THE LONG PETAL OF THE SEA, A NOVEL BY ISABEL ALLENDE

Hello readers and fellow bloggers! In this post, I shall review The Long Petal of the Sea, a novel by Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende. I bought this second hand copy in Split this Summer, and read it in a heartbeat.  Published in 2019, A Long Petal of the Sea is one of Allende's more recent works.  Allende herself describes it in her Preface as 'a story of displacement and love, of sorrow and hope, of a couple trying to find their place in a world torn apart by violence'. The novel is told by fictional characters but it features real historical figures such as Pablo Neruda whose poetical description of Chile the author borrowed for the title of the novel. Yes, it was Neruda who described Chile as the long petal of the sea. Despite being a minor character, the famous Novel winning poet at times plays a key part in the novel's plot, from organizing the flight of Spanish refuges to embodying Chile's national spirit. 

Moreover, The Long Petal of the Sea, describes a series of historical events, and can be described (among other things) as historical writing. The novel focuses on a few characters who experience and survive the Spanish Civil World, and then immigrate to Chile in search of a new life. Allende tells their personal stories and struggles with much affection and emotion. You can tell that Allende grew up hearing their stories. Moreover, Allende also focuses a lot on Spain and Chile in this book, describing these countries during the bloodiest part of the last century. Allende's descriptions of war horrors, concertation camps and violence are sometimes quite graphic, so sensitive readers be warned.

A STORY OF DISPLACEMENT AND LOVE

This book opens with a dedication to Allende's brother Juan, Victor Pey Casudo and other navigators of hope. It continues with Neruda's quote:

“Foreigners, here it is,
this is my homeland,
here I was born and here live my dreams.”

Allende then addresses us with 'Dear reader' and describes her novel in what is basically a Preface (although it is non labeled as one), revealing a connection with her own personal history. As Allende writes, this story of displacement and love: " It starts in 1939 at the end of the Spanish Civil War, when half a million of refuges escaped Franco by walking from Spain to France. There, they were held in concentration camps by French authorities. Thousands died. Faced with this tragedy, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda commissioned an old cargo ship- the Winnipeg- and transported two thousands people to Chile, where the ship docked on the day the Second World War broke out in Europe. The hearts of the Spanish refugees were wounded by loss and separation, but their eyes were firmly set on future.'

So, the author herself explains the key part of this novel, and that is the love story of a couple (initially just friends posing as a couple) who tries to start a new life after escaping the horrors of Spanish Civil War. These two are fictional characters, but the story of Spanish refugees is true enough. Allende tells us how her grandfather welcomed these immigrants, and how she grew up with those stories. However, the novel itself starts before the start of the novel. The narrative is mostly chronological, and we start following the stories of our protagonists from their early childhood, and sometimes even before as we learn the stories of their parents as well. Yes, this is another family saga. Allende dedicates this book to her brother and to Victor. 

Who is Victor? Allende lets us know in the Preface: .'..I heard of the ordeal of Winnipeg in my childhood. But it was not until I met one of the passengers, in Venezuela, that the story truly gripped me. His name was Victor. He lived in Chile for thirty-four years until, like me, he became a political refugee after Chile's 1973 military coup....' Allende goes on to tell us about Victor's life. At 103 years old, Victor was still an active lucid men, and he helped her with the details of life during and after the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately, Victor did not live to see Allende's novel, dying only six day before she could sent him the final manuscript, but he helped the novel come to life. So, it seems only just that the protagonist of this novel is named Victor. 

Allende also writes: 'I have been a foreigner all my life, first as a child of diplomats, then as a political refugee and now as an immigrant in USA. Maybe that is why a sense of place is so important in all of my writing. Where do I belong? Where are my roots? Is my heart divided or has it grown bigger? These are all questions faced by my protagonist in A Long Petal of the Sea, the title of which comes from a quote by Neruda. His poetry has always accompanied me in my nomadic existence.'

THE NOVEL TAKES OFF IN SPAIN 1938 WITH ANOTHER NERUDA QUOTE AND INTRODUCES US TO YOUNG VICTOR

Initially the setting for the novel is Spain. Chapter I opens with  a young soldier, almost a child, a part of 'Baby Bottle Conscription', being received by Victor Dalmau, the protagonist of our novel. Victor was there to assist the doctors, and when the doctor in charge gives up on the boy, Victor cannot bear it and he opens his bandages only to be shocked by seeing his still beating heart. Allende paints a graphic picture of his heart being exposed because of the injury, fully naked to the eye, a vision not unknown to  Catholic imagination. Victor watches in fascination as the heart stops knocking, and for some reason he was never able to fully explain he grabs the heart and squeezes it in a rhymical way, making it come to life again. 

