DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Three narrators—three very different voices—draw the listener into three tragic stories of suffering and survival that converge on a wintry night in Brooklyn. The listener clearly experiences the dramatic backstories of the three main characters: Lucia, from Chile; Evelyn, from Guatemala; and Richard, an American who once lived in Brazil. Each of the narrators, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jasmine Jones, and Alma Cuervo, embodies the tone, personality, and pain of his or her characters, with Cuervo providing the most genuine performance. Listeners may become so engaged in the characters’ histories that they experience a jolt upon being brought back to the present and the narrative about the minor car accident that draws these three people together. E.Q. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Booklist
"Allende has a rare and precious gift for simultaneously challenging and entrancing readers by dramatizing with startling intimacy such dire situations as the desperation behind illegal immigration and domestic violence, then reveling, a page later, in spiritual visions or mischievous sexiness or heroic levity."
National Book Reivew
"[Allende] continues to beguile readers with themes of social justice and love, tied together with a bit of magical realism. In this vivid and fast-paced work of fiction, [she] weaves a suspenseful love story, rendering [its] central trio with generosity, spirit, and passion."
Woodbury
"The contrast of a modern-day mystery with the characters' magical worlds of South American culture, makes In the Midst of Winter an absorbing, page-turning adventure."
BBC America
"Isabel Allende’s masterful blend of history, suspense, and rising passion makes for yet another riveting novel."
CBS' WATCH! Magazine
"Isabel Allende brings her poetic and compassionate eye to In the Midst of Winter, [which] is being compared with her masterpiece The House of the Spirits."
The New Orleans Advocate
"The lesson is clear in both book and life—passion is possible. So is survival and change and making a difference in the world, in Isabel Allende’s grand and inimitable style."
RT Book Reviews
"Allende's latest tale is heartfelt and raw... The interactions between the characters is well thought out and deep. Readers will come to love them and experience the heartbreak and joy both of their past, present, and future."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A syntactically beautiful story with the twists and turns of a telenovela and warmth at its center."
Newsday
"Devotees of Allende’s forays into magical realism (The House of Spirits, The Stories of Eva Luna) will find the universe she creates here—an account of earthly lives lived in an earthly setting—more madcap and macabre."
Chicago Reader
"Allende uses imagination to help readers gain a better understanding of what the immigrant experience is really like for many people in this country."
The Seattle Times
[In the Midst of Winter] forthrightly embraces both harsh realities and whimsy, pleasure and pain in this buoyant adventure, a heartfelt story of resilience and respect that seems just the thing to help us through these darkest of days in our land of exiles.
San Francisco Chronicle
"It’s when revealing the characters’ harrowing past lives in other countries that the generous and unflagging energy that characterized Allende’s debut, The House of the Spirits, can most clearly be felt."
People
"A timely message about immigration and the meaning of home."
Booklist (starred review)
"Allende has a rare and precious gift for simultaneously challenging and entrancing readers by dramatizing with startling intimacy such dire situations as the desperation behind illegal immigration and domestic violence, then reveling, a page later, in spiritual visions or mischievous sexiness or heroic levity."
theSkimm
"The latest from the writer who's been called Gabriel Garcia Marquez's successor. It's a love story that covers a lot of ground, from Nazi-occupied Poland to present-day San Francisco. You won’t want to put it down."
Book of the Week People Magazine
"Allende's engrossing narrative spans 70 years of tumultuous world history, but the powerful message you'll take away is that love — all kinds of love — will take root and endure under the most harrowing conditions."
Elle
"[An] epic novel from a master of the form."
USA Today
With The Japanese Lover, Allende reminds us that, while not everyone has a true love, we all have loves that are true. Whether they be passionate, familial, unrequited or timeless,the one constant in our lives is love. And Isabel Allende celebrates them all, beautifully.
Miami Herald
"Like the incomparable storyteller she is, Isabel Allende does not release us from the novel's spell until the last pages, with a brief but bittersweet hint of her famed magical realism."
Associated Press Staff
[Allende] is a dazzling storyteller, with a wry, sometimes dark, wit and a great eye for society's changing fashions. She may be writing a fairy tale for adults, but like the best of the genre, it's almost irresistible.
New York Times Book Review
"[A] fairy tale of a novel...As in all of Allende's fiction, we find a large, colorful cast of characters..."
Harper's Bazaar
"Monumental...A multi-generational epic of fate, war, and enduring love."
Boston Globe
"Poignant, powerful ...a timeless world without 'tomorrow or yesterday.'"
The Washington Post
Praise for The Japanese Lover
"The Japanese Lover is animated by the same lush spirit that has sold 65 million copies of her books around the world... a novel that’s a pleasure to recommend."
Library Journal
06/01/2017
In this latest from supreme humanist Allende, 60-year-old human rights scholar Richard Bowmaster feels he's hit the end of the road—and one snow-blown Brooklyn night really does hit the car of Evelyn Ortega. Young, undocumented Guatemalan Evelyn later appears at his house seeking help, which sends him scurrying to his tenant, Chilean lecturer Lucia Maraz, for advice.
DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Three narrators—three very different voices—draw the listener into three tragic stories of suffering and survival that converge on a wintry night in Brooklyn. The listener clearly experiences the dramatic backstories of the three main characters: Lucia, from Chile; Evelyn, from Guatemala; and Richard, an American who once lived in Brazil. Each of the narrators, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jasmine Jones, and Alma Cuervo, embodies the tone, personality, and pain of his or her characters, with Cuervo providing the most genuine performance. Listeners may become so engaged in the characters’ histories that they experience a jolt upon being brought back to the present and the narrative about the minor car accident that draws these three people together. E.Q. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
