Member Reviews
Like so many of Allende's books, this one is an important read. The novel mainly takes place during the pandemic, though Samuel, one of our main characters, lost his parents in the Holocaust.Most of the novel evolves around our current border issues where children are separated from their parents, as we follow Anita, the young girl who is separated from her mother, and Selena, the young social worker, and Frank, the young attorney who helps with the asylum case.
Unlike other of Allende's novels, the prose in this novel is more factual and rushed, making it less pleasurable to read, at least for me, who missed her more rich sentences. There weren't many surprises in the novel, but at least the novel reminds us there are humane people who care about others during tumultuous times.
Another gorgeous story by Allende. Noone does women of Sputh America, women in general, better than Allende. She manages to find the beauty in the horrific. Told from the point of view if multiple immigrants, we see intoned lives, the power of survival and perseverance for the human spirit.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
Isabel Allende can craft a tale, and bring strong women to life. And interesting men too, for that matter. This book weaves together three sympathetic characters, and a host of others, linking their tales of survival. We start off with a small Austrian boy, sent to England in the early days of WWII to escape the holocaust. Then a girl who survives the brutal massacre of her village in El Salvador in the early 1980's. Finally, one of the children forcibly separated from their parents crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. in the recent past. How these lives are woven together takes Allende and her readers to a place of compassion and humanity in spite of the violence done in the name of politics and greed. My only complaint is that she is not very subtle in expressing her point of view, more from an artistic standpoint than any disagreement with her.
Wonderful read and true to author style. Setting and characters a joy to follo.w.easy flowing story. A delight fior any group and will recommend to all and good club read
I couldn’t stop reading this! It starts with young Samuel in Austria at the beginning of WWII and Carrie’s the story to modern day USA. Anita is separated from her mom at the border while seeking asylum. This book was beautifully written and one of Allende’s best!
This story is about how two young children, one a boy in 1938, Austria, Samuel Adler, six years old and Jewish, had to leave his family during the war, and his mother had secured a spot for him on the last Kinder transport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to the United Kingdom, where the children were fostered by families until they could be reunited with their own families.
Decades later in 2019 Anita Diaz a blind seven year old girl and her mother Marisol worked their way from El Salvador to Arizona fleeing danger in El Salvador, hoping to seek refuge in the USA. However, their arrival coincided with the new family separation policy, and Anita and her Mom were separated
This story takes us back and forth in these two lives as people along the way reach out to help them, care for them and love them.
This story is also about another Salvadorean woman Selena Duran who is the social worker, assigned to Anita. Selena Duran's family was killed in a massacre In El Salvador and she had fled there years ago, she is adamant on finding the separated parents for these children.
What a well told story, wonderful characters and settings throughout, you will get to experience wonderful connections in this story.
This Author is another one of my favorites, she writes beautifully and engages you in the story right away.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for a copy of this book.
Thank you to random house publishing group for this opportunity to read rage and review this arc which is out June 6 2023
I have loved this author since her first book in the 90s. She is word sorceress and a story weaver. This book was moving, powerful and impactful with our world today. It is told in dual POV. One is little Sam in 1938. He is out on a kinder transport train out of Austria to England. His story broke me.
The second POV is Anita in 2019. She and her mother come to Arizona on a train from El Salvador. It speak on the policy of separation of immigrant kids from their parents. I was an uncontrollable sobbing mess.
This felt real to me. It felt like my heart was ripped in two and I loved every second of it. This is a must read book.
This is the story of two children, separated by age and by country of origin whose stories run on parallel roads. Each torn from their families, brutalized and forced to make their own way in strange new lands, their stories separated by years, the trauma of one echoing the trauma of the other.
Peter Adler is forced to flee Germany in 1938 after the events of Kristallnacht devastate his family. He is brought to England, by way of a Kindertransport, where he must cope with the effect of separation from his family and suffer the brutal lot of a child with no friends or allies. Anita Diaz flees a corrupt and murderous regime personified by an evil security guard who has taken a fancy to Anita's mother. This time, it is the policy of the US government which effects the separation of a child from her mother. Yet, somehow, fortune and a pair of dedicated advocates unite the two refugees amidst a worldwide pandemic and they begin to help each other heal.
As with Violeta, Allende populates her story with strong, likeable women who must separate themselves from the men around them in order to live the lives they want and need. As with Violeta, she brings us into worlds few of us would know and makes them vivid through the power of her storytelling. I read this book over the course of two nights, finishing at 230 in the morning still wide awake with the power of the story. I am very grateful that I was given this ARC by Penguin Random House and Netgalley in turn for an unbiased review.
Allende is a brilliant author, and the story contained in this book is an important one, but I didn't feel like the work overall was well-executed. The novel meandered and was a bit repetitive and needed some brutal editing. I cared about the characters, but they fell flat and I didn't find them believable. Allende's other works are lyrical and show a depth of character that was remarkable; this one was lacking. I wanted desperately to love this story, and to feel it, but about halfway in, I began to wonder if the book was submitted against a deadline. It just didn't feel full.
Allende is such a heartfelt moving author. Her characters become so real you feel you are right there in the room with them. Samuel Adler is a Jewish child transported on the last Kindertransport never to see his family again who die during the Holocaust. Anita is removed from her mother’s arms in the US after seeking refuge fleeing El Salvador. The resulting story is moving reminding me of the sacrifices people make for those they love. Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #TheWindKnowsMyName.
Gorgeous book! Each story is perfectly woven into the other. I cried happy tears as the book came to a close. This tale brought me so much joy during such dark times. Allende handled such sensitive but real topics with care and respect. I can’t wait to re-read this book!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for the advanced reader’s copy of the book in return for an honest review.