“This was to be his most stubborn, persistent memory of the war: that fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy, still smooth-cheeked, filthy with the dirt of battle and dried blood, laid out on a stretcher with his heart exposed to the air.”

It is this action that saves the boys life. Allende informs us that this was Victor's most persistent memory from the war, saving the life of that fifteen or sixteen year old boy.  That was a choice that determined his destiny in a way. One of the doctor is impressed with Victor's actions and asks Victor to work with him, and this is the start of Victor's road towards becoming a doctor and practising the medical profession. The boy never forgot Victor either, and had tattooed his name on his chest. 

“The young soldier, though, never forgot the name of his savior. As soon as he could sit up and drink water on his own, he was told about the feat performed at the Estacion del Norte by an auxiliary who had brought him back from the land of death. He was assailed with questions: everyone wanted to know whether heaven and hell really existed, or had been invented by the bishops to instill fear in people. The boy recovered before the end of the war, and two years later in Marseilles had the name of Victor Dalmau tattooed beneath the scar.”

This is a family saga and the author gets back to the chronical story-telling after this little digression where we met Victor the solder. However, it takes some time for the story to return to Victor's parents. Allende informs us that Victor has joined the republican army in 1936 like all of the youth his age, and gone off with the regiment to defend Madrid.  In 1937, Victor was assigned to a heroic ambulance where he met and befriended legendary Basque driver Aitor Ibbara. 

THE CHARACTER OF BASQUE DRIVER AUTOR IBBARA IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE ONES

I absolutely loved the character of  Basque driver Aitor Ibbara. He is described as stoic, but also funny, with a joke for every situation. Aitor Ibbara sings his was through dangers and is not afraid of anything. I warmed up to this character immediately. Even though he is not one of the protagonist, Ibbara has an important role to play. In a way, he is like a guardian angel to our protagonist, always appearing when he is needed the most. Initially, Allende describes him as a good influence for Victor, whom he infected with his crazy stoicism. When one has the more need of crazy optimist then in war time? 

VICTOR FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SWISS NURSE ELIZABETH BUT SHE ONLY CARES ABOUT HER PATIENTS

Allende describes how Victor meets Elizabeth for the second time, and finds her more beautiful than ever. They chat about his friend Aitor Ibbara, and she comments on how Ibbara is not afraid of anything. Elizabeth tells Victor that she plans to find another war when this one is finished, for there are always a war somewhere in the world. Victor proposes to Elizabeth, she rejects him but adds he can always count on her for help. Victor asks to kiss her, but Elizabeth says no.

The story does not end there, as Elizabeth appears in the novel again, true to her word, another guardian angel. Elizabeth is another minor character that I really liked. Completely devoted to her patients, Elizabeth is a vision of mercy. Elizabeth tells Victor that she has no time for love, and this seems to be true. Some people find love in their calling and their work. I like how there is mutual respect between Elizabeth and Victor. Even though Elizabeth does not return Victor's feelings, she offers him her friendship and she really means it. There are people like Elizabeth in this world, albeit perhaps not many, who are the best friends one can have, people who do not forget their promises and never go back on their word. These people are rare gems of humanity and they deserve to be praised. It seems Victor is wise enough to understand that, and not insist on the return of affection.

 Just as we cannot choose with whom we fall in love, we cannot make someone fall (or even stay) in love with us. However, we can choose how we behave, we can choose to be respectful and avoid being bitter. Whatever we might feel toward another person does not gives us right to that person. 

IT WAS IN TERUAL WHERE VICTOR AQUIRED NERVES OF STEEL....

'...and medical knowledge that no University could offer him.' , Allende writes. 

Next we learn about how Victor gained his medical expertise in the war. This part of the novel rings very true. Wars are horrible, but doctors who survive them are often the best doctors one can imagine. It could be that work under extreme stress toughens them out. It could be they have to develop nerves or steel and quick instincts in the war. Whatever it is, war time experience really makes a doctor!

