I absolutely loved this elegant, charming, interesting and above all humorous love-letter to Chile and Chileans. Allende beautifully describes the history and amazing geography of her country, and the typical traits of her fellow country people, warts and all. Their love of bureaucracy and laws, their seriousness and pride, their lack of rhythm but their skills as love-makers, their loyalty to the Catholic Church and their dedication to classism. Chile is (or at least was) a country where family meant everything and to bring shame on your family was the worst thing anyone could ever do, hence secrets were kept locked up tight!!⁣

This book is written in a casual, meandering style, and Allende makes no apologies for this. She writes a lot about memory, how it flows and how it works. How it changes over time and how no two people will remember the same thing in the same way. ⁣

And throughout the book, Allende shows us how her country, for better and worse, has shaped her as a writer and influenced what she writes about. Descriptions of Chilean politics are included in the book and for me, these were the least interesting parts. However, it’s kept to a minimum and serves as a backdrop to Allende’s own story, which involved fleeing Chile a couple of years after Augusto Pinochet took over the country in a military coup in 1973. Allende was a journalist and a liberalist, and not one to keep quiet, so she was in danger. Therefore I didn’t worry too much about understanding the ins and outs of the politics, just how it related to Allende’s life. ⁣

Highly recommended for anyone who likes an interesting, charming and funny (but serious!) memoir. Oh and this was written and published first in Spanish then translated to English by Margaret Sayers Peden. And you would never know! By far the best translation I have ever read.⁣