A Long Petal of the Sea is a recent historical novel from Isabel Allende. It appeared in Spain in 2019 and in the US in 2020. To read my other recent book reviews, you can check out:
This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger
The Impossible Girl, by Lydia Kang
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
A Long Petal of the Sea has all the makings of a great book. It begins in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, one of the most important, if overshadowed, conflicts of the 20th century. The Dalmau family become refugees as the Spanish fascist Francisco Franco achieves victory during the war. They end up fleeing to Chile via refugee camps in France, but the family becomes scattered in the process. After reaching Chile, they try to find family and friends displaced by the war while putting their lives back together.
Like I wrote, this has all the makings of a great book. War for drama, refugee camps to pull on the heartstrings, and trying to reunite family to give a sense of hope. Add in the Spanish Civil War, with all the lessons it has to teach, and the story has everything a book needs.
With all that buildup, it’s hard to understate how disappointing A Long Petal of the Sea was.
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A Long Petal of the Sea – What Went Wrong?
I can’t give you any spoilers on this book because I stopped 59% of the way through. Given that I can count the number of books I’ve never finished on my fingers, that’s saying something. But the writing was, well, amateur. The vast majority of the 59% I did read was just the author telling me things. The story had very little dialog and very little emotion. I don’t need the author to state what the Spanish Civil War was like. I’ve read Homage to Catalonia and plenty of European history books besides.
I find it strange that A Long Petal of the Sea got published as it is. When most authors write in this style of just informing the reader about things and skipping dialog, it’s called an information dump, which is a sign of a lack of ability. Usually, editors cut this out. Yet, when a Published Author™ does it, we’re supposed to regard it as mastery of language and craft, apparently. Perhaps the expectations for novels are different in Spain?
Hopefully, that doesn’t sound too bitter or mocking. It just shocked me to see as I was reading. This story should have produced loads of drama and emotion, and I barely felt any. And, like I wrote at the start of this post, I had such high hopes when I read what the book was about. So, I’ll score A Long Petal of the Sea 3 stars out of 10, even if most of the world that loves this book would tell me I’m nuts.
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As always, I welcome constructive and polite discussion in the comments section. Thank you!
Having read many novels by Isabel Allende (magical realism at its finest), I found your critique fascinating. Her fictional works are full of vibrant colors, odd happenings (she follows in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s footsteps but with a feminine tone), fairy-tale like wonder, and characters that are odd and lively. I was also interested as I just taught the poetry of Neruda and lectured on his poem in response to Guernica. My hopes for this book were high, but the description you provide makes it seem that the work lacks the power of her earlier prose. That is incredibly sad. I wonder if she is more interested in churning out works and making money than she is in continuing to hone her craft. She was a fine novelist. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Jennifer – this was the first novel by Allende that I’ve read. I know she’s a veteran novelist with a large following, though, another reason I was really looking forward to trying one of her books for the first time. I saw no magical realism here, as far as I read, or lively characters. Just a bunch of narration of things I mostly already knew. Most of the rest of the world seems to think the book is great, though. Maybe the description of Franco and fascism in Spain just struck a chord with people? To me, the book had so many chances to be dramatic, but just let them pass by with narration. Not sure what else to say – perhaps her older books are better, but after this one I’m not sure I’m willing to spend the time to find out.