Monday, March 30, 2020

Safe Passage: A Review of A Long Petal of the Sea

A Long Petal of the Sea

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In recent years, the plight of refugees has been a routine part of the news thanks to the Syrian Civil War and the unrest in Central America that has been forcing people to seek asylum in the U.S. Unfortunately, too often the refugees’ stories have been drowned out by negative characterizations by the media and the current U.S. administration. In this novel, Ms. Allende does a good job of relating the tale of a couple of refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s and, by doing so, humanize the stories of all refugees.

Similar to other historical epics, this book covers almost sixty years in the life of Victor and Roser Dalmau as they flee Spain and start life over again in Chile. Though married, Victor and Roser do not start off in love with each other. It is a marriage of convenience in order to secure passage on an exile ship for Roser and her newborn son, who is the son of Victor’s deceased brother. Their tale goes on from there through much drama, both personal and historical, that ends in the early 1990s.

The story is very good and I could imagine this being an excellent mini-series. However, unlike other historical fiction epics, Ms. Allende chose to whip through the decades very quickly. And that is why this book is a little bit of a letdown. I could easily see this book being expanded to twice or even three times its current size and winding us through so much with great detail, but it doesn’t. On top of that, two major storylines, Victor and Roser’s relationship and an event that occurs between Victor and young Chilean girl, were a little bit predictable. Had there been more meat on the bones of this story, that predictability could’ve been easily avoided. That said, the last two chapters, where Ms. Allende completes her main characters’ arcs, was very good.

For those of you who have wanted to read a expansive historical fiction novel, but have been intimidated by their size and complexity, this book would be a good introduction to the genre.



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