"She did not believe that the world was a valve of tears but rather a joke that God had played and it was idiotic to take it seriously if he himself never had."

The privileged granddaughter of an upper-class Chilean family recounts four generations of history by weaving together her grandmother's diaries with her own experience in surviving revolution.

A multi-generational family saga at its finest! Thinly veiled behind the shroud of magical realism and political censorship, Allende brings the turmoil of 20th century Chile to life through her unique and eccentric characters.

I love short stories for the quick glimpse they give into a life I haven't lived. But there is nothing like an epic. To spend hours upon hours learning a multitude of intricacies and details about people brought fully to life, unambiguous, no questions unanswered, motivation fully fleshed out, it is a generous gift from a great writer.

Clara the clairvoyant, the matriarch who won't allow anyone to be named after anyone else simply because it confuses her journals. Esteban the enraged, the patrón who did wrong to every woman he touched besides the green-haired granddaughter who shouldn't have been born. Blanca the defiant and Alba the revolutionary. Ooh, I am both richer for having known these people and emptier for having to leave them behind.

Allende's writing is simple and direct, while simultaneously swirling with magic and unstated meaning. Her world is harsh and it is only by plainly stating the truth that she softens this reality. She regularly employs foreshadowing and time jumping, qualities that usually annoy me. Yet I fell in love with her 20 years ago and the experience of reading her debut has only reinforced her position as one of the most powerful female writers of our day.