El viento conoce mi nombre
Isabel Allende
Publicado: 2023 | 204 páginas
Novela Histórico

Una conmovedora novela de violencia, solidaridad, amor y redención, que narra las historias entrecruzadas de dos niños unidos por el desarraigo.Viena, 1938. Samuel Adler es un niño judío de seis años cuyo padre desaparece durante la Noche de los Cristales Rotos, en la que su familia lo pierde todo. Su madre, desesperada, le consigue una plaza en un tren que lo llevará desde la Austria nazi hasta Inglaterra. Samuel emprenderá una nueva etapa con su fiel violín y con el peso de la soledad y la incertidumbre, que lo acompañarán siempre en su dilatada vida.Arizona, 2019. Ocho décadas más tarde, Anita Díaz, de siete años, sube con su madre a bordo de otro tren para escapar de un inminente peligro en El Salvador y exiliarse en Estados Unidos. Su llegada coincide con una nueva e implacable política gubernamental que la separa de su madre en la frontera. Sola y asustada, lejos de todo lo que le es familiar, Anita se refugia en Azabahar, el mundo mágico que solo existe en su imaginación. Mientras tanto, Selena Durán, una joven trabajadora social, y Frank Angileri, un exitoso abogado, luchan por reunir a la niña con su madre y por ofrecerle un futuro mejor.En El viento conoce mi nombre pasado y presente se entrelazan para relatar una historia sobre los sacrificios que a veces los padres deben hacer por sus hijos, sobre la sorprendente capacidad de algunos niños para sobrevivir a la violencia sin dejar de soñar, y sobre la tenacidad de la esperanza, que puede brillar incluso en los momentos más oscuros.

Toccante.
E intendo letteralmente perchè anche stavolta, come ogni volta, Isabel Allende mi ha toccata dentro con quel suo garbo inconfondibile.
una penna che ci presenta (sempre, da sempre e quanto vorrei che fosse per sempre) personaggi vivi e in questo caso una storia che è potente perchè sa di vero
(grande ammirazione per Elena Liverani)

"Non siamo scomparse. Il vento conosce il mio nome e anche il tuo." ( )

Read July 2023

Two families, two immigrant stories. Samuel Adler was sent away from Austria on the Kindertransport after Kristallnacht in 1938, first going to England and eventually settling in the U.S. Anita Diaz came to the U.S. from El Salvador with her mother, Marisol, in 2019 but they were separated and she's in the foster care system while waiting for her court case to potentially grant her asylum.

It's obvious that Allende cares deeply and knows a lot about asylum seekers immigrating to the U.S. Unfortunately, the story here is superseded by her theme, and the result is an expository, clunky, didactic book that I wouldn't have finished if it weren't for book club. I could pick a sentence or two almost at random to illustrate the style, so here's a random taste from early on: "That afternoon, the stink of dread stirred up by the wind was suffocating, making him feel dizzy and nauseous. He decided to turn away the patients left in his waiting room and close up early. Surprised, his assistant asked if he was ill. She'd worked with the doctor for eleven years and had never known him to shirk his duties; he was a punctual, methodical man." Information about every character is presented in a similar way, and we get an extensive back story for everyone by this detached omniscient narrator that randomly tells readers things that happened before, filling in blanks between time periods (the story spans 1938 to 2020 and jumps in time a little, while mostly focusing on 2019-2020), and even sharing what will happen to a character in the future. The point of view changes among various characters: besides Samuel himself, a woman named Letitia who came to the U.S. after a massacre in El Salvador, Anita - whose first-person narration, as she talks to her (dead) younger sister Claudia, was the only one I could connect with - and Anita's social worker Selena. And then, because I was so focused on the mechanics of the story instead of the plot itself, little things that didn't make sense, like how a Californian lawyer is suddenly practicing law in Arizona with no explanation, really bothered me. I could go on, but I'll stop there. I read and enjoyed [Zorro] several years ago, and I know that Allende's work is highly regarded, but this one was a miss. Not recommended. ( )

This novel begins with the story of a six year old boy in Vienna in 1938, beginning with the terrible night when his father disappears and he and his mother take shelter in the upstairs apartment of a war veteran while their own apartment is vandalized. He is later placed on a train filled with other Jewish children and sent to live out the war safely in England.

Then, in 1981, another child it taken to the city by her father for healthcare. While she is there, the residents of her village in El Salvador, El Mozote, are all murdered by the military. She and her father flee north to the United States and attempt to put together a life in this new country.

And in 2019, another young girl and her mother arrive in Arizona after a dangerous journey from El Salvador. They are quickly separated and while Anita is terrified, she ends up with allies, an immigration advocate and the lawyer working pro bono. Their first task is to find her mother.

The stories of these three children intertwine over time, and that story is both harsh and lovely. Allende is making a point here, about how damaging being left alone can be for a child, but also how desperate a parent has to be to let a child go in the hopes that they will at least survive. She is interested in what happens in the new, strange place, when the people around that child are not necessarily nurturing or welcoming and the lasting damage done, but also the people who are willing to open their hearts to these children. Allende herself founded a non-profit helping children immigrating to the US and her knowledge of the situation is clear in her writing. ( )