Allende tells us of Victor's accident. Earlier it was mentioned he has troubles walking, now we learn about what a grave injury it was and how he nearly escaped amputation. During his recovery, Victor stayed in Barcelona with his parents and Roser Bruegara, the medical student his parents had taken in and that he takes a liking too. Roser is described as a modest and likeable girl who gives Victor's parents the company they lack with their sons being at war.

Victor returns to the front, but is called by his mother Carme because his father only has a short time to live. Victor located his brother Guillem after thirty hours, but his brother repeats the Republican slogan in an answer. Victor shows understanding about his brother's refusal to come, and they say a brief farewell.

'...and Victor was left with a knot in his stomach as he wished for his father to live a little longer, for his brother to return unharmed, for the war to finally end, for the Republic to be saved.'

I really felt for Victor in this moment. All Victor wants to do is for his family to be reunited, but he also understands it is not likely to happen. Victor's dad is probably going to die soon, and without seeing his other son. War is inhumane in so many ways, it tears families and lovers apart. It seems to bring no good to anyone. Why do we as human constantly make war, something so inhuman?

VICTOR VISITS HIS DYING FATHER AND WE LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS FAMILY

'Their father, Professor Marcel Lluis Dalmau, had spent fifty years teaching music. In addition to singlehandedly creating and passionately conducting the Barcelona Youth Orchestra, he had composed a dozen piano concerts....'

So, Victor's dad is an accomplished musician. We are informed that Marcel 'had met his wife, Carme, when she was fifteen years old and dressed in a somber school uniform, and he was a young twelve years older than she was. Carme was a daughter of stevedore, a charity pupil of nuns....'

The nuns have never forgiven Carme for running away with an atheist, and we learn that Victor parents only got married when the children were conceived, for they did not want to create difficulties for them. Apparently, they did not feel the need for marriage to prove their love. Victor's dad said at one point that they would not even need to get married in the Republic, but Carme warns him that if they had waited for the Republic, their children would be in diapers still.

Their children are all grown up and fighting for the Republic, but will it survive. It is no spoiler say that it will not. We all know how the Spanish Civil War ended: in the bloodbath and the end of Republic. It is also not a spoiler to say that Victor survives the war, Allende lets you know that in the introduction to the novel. What about the rest of his family? Who will survive? This is not known. 

ALLENDE TELLS US ABOUT GUILLEM'S AND VICTOR'S CHILDHOOD

Guillem and Victor have a caring if somewhat liberal upbringing. The brothers are described as being complete opposites. Victor is poet-like in appearance and skinny, always with a book in hand. His younger but physically bigger and stronger brother Guillem defends him from the bullies. Guillem is handsome, but not as bright as Victor, and a bit insecure about his bad school results. Guillem finds his purpose in the Republic, being completely and even fanatically devoted to the class struggle,  fighting with the rich kids years before he was enlisted. Carme, a high school teacher for years, believes education as essential as bread, and does her best to teach militiamen, who frustrate her young son Victor with their inability to learn. Carme insists anyone can learn, and that it is not the boys' fault for never seeing an alphabet. All in all, Victor's parents are clearly good people. I found the way their childhood was described simple but credible. In this part of the novel, Allende shows her strength- weaving a family saga. In a few pages, she paints Victor's childhood for the reader. 

WE ALSO LEARN HOW ROSER WAS ADOPTED BY SANTIAGO

Don Santiago, a teacher of Victor's father, befriended Roser when she was about seven years old goatherder. When once day Don Santiago finds Roser shaking with fever, he takes her home and brings a doctor that concludes that Roser is malnourished. First the family assumes that Roser is an orphan,  but Roser tells them she has a family. Don Santiago visits Roser's family and realizes they are not negligent towards Roser, just extremely poor. So, Don Santiago officially adopts her, and Roser becomes a part of Victor's family. Everyone loves her, and Don Santiago is happy to teach such an intelligent girl. 

When Roser turns red (that is a communist) under the influence of Victor's father professor Marcel, poor Don Santiago is heart-broken, but before his death Don Santiago forgives Roser and leaves her his piano in his will.  I have to say that I felt very sorry for this old and traditional man, that died broken and alone. Don Santiago was a traditional man, a believer in God, not the Republic, so when the Republic came to life, he was forgotten. 

