Paula: A Memoir

Written by Isabel Allende

Narrated by Isabel Allende and Cynthia Farrell

“Beautiful and heartrending. . . . Memoir, autobiography, epicedium, perhaps even some fiction: they are all here, and they are all quite wonderful.”—Los Angeles Times

In this literary classic, New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende recalls the story of her beloved daughter and her remarkable family’s past.

When her daughter, Paula, became gravely ill and fell into a coma, Isabel Allende began to write the story of her family for her unconscious child. Bizarre ancestors are introduced; delightful and bitter childhood memories are shared; amazing anecdotes of youthful years are relived, and the most intimate secrets are quietly passed along. Like Allende’s first novel, The House of the Spirits, this powerful memoir is infused with the real, the magical, and the spiritual, creating a haunting, sad, and beautiful tale. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063000391

Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende, born in Peru and raised in Chile, is a novelist, feminist, and philanthropist. She is one of the most widely read authors in the world, having sold more than eighty million copies of her books across forty-two languages. She is the author of several bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including The Wind Knows My Name, Violeta, A Long Petal of the Sea, The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, and Paula. In addition to her work as a writer, Isabel devotes much of her time to human rights causes. She has received fifteen honorary doctorates, been inducted into the California Hall of Fame, and received the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and in 2018, she received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. She lives in California with her husband and dogs. You can visit Isabel Allende at IsabelAllende.com or follow her on Instagram @AllendeIsabel, on Facebook at Facebook.com/IsabelAllende and on X @IsabelAllende

[antt-4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I like Allende's writing, but this very personal book was not my cup of tea. (I love a good cliché as much as the next person!)

[estellen_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The authors whispers moving secrets to her dying daughter. Makes you think.

[elizabethcromb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A touching story of Isabel's 28 year old daughter's tragic illness and Isabel's reflections on the past written with the intent that when Paula awoke from her coma she would read about everything that happened during her illness and also about her mother's life.

[Dante · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very emotional, sensible and well described. I felt very identified.

[Hector Ordonez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Master piece… third time reading it and every time it manages to mesmerize me. This books always leaves me with a bittersweet taste, brings tons of emotions simultaneously.

[jlapac-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the saddest and most heartfelt books I have ever read.

[SBhatt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a stellar, moving account that weaves seamlessly through time and history. There is not a moment where I was bored or not captivated. A must read for anyone who enjoys stories that capture deep and meaningful, dynamic relationships over time.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When Isabel Allende’s daughter became gravely ill and fell into a coma, the author spent days at Paula’s bedside. At her own mother’s urging, Allende began to write the story of her family for Paula in an attempt to connect her child with her ancestors, “…so that when you wake up you will not feel so lost.”

Evocative, heart-rending, luminous, suspenseful, triumphant – I cannot think of enough adjectives to describe this beautifully written memoir. Allende lays her soul bare on the page. She brings her own grandparents, uncles, cousins, parents, brothers, friends to life as she attempts to reach the comatose Paula. Her family connections are full of world-famous people – not the least of which was her uncle Salvador Allende – and she had a rather privileged upbringing. She travelled extensively with her mother and stepfather, who was a diplomat and attended private schools. But all her advantages could not protect Allende from life’s setbacks and tragedies.

With unfailing honesty she relates everything – from being sexually molested as a child to being a television star, from a sheltered young woman to a feminist and political exile, from a traditional wife and mother to a reckless love affair with an Argentinian trumpeter. She also includes many examples of her deep connections to the mystical and spiritual; it’s easy to see why she writes magical realism so well.

The work moves back and forth from Allende’s history to the events in Paula’s hospital room. Those scenes at her daughter’s bedside were some of the most emotional. The fierceness with which Allende fought to bring her precious child back from the abyss, the refusal to take “No” for an answer, the determination to bring her daughter back to California and her home overlooking San Francisco Bay – these passages in the book reveal the woman today, while the scenes relating her history show how she came to be this strong woman.

It took me a while to get into the book. The writing is very dense; a paragraph can last three pages. But once I got used to the rhythm of her writing I was totally immersed and engaged. Allende’s gift for storytelling is evident. There were passages that evoked laughter, sections where I recognized my own relationships with my brothers or grandparents, and scenes that had me in tears or gasping aloud. Towards the end of the book she writes this:
I try to remember who I was once but I find only disguises, masks, projections, the confused images of a woman I can’t recognize. Am I the feminist I thought I was, or the frivolous girl who appeared on television wearing nothing but ostrich feathers? The obsessive mother, the unfaithful wife, the fearless adventurer, or the cowardly woman? Am I the person who helped political fugitives find asylum or the one who ran away because she couldn’t handle fear?
The answer, of course, is that she is all these women. Her experiences may be unique, but her reactions are universal.

[mary burke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator was superb! The story always held my attention!

[jferr29 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ravishingly touching account of life, death and hope for the future, especially powerful during Blackie's terminal illness.

