Isabel Allende - Portrait in Sepia

In nineteenth-century Chile, Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that erases all recollections of the first five years of her life. Raised by her regal and ambitious grandmother Paulina del Valle, Aurora grows up in a privileged environment but is tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she explores the mystery of her past.

Comment: Last time I went to my local library I've picked this book. Not that I was tremendously eager to read it but since it was available and it's not such a big book, I figured I wouldn't take too long to read it.

Following the usual pattern of this author's initial work, this story tells us the generational tale of the del Valle family by the voice of Aurora, the granddaughter.

Aurora knows her family has always have many quirks and stories but she never thought about it until her own life seems to become complicated to a point she believes it must be the family's way. Therefore, she writes about what happened to the other women in her close family and how she came to be who she is now.

This will be a mini-comment.

This author isn't one I faithfully follow but I tend to enjoy her style from time to time. She always manages to give a lot of information in the often descriptive writing about families. I'd say this author's style is mostly women's fiction, she does focus a lot on the role and lives of women in certain families and how hey have evolved through times, among cultural and historical events. I do like the fact her style is often direct, even she's describing things that might not be too interesting.

Aurora is a good narrator but she isn't always present, so the reader isn't limited to only her perception of things. This can be positive because otherwise a lot of information could be lost and the overall story wouldn't be as captivating.

Of course a huge part of the story is spent over the adventures and lives of the secondary characters and what drove them into being who they were, how they maneuvered the political instability around them from time to time... I think its good we get to learn more about this side of history, namely Chile's, but I must say that despite how interesting, it's not so well done I would say it's all that necessary.

The strength of the novel is clearly the personality of the characters and how it almost seems they are larger than life and accomplish things with such easiness or spontaneity that I can't help but thinking the "magical realism" some people label the author with is certainly quite obvious.

I think, in terms of plot, this is a little too easy, and it's difficult to connect with the characters because they seem to embody some idea and don't really represent believable people. Nevertheless, it was a good few hours spent reading about this and there were moments where I think the emotion was well achieved.

I wouldn't run to read the rest of her work but it's always a safe bet, I'd say, to rely on when someone doesn't know what to read but appreciates family sagas.

Grade: 6/10