 Roser becomes a part of Victor's family, and his father Professor Marcel Lluis Dalmau is also very happy to have such a talented student. Roser lives with the family, and falls in love with Guillem, a love that will prove to be true. 

ISABEL ALLENDE KNOWS HOW TO WRITE A FAMILY SAGA

So far, so good. Allende seems to write Victor and Roser's history with ease. However, as the first chapter draws to an end, a prophecy of future bloodshed arrives. Victor's father warns his family, sensing that the Republican forces will be defeated.  Victor's talks of the bloodshed in with certainty.

DALMAU FAMILY MUST FLEE TO SAVE THEIR LIFE

The first chapter ends with the funeral of Victor's father, professor Dalmau. Next we learn of the love between Roser and the younger son- Guillem. In the background is what follows. Again, it's no spoiler saying that the Republican forces lost, as it is a historical fact widely known. What followed after the Spanish Civil War is perhaps not so widely known, but it is known nevertheless. 

ALLENDE DOES NOT HOLD BACK WHEN SHE DESCRIBED THE HORRORS OF WAR

The descriptions of war horrors are often very graphic, to the point I wondered if Allende was going for the shock effect. At times, I felt like these descriptions somehow took away from the characters, that felt a bit neglected. Character development cannot be built just on what they suffered, as readers we need to see into the soul of the characters. However, Allende does do a great job of breathing life into her characters. 

ARRIVING TO THE CHILE IS IN A WAY JUST A BEGGINING OF VICTOR'S AND ROSER'S STORY

I don't want to reveal too much, I will say that there is another life for our characters in Chile. It is there that the novel introduces another love story. Even before that, a new Chilean family is introduced, one that will become connected and disconnected again with the life story of Victor.

CONCLUSION- THIS IS A WELL WRITTEN AND INTERESTING NOVEL

I would conclude that this is a beautiful novel, well written and interesting. I was left wanting more about certain character. I feel like Isabel is at her best when she writes about female characters and tells her story from the female perspective. As much as I was fascinated by the personality of Victor, I wanted to know more about Roser. I wonder would it be a different story had it been told from Roser's perspective. 

Allende breathed life into her characters, but I was still left wanting more- more time with them, more character development, more insight into their inner thoughts. With Victor I sort of got that when he met his daughter, but still I wish I could have seen more of his inner thoughts and processes. 

Still, all in all, this is a great read. A novel that is a successful family saga and one very poetical at times. What more could one want for? 

ISABEL ALLENDE IS A GREAT STORY-TELLER EVEN IF SHE IS SOMEWHAT REPETITIVE IN HER BOOKS

Regular readers of my blog might know that I'm no stranger to this writer. Indeed, I have read five of Allende's novels so far, including The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, Daughter of Fortune and Zorro. Why do I keep coming back to Allende? Mostly, I find there is almost a magical quality to her writing, something vulnerable and sincere that always draws me back to her books. Out of all of these novels, Zorro is the only one that didn't impress me, and it might be because it does not feature a female protagonist. I feel like Allende excels at writing female protagonists. 

Allende has been praised as the greatest story-teller of our generation by many, but also criticized mainly by South American intellectuals who see her as too commercial and say that we should not mistake the number of sold books for quality. Allende seems to greatly resent this criticism and feels persecuted on basis of her commercial success. Can not a writer be both? Sure. I do not think Allende's success should warrant criticism on its own. On the other hand, I do not think Allende (or anyone) who achieve literary fame solely on the number of books sold. Money earned has never been a true indicator of artistic or literary quality. 

Allende is not a perfect novelist and writer. Sometimes Allende's pacing is a bit off, her plots and themes repetitive and cyclical. As much as I adore novels that explore identity, misplacement, migrations and immigration, sometimes I feel that Allende repeats her ideas, plots and characters. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it can make the writing feel a bit monotonous and generic. Not that her writing feels that way, not all the time anyway, but sometimes there are moments when one's mind wonders off, having read so many of similar works. 

Like with Amy Tan, another fantastic writer of family sagas that dwell on the subject  of identity,  there is a danger of repetition in her work. Namely, I feel that when you read more than three or four of Allende's novels, they start to look a bit alike. 

