The Infinite Plan - Isabel Allende

Harper Collins, 1991.

Three Stars

 

Isabel Allende is one of my all-time favourite authors, but I just couldn’t get in to this one. I appreciate that Allende was trying something new – it’s her first novel set in America, as well as the first with a white male protagonist, although he is still somewhat marginalized, growing up in the L.A. barrio and confronting racism from his community. While her other novels are full of passion and magic, the story of Gregory Reeves was very dry. His life is a series of tragedies and adventures, but it reads more like a biography, which is essentially what it is: a fictionalized version of Allende’s husband’s life. That’s why the plot doesn’t seem as well-constructed as her other novels – it is more like the retelling of a series of separate events.

The third person narrator (who *spoiler* turns out to be Allende herself, but that’s obvious to anyone who knows the book is about her husband) shows no passion for the story. The only exciting parts to read were the first person narration by Gregory, and even then it was difficult to identify with him. He was kind of unlikeable, and didn’t seem to learn from mistakes, in spite of the tragedies experienced by his family. The best parts – and in fact the only parts I didn’t skim over at all – were Gregory’s narration while in Vietnam. In those sections he at least showed some passion and excitement.

I found myself wanting to know more about the interesting female characters in this novel: Judy, Gregory’s sister with a passion for parenting in spite of childhood abuse; Olga, a self-described gypsy; and Carmen, Gregory’s childhood best friend who creates her own happiness in life. All three seemed like they would have had a much more interesting interior voice than Gregory, and Allende is at her best when writing female characters with a little magic in their lives. Unfortunately, she was focused on her husband’s perspective. His story is a good one, but it could have been great if narrated by one of the women. Allende limited herself to bare facts, and I wish she would have taken it farther into her usual world of magic realism.

“The Infinite Plan” of the title – a philosophical lifestyle preached by Gregory’s father – loses course throughout the novel, and I wish there had been more about the actual philosophy behind it. Gregory realizes the Plan doesn’t exist, “just the strife of living.” He doesn’t find anything real to replace his father’s plan, therefore he cannot be the hero of his own life, and I was uninspired by his journey.