3.8. Isabel Allende is a very talented writer and I very much enjoy her novels. Although I liked this novel and found it very poignant, I just personally felt it was a wee bit more political for my taste. The premise was good and focused on separation and loss of parents among very young children and the profound impact on them throughout their lives, mostly emotionally. The story weaves around very young children who are separated from their families: Samuel lost his parents when he was sent to London with other kinder during WWII after Kristallnacht in Austria, Anita who was forcibly separated from her mother after crossing the border into the United States after a treacherous trek from El Salvador to escape from a person who was terrorizing her mother., and Leticia who lost her mother and other family members to a Salvadoran death squad who erased a whole village on the false premise the occupants were “communist.” The story is about the pain of loss, parental separation resulting in the children living in foster homes or orphanages without knowing what happened to their parents and forever hoping to be reunited, the legitimate plight of immigrants including escaping from horrors and atrocities inflicted on innocent populations, but it also shows love, compassion, the strength and temerity of the human spirit in spite of daunting odds and circumstances beyond a persons control, and the oppression of women generally. All characters were very well defined. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for a candid and unbiased review.
This book definitely pulled on my heart strings. Anita is such an amazing young lady, taken away from her mom at the border to enter the United States. Anita had to go through so much at such a young age. Reminded Samuel of his life as interrupted by the holocaust. Such similar situations many years apart. Now it is only women being killed and tortured. Such a compelling likeness.
As I was reading this book I got so mad, so upset, and also felt some hope and love this book made me feel so much! I wish I could do something to help the current situation with our borders
This was a great book that I will be recommending to everyone I know!!
Thank you to net galley for this earc copy.
I enjoyed the 3 different perspectives/stories and how they intertwined with each other due to many factors including war, immigration and covid.
I have read one other book by isabel allende and I am willing to read more . her writing style is unique and very descriptive. At times it feels like it drags on for not good reason. the first book by her I dnf'd , however I finished this one. I like the character development and I love how her stories involve real life events from different timelines that we find out intertwine with each other is some way. the storylines were easy to follow and you get invested in all of the characters.
overall I rate this a 4 star rating . it was hard to get into but once I did I enjoyed the stories involved.
Though not my favorite book from the great Isabel Allende, I appreciate her take on the Covid pandemic through her trademark characterization and political lens. A sweet story of found family, this novel shows that the care and support from others can be a source of hope and safety for those who have lost everything.
Allende’s new novel blends historical and current events, and she tells it with detailed imagery and entwined relationships. The story reminds us that although distance, age, race, and religion may separate us, there is still an underlying sense of familiarity. As a human race, we still have a connection, and I saw that in Samuel and Anita. Allende reminds the reader that the spirit of our loved ones never leaves us, no matter how tragic the experience is, and these characters face severely harsh and horrid moments. There’s also a moment that makes me think that a child’s imagination can be the best refuge. If you’re a sensitive soul, prepare to cry. If you enjoy Allende’s ability to provide all the details she delivers, be prepared to pay close enough attention to the chapter you’re on so you can recall whose story you’re on, the back-and-forth switch between characters is my reason for the four stars.
Thank you, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC and a fascinating new read.
This is a poignant and moving novel that brings together a cast of characters that you can't help but root for. It's so gut wrenching when a story begins in Europe in 1938, because we already know from history what is going to happen over the next seven years; the atrocities that will be carried out by Hitler and the Nazi regime. Samuel, at the age of five, is put on the Kindertransport to England by his mother to save his life.
In a dual timeline in 2018, Anita Diaz is spirited out of El Salvador by her mother to protect them and escape possible massacre by guerilla soldiers. However, after a long journey. mother and child are rudely separated at the US/Mexican border. The stories of both Samuel and Anita open our eyes to the injustices endured by children over the decades who are involuntarily separated from their families. Samuel and Anita had some of the same experiences; group homes, foster homes, abuse, subpar educations, and loneliness. What was supposed to be a temporary situation in their lives, in order to escape brutality, turns out to change their lives forever and eventually brings them together.
With beautiful prose and extraordinary tenderness this author paints a sweeping portrait of unforgettable individuals who experience tragedy and triumph and end up finding each other.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for giving me the opportunity to read and review a digital ARC of this novel.
I always look forward to a new Allende book, and this one did not disappoint. The novel links the stories of man who, as a child, lost his family in war-ravaged Europe during WWI and an El Salvadorean girl who escapes violence in her country only to be separated from her mother at the U.S. border. It's a powerful story about how children suffer from the world's brutality. At the same time, the story is infused with love and hope.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 starts is that sometimes the summary-style writing and lengthy backstories didn't provide the buoyant reading experience Allende often provides, even when writing about difficult things.
Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy.
Well told tale that makes the tragedy of child separation at the southern border personal. As usual, Allende does not disappoint.
Isabel Allende remains one of my favorite and consistent authors. Her early work of magical realism drew me in. Still, in the past 15 years or so, she's shifted focus to historical fiction - often tied to her familial experience as an emigrant from Chile. The Wind Knows My Name is reminiscent of her other recent title, "A Long Petal of the Sea," in that it focuses on refugee crises throughout the years. However, "The Wind Knows My Name," is the first of her books I can recall that is set in the present and a direct commentary on American immigration policy. It is an incredibly successful rendition of the horrors of crossing the US border from Central America, the dangers that push people to make the dangerous journey, and the challenges of social workers and attorney's attempts to challenge the US immigration of policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Some will find her approach to be a bit too on the nose.
Nonetheless, she beautifully weaves the similarities between the Jewish Holocaust immigration challenges with those perpetrated by the United States during the Trump administration. The book calls upon the reader to reflect upon the real people who risk everything to seek asylum. Once again, Allende grabs you from the beginning and forces you to consider real people regardless of your political position.