Allende herself admits to repetition, and I don't think that all of her cyclic writing or repetition is wrong. Some of it is just Allende being true to themes close to her heart, and that kind of repeating actually makes sense. It is more the repetition in plot and characters that I mind, not her choice of themes. The fact that Allende chooses to focus on identity and displacement is fine by me. It is more the repetition of characters that sometimes robs her novels of their true potential. Sometimes her minor characters seem undeveloped, and villains tend to be cardboard villains. 

In Allende's writing, there often always an outcast idealistic individual who succeeds against all odds, and not always in a way that is realistic. Not that I don't enjoy Allende's books, because I do, but I'm not blind to potential flaws in her writing. Even if I on overall immensely appreciate Allende's writing, there are aspects of her writing that don't appeal to me. However, that does not stop me from enjoying her books. I always find a bit of magic in Allende's book, the human kind of magic.

The political commentary and the social analysis in Allende's books are sometimes written without much subtlety and imagination. Nevertheless, when it comes to personal stories, Allende tells them extremely well. Allende seems very kind to her characters, understanding that to be human is to make mistakes, and as I reader I find it easy to feel for her characters.  Generally, I very much enjoy her own personal take on magic realism.

 Why, you might even call me a fan of magic realism, even though I personally consider myself a fan of literature in general, and not any specific genres. Once I started reading this novel, I simply couldn't put it down. The same happened with all of the Allende's novels I have read so far, except Zorro. They all have a captivating quality, and that is surely one of the best compliments to the writers.

MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THE NOVEL 

QUOTES ABOUT PAIN AND SUFFERING 

“Pain is unavoidable, but suffering is optional.”

 Isabel Allende, A Long Petal of the Sea

This is an interesting quote. I don't think that suffering is optional. Suffering is a part of life, but I think the author here means that we can still choose to embrace life even if we suffer. We cannot avoid pain, but we can avoid dwelling on our pain. We can avoid surrendering completely to pain. In other words, we can live with pain. We can understand that we can take the good with the bad. 

“During the years he spent in Venezuela he thought he had once and for all overcome the solemnity that had been an essential part of his nature from childhood, as though he was in mourning for all the world's suffering, violence, and evil. Faced with so many disasters, happiness seemed to him obscene. In love with Roser in the green, warm country of Venezuela, he had vanquished the temptation to cloak himself in sadness As she would often tell him, this was less a mantle of dignity, more a contempt for life.”

“Sadness, my enemy, is gaining ground, Ingrid. At this rate in the years I have left I'm going to turn into a hermit.'

'That would be death in life, Victor. Do as I do. Don't wait to defend yourself against that enemy, go out and confront it. It took me years in therapy to learn that.'

'What reasons do you have to be sad, child?'

'That's what my husband asks me. I don't know, Victor, I suppose you don't need reasons; it's part of your nature.”

 QUOTES ABOUT LIFE

“It's very difficult to change your nature. For me it's too late, there's nothing for it but to accept myself the way I am. I'm eighty years old: it was my birthday the day you arrived. That's the age of memory, Ingrid. The age of making an inventory of life,' he said.

'Forgive me if I'm intruding, but can you tell me what's in your inventory?'

'My life has been a series of journeys. I've traveled from one side of the world to the other. I've been a foreigner without realizing I had deep roots... My spirit has sailed as well. But I don't see the point in making these observations now; I should have done so a long time ago.'

'I don't think anybody reflects on their life when they're young, Victor, and most people never do. It would never occur to my parents, for example, and they're almost ninety. They simply live for the day and are happy.'

'It's a shame we only make this kind of inventory when we're old, Ingrid, when there's no time left to make amends.'

'You can't change the past, but perhaps you can banish the worst memories...'

'Listen, Ingrid, the most important events, the ones that determine our fate, are almost always completely beyond our control. In my case, when I take stock, I see my life was marked by the Spanish Civil War in my youth, and later on by the military coup, by the concentration camps and my exiles. I didn't choose any of that: it simply happened to me.”

“He thought that if the youngster had survive the shock, the hemorrhaging, and the journey to reach this station platform, he must really want to live; and so it would be a shame to surrender him to death now.”

“The few exiles who returned to the hospital were received with much less fanfare, because it was unwise to attract attention. This was the tacit slogan throughout the country: don’t provoke the military, so as to pretend the recent past was buried and in the process of being forgotten.”

