novels landed on my lap in 1999. The title was "Daughter of Fortune". I've been hooked to Allende since then. If you know Spanish, try to read her in her native language. She is a master of words and her inner ideas will stay with you for years after you read her novels. That's the case with Paula.. it is her most intimate and painful novel yet. The way Allende describes her relationship with daughter Paula will bring tears to your eyes, it will make you laugh and will bring you down to your knees thanking God for being a woman and for understanding OUR view of the world. You will not regret reading this. May we all have Paula's soul.

What began as a family history for a comatose daughter has evolved into a family memoir
written in noveliest Allende's characteristically lyrical style.
Intertwined with the pain of her bedside vigil is the story of her
daughter Paula's ancestors from great-grandparents forward.
We learn not only of their personal journeys and supernatural encounters,
but also of the changing political spectrum in Allende's beloved country of origin, Chile. - Barbara

I read this book in most amazement at the magnificant discription of a life filled with trials and happiness. It really is an intimate account of her life which she has so graciousley put into words. It not only gives an insight into Isabel Allende's life but of a whole generation, a country and a woman's world. It really is a must read for all those looking to put the pieces of a puzzle together, and for those who can amire a beautfiully composed book.

In what begins as a letter to her dying daughter, Isabel Allende crafts what must be one of the most intimate, personal autobiographies ever written. I feel like I know Ms. Allende, and I grieved along with her as her daughter finally died, unable to emerge from her coma. This is more than just a book -- it's an introduction to a family, an author, and a hope for the future.

For those who love the style of Ms. Allende, they will be happy to have read this book about her daughter's illness. I enjoyed the family history and only wanted more detail about the illness and the progression. It was a nicely thought out book and reminds us all that life is so very short. The relationship between mother and daughter was beautiful to experience.

I found this book deeply moving, witty, and beautifully eloquent -- being, like Isabel Allende, also a Chilean living in the Bay Area, I was able to identify with so much in this exquisitely written autobiography... The narrative never lost me for one moment. I think it's her best book to date - in spite of how much I liked 'The House of the Spirits'