The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende, trans. Margaret Sayers Peden, Harper, due out April 1, 2008. 320 pages.
January 8 is a very significant day for Chilean/American author Isabel Allende. It was on that day, more than 25 years ago, that she sat down to write her first novel, the immensely popular House of the Spirits which has been translated into some 30 languages and was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.
And so it is that on the eighth of January each year, Allende begins writing a new book. She says “if I let January 8 pass without writing, then I won’t be able to write the rest of the year.” She starts the day trembling with doubts. “More than anything, I fear becoming deaf, that I won’t be able to hear the silence,” the wellspring from which her stories come.
Luckily, she found in the silence inspiration for her latest book, a memoir entitled The Sum of Our Days. Here she talks to her daughter Paula who died at the age of 28 from complications arising from the genetic disease of porphyria. Allende tells Paula all that has happened to her and to the family in the thirteen years since her daughter died.
Even though there are notes of sadness and melancholy, and tragic events such as the loss of Jennifer, the drug-addicted daughter of Allende’s second husband, lawyer/author Willie Gordon, the memoir triumphs with the indomitable spirit of Allende and her family.
Encouraged by her husband, Allende built her own “house of the spirits,” Chilean-style on the cusp of a hill in California. There she enjoys living “in tribe,” as she describes it, with members of her immediate and extended family, and, at times, including her beloved friends. She writes “From May to September, we heat up the pool like soup, and the house fills with our own children and others, who seem to materialize out of thin air, and with friends who drop in unannounced, like the mailman. More than a family, we are a village.”
The events of her life and that of her family and friends could well serve as scripts for a soap opera. The difference is that the characters are real and beloved people who suffer through the upheavals.
Examples:
Defying all odds, the hapless Jennifer became pregnant and when poor Sabrina was born prematurely, the doctors did not hold much hope for her survival. But the little one survived overcoming enormous physical problems.
Given the busy, demanding careers of Allende and her husband, and realizing that at their age they were incapable of raising the baby, the author confided in her circle of friends who call themselves the Sisters of Perpetual Disorder. “We were six fifty-something witches: two Christians, one authentic Buddhist, two Jews by birth but half-Buddhist by choice, and me, who hasn’t decided yet.” One of the ‘Sisters’ knew a lesbian pair, Fu and Grace, who, after ten minutes of deliberation, decided to adopt and raise the spunky Sabrina. Naturally, this small family was also integrated into the Allende tribe, “the blessed community where joys multiply and sorrows are divided.”
If it weren’t for the strong bond of love binding the members of the family, it could well have been destroyed when Celia, wife of Allende’s son Nico, fell in love with Sally, the fiancé of Jason, Willie’s stepson. Even though her husband frequently advises her, “Don’t interfere,” interfere is exactly what Allende did. It is her nature to fight tenaciously like a tigress to defend and keep her family united.
Fans of Allende’s work, will appreciate what the author reveals about the inspiration for several of her books such as Zorro, Daughter of Fortune, and Inés of My Soul. She also gives insight into the busy life of a successful writer. She warns that “to write a novel, you need to be crazily passionate about it.”
The theme of family is what holds together the parts of this book. That and the technique of writing as if she were speaking directly to her deceased daughter. Sometimes the chapters are connected, building on and developing the same story. But others don’t have as much to do with each other, giving the feel of this memoir that of reading a diary. Allende has written other memoirs including My Invented Country and Paula.
Review and translations from the Spanish are by Cathleen C. Robinson.