“....he had made friends with numerous intellectuals and poets, among them Federico Garcia Lorca—murdered by the Francoists—and Antonio Machado, who died in a town close to the French border during the Retreat.”

QUOTES ABOUT LOVE

“Nothing can grow in the shade of secrets, she would say, love needs light and space to flourish.”

 Isabel Allende, A Long Petal of the Sea

“For him it had been pleasure with no risk; for her there was risk with little pleasure. And now finally she was suffering the consequences, while he could carry on with his life as if nothing had happened.”

“Victor felt relieved: if one lives long enough, circles close. The Ofelia del Solar circle closed neatly for him in that Athenaeum café, without leaving any ashes.”

“Their longstanding friendship turned into a deeper complicity in which there was no room for secrets, suspicion, or offense; they started from the principle that they would never hurt each other and that if this happened, it would be unintentional. They protected each other, which made their present hardships and the ghosts of the past bearable.”

“It made her feel sorry for her husband: she was discovering how vulnerable to flattery a conceited old man could be.”

“My heart is broken, he told himself. It was at that moment he understood the profound meaning of that common phrase: he thought he heard the sound of glass breaking and felt that the essence of his being was pouring out until he was empty, with no memory of the past, no awareness of the present, no hope for the future.”

“Victor did not see death as an irremediable separation. He imagined his wife traveling ahead through sidereal space, where perhaps the souls of the dead ended up, while he was waiting his turn to join her, more curious than concerned.

“He had always suspected that on her travels she had taken a lover, or perhaps even several, but the confirmation of this longstanding, serious love awoke in him retrospective jealousy that would have destroyed the happiness of the moment had Roser allowed it. With her implacable common sense, she showed him that she had not robbed him of anything to give to Aitor. She had not loved him any the less, because that love was always hidden in another chamber of her heart and didn't interfere with the rest of her life.”

Quotes about Chile

“September 3, 1939, the day of the Spanish exiles’ splendid arrival in Chile, the Second World War broke out in Europe.”

“That comrade of yours is too naïve by half. Chile is divided into irreconcilable groups, son. Friends are fighting, families are split down the middle; it’s impossible to talk to anyone who doesn’t think as you do. I don’t see many of my old friends anymore so that we won’t fight.”

“None of them knew anything about Chile. Years later, Neruda was to define it as a long petal of sea and wine and snow…with a belt of black and white foam, but that would not have left the migrants any the wiser. On the map, it looked slender and remote.”

“Compared to Europe, Chile was a happily backward and distant paradise. It was true that at this moment it had a center-left government: the president was from the Radical Party and a freemason. He was detested by the Right, and his name was never mentioned by the “best families,” but he wasn’t going to last long. The Left, with its coarse realism and vulgarity, had no future; the owners of Chile would make sure of that”

“But do you know what I’m most grateful for? Love. That has marked me more than anything else. I was incredibly lucky to have Roser. She’ll always be the love of my life. Thanks to her I have Marcel. Being a father has also been essential for me; it’s allowed me to keep faith in what’s best in the human condition.”

QUOTES ABOUT THE WAR

“There was no defense against the shells, he said, but they had calculated that three volumes of philosophy could stop bullets.”

“Hundreds of thousands of terrified refugees were escaping to France, where a campaign of fear and hatred awaited them.”

“They’re really good people. Quakers are always to be found where they’re most needed.”

“Carme told them she couldn't remember what she felt, but she realized it's hard to die, and to invite death is cowardice.”

QUOTES ABOUT HUMAN NATURE

“So much hatred, so much cruelty . . . I don't understand,' said Victor. His mouth was dry and the words stuck in his throat.

'We can all turn into savages if we're given a rifle and an order,' said another prisoner who had come over to them.”

QUOTES ABOUT ART

“We have to defend democracy, but remember that not everything is politics. Without science, industry, and technology, no progress is possible, and without music and art, there's no soul.”

“Poetry is what stays in your head and isn’t forgotten.”

QUOTES ABOUT THE POLITICS

“The military government had decided public services should be in private hands. Health was not a right, but a consumer good to be bought and sold.”

“The deep Chile of the fascists had always been there, beneath the surface, just waiting to emerge. It was the triumph of the arrogant Right, the defeat of the people who believed in that utopian revolution.”

P.S. I might continue working on this review, so you can come back for more of my thoughts!

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