Discovering a new favourite writer-Isabel Allende

I'm choosing carefully my favorite writers, and I prefer usually to read several works before listing him/her as one of my favorites, but it seems that I just picked up the right novel from Isabel Allende. However, I'm sure that very soon i will read more from her works as with the first one my attention was captivated and I can state that she is a great novelist. This feminist writer is from Chile, but living nowadays in California, had an interesting and adventurous life, she is a wife, mother, grandmother, friend and last but not least a successful, bestselling author. According to her, in every novel she is exploring a part of herself, in every story lies something more or less from her life or her personality.

I have just finished her novel entitled 'The Sum of Our Days' and it had a great impact on me. Isabel Allende has the gift to tell some facts which will become personal for the reader, will make him/her to think, to see life with different eyes and to be more grateful for what he/she has. This impressive memoir presents her family, each member having a very complex personality, sometimes even scandalous, though they are a great team, a 'tribe', as the writer defines it.
The narrative is very vivacious, giving an insight to the sorrows and joys of this unique family. It presents different moments of their lives, being very much concentrated on the pain of losing the beloved Paula, Isabel's daughter, to whom she is addressing directly in the novel very often. Sometimes it seems as a letter to Paula, telling what happened after her departure.

'The Sum of Our Days' is not a good memoir to read, it is an example of how to go on in life after a big loss, how to remember and have the memory of the beloved dead person with you every day without feeling pain, but acceptance, it is an experience of life. She writes about love, death, spiritualism, drug addiction and other aspects of life without making judgement, but making to reflect. Reading this novel wasn't just a lecture, it was an experience, and my next acquisition will be Isabel's novel 'Paula', written in the memory of her dead daughter, because I'm sure that she has very much more to offer with every novel, and especially with the memoir of her daughter.

A captivating novel - The Aviary Gate

      I read this novel two years ago, after I discovered it in the small town-library from Beaconsfield. It catches my eyes and as I saw in the short presentation from the cover of the book that it is based on Oriental historical events, I took it immediately. It was a very good decision, because even after two years I consider it a great book, and I recommend it. One of my friends mentioned that she is reading it and it is a wonderful lecture, so I decided to write down some ideas, because it would be a waste to lose them.
      The novel is structured in two stories, on different temporal, spacial levels and of different cultural backgrounds. It gives an insight to the exotic and mysterious world of the sultan's harem in Istanbul from the year 1599, but also in the dilemmas of the modern life in England. Both stories are built around two female characters, who lived in different epochs, different cultures, one represents the woman of the past and the other is the example of the contemporary woman,  and had totally different fates, but the narrative brings their lives very close at a certain moment.
      Reading this novel is like a constant travel in time. The temporal contrast is very well accentuated by the two women, Celia and Elisabeth. Curiously, their characters are not realized with the same intensity. We will discover a well-built and tragic character in Celia, but Elisabet's characterization is fade, indirect, the reader has to discover independent her personality. Celia's story dominates the narrative, Elisabet's is quite sketchy, spiced with romance.The differences won't stop here. Istanbul, the city has an important role in the lives of these women. For Celia it means slavery and she will find her tragic end there, but for Elisabeth it is a place for escape, for discovery and romance.
      After a shocking beginning, the book captivates the attention providing interesting details from the Oriental world and culture. We get a vivid picture of the seclusion of the harem, giving the impression of realism. The reader enters to a forbidden place, where almost nobody had access. It is a mysterious place webbed with intrigues, gossip, drama, hopelessness and betray.
      'The Aviary Gate is an impressing, captivating novel, which offers an exquisite travel in time, space and culture.

Keep smiling and love life

        I have just seen a very nice blog for decorations where I saw this title and gave me the idea for this post. It passed in my mind immediately that we don't know to love and appreciate life. With the problems and the routine of every day we miss many many sources of beauty, joy and happiness.

       We are overwhelmed by negative thoughts and the hunt after money, and we don't notice the good things life is offering us: the sunshine, the beauty of nature, the sun rise/set, a child's smile, the view of a colorful park, a funny picture or event,etc.

      Does it seem better now? After seeing these pictures I realized that it would be even better to see this kind of things in 'original', and we don't have to search too much. It is necessary to find a corner of nature or observe more the people who are passing near us and we will be amazed how many beautiful things we can discover. They are near us, just that we don't give them attention . Our problems, every day cares are taking all our energy and vitality, until we will arrive frustrated, who know just to complain and transmit negative attitude toward everything.
      This mentality is totally wrong and it is the generator of many many problems from depression to serious illnesses. Positive mentality is a therapy in itself, and combined with the appreciation of every good thing in life, it can make miracles. In place of staying in front of the TV, being frustrated and thinking how miserable is life, a walk in the fresh air, in the sunshine, enjoying the scents of nature will change the disposition.
SO LET'S TAKE THE WALKING SHOES AND START TO ENJOY NATURE AND LIFE!!!
      

Turn a page of life

Why blogging?

       There are moments in life when reasons, goals and expectations are destroyed, annihilated by our own faults, fears and frustrations. One could accept and get conformed with this situation as there are so many examples of such behavior around us, but it is not my case. It can't be as it would mean for me to comply with monotony, melancholy or maybe depression, and that is not me. I could be some years ago, when my personality was still vulnerable and needed always a support to not fade, but today I rely on myself and on the power to do something for the others, to try to be an example who admits her faults and weaknesses, but has always the strength to move on and can get up always after a fall. 

       Last year had many changes in my life, I had to experience many states and feelings which led to a point where I realized that I must stop and make an evaluation. I felt that everything what once defined me is lost, all the plans, hopes and expectations betrayed me. But I didn't lose my dreams and the energy to restart, the desire to want more. "So nothing is lost!" I said to myself, at least not something what I can't retrieve or rebuild. These 26 years I lived weren't boring or easy, I've had experienced good and bad, happiness and sadness, love and loss, success and failure, desire and rejection, and I could continue with an endless line, so I realized that I want to share many thoughts, wishes, experiences and struggles, but especially I want to save them. My personality and every feature of my character is the result of the experiences I had, of the events occurred in my life, of the relations I had with each person I entered in contact, all the feelings I have ever felt, the attitude I had toward all problems and issues and so on. I have apparently a series of things without end again, which makes me even more eager to speak, and in the same way to explore more deeply their senses and values in life.

        The desire to discover the world, but especially myself is the driver of this blog. I don't want to waste nothing more which could bring me closer to the world and which could drop me in the mysteries of my dreams, desires, feelings and passions. Life is like a running river, its flow will never go back just forward, but it depends just on us what we take with the flow, what we leave behind and how pure or how chaotic is this stream. How we live our life depends just on us, and LIFE IS WORTHY TO LIVE ON ITS HIGHEST INTENSITY. This is what I want to share with you in my blog.