[maricello_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book a few years ago, but avoided reading it because it was such a sad story about the death of her daughter. I finally read it this year, as my mother was dying. It is a wonderful book about Allende's extraordinary life, brilliantly structured and beautifully written, and comforting to me, in my own sadness.

[stowkate · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very haunting, inspiring and so very sad - have the tissues ready. Very courageous author.

[wamser_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Moving memior. Sad, yet uplifting. Touching and beautiful.

[globalvagabond · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, sad, uplifting, courageous!

[purplehena · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you have read and enjoyed any of Isabel Allende's novels, I highly recommend this memoir written by Allende while her daughter Paula lay in a coma. Having read The House of the Spirits and Of Love and Shadows, it was incredible to read about the real life occurrences and people that inspired those novels. Mix that with a mother's love and anguish towards her comatose daughter, and the result is a rich and compelling read.

[itadakimasu_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well-woven memoir which dives to the heart of this author, a mother's grief during the entire time of her daughter's coma, while simultaneously dancing through a chronological history of her own life and the lives of all her loved ones. Allende's choice of words and phrasing is precise, playful, evocative - her life and emotions bared honestly for all to see.

[amzzz_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I think Isabel Allende was more interested in writing about herself than her daughter Paula. However, I read this in year 11 and much of what I remember about it is making fun of it with my classmates.

[ariesblue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very touching...
make you cry with isable allende

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was interested in this because of her latest novel, I'd wondered if is had been memoirish. I wasn't able to finish "Paula" but did find it resonated as being similar to "A Long Petal in the Sea" in her story.

[june6bug · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Moving reminiscence of Allende's daughter as she battles a life-threatening illness.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At the age of 28 Isabel Allende's daughter, Paula, was stricken by porphyria and lapsed into a coma. Paula was written at her bedside as a way to work through emotions and unfinished business. Allende re-tells the tragic story of Paula's illness and treatment, while simultaneously recounting her life story. I cannot begin to imagine the strain of caring for someone with a long-term illness. Allende approached the situation with fierce devotion and drive, doing everything within her power to help Paula. She rallied other family members even during the darkest times, and turned to her writing for emotional release. Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors, so I found it quite interesting to learn about her childhood, the family members who inspired her writing, and her escape from Chile's political unrest. In turn, she inspired me as a feminist, a mother, and a deeply spiritual woman.

[riofriotex · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Isabel Allende shares the story of her life through 1992, including the military coup of her uncle Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. Paula is Allende's 28-year-old daughter, a newlywed in a coma from inherited (from her father) porphyria. Allende interweaves the story of her life with the story of her daughter's last year, spent in a hospital in Spain and Allende's home in California. Moving and magical.

[clueless_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first half of this books feels voyeuristic to me- just a little bit too revealing.Writing is a long process of introspection; it is a voyage toard the darkest caverns of consciousness, a long, slow meditation.Sage advice from her uncle;"Remember that all the others are more afraid that you."Allende's daughter lay dying, she wants to comfort her son in law but she has nothing;How can I console him when I myself am without hope?Advice she received from a male relative shortly before walking down the aisle;He thought marriage was a miserable bargain for a woman; on the other hand, he recommended it without reservation to all his male descendants.I was blissed out during pregnancy. It sounds like Allende shared the same feelings;Those months you were inside me were a time of perfect happinessNovels are made of the demented and the villainous, of people tortured by obsessions, of victims of the implacable mill of destiny.On the perpetuation of Latin machismo by females;What is unforgivable, though, is that it is women who perpetuate and reinforce the system, continuing to raise arrogant sons and servile daughters. If they would agree to revise the standards, they could end machismo in one generation.What is there on the other side of life? Only night silence and solitude? What remains when there are no more desires or memories or hope? What is there in death? If I could be still, without speaking or thinking,...Children, like books, are voyages into one's inner self, during which body, mind, and soul shift course and turn toward the very center of existence.More on writing fiction.Recently, I have been empty, my inspiration has dried up, but it is also possible that stories are creatures with their own lives and that they exist in the shadows of some mysterious dimension; in that case, it will be a question of opening so they may enter, sink into me, and grow until they are ready to emerge transformed into language. They do not belong to me, they are not my creations, but, if I succeed in breaking down the wall of anguish in which I am enclosed, I can again serve them as medium.The problem with fiction is that it must seem credible, while reality seldom is.

[borg6mx5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not quite fiction. Allende describes her family history for her comatose daughter.

[missmath144 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Autobiography written for her daughter Paula as she (Paula) lay dying. Pretty good, although it was slow towards the end.

[astrologerjenny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my all-time favorite books. Allende writes great fiction but this account of her own family history is even more powerful.

[mojomomma_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Allende is the best storyteller. She recounts the story of her life while seated at her daughter's bedside, first in Spain and then later at her home in California where Paula eventually dies. As a member of a diplomatic family with ties to the most powerful people in Chile, she leads an interesting life in many countries.

[cecrow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a brilliant meshing of a mother's heartfelt grief for her daughter with a memoir of her past and that of her family. The added element of the present story (Paula's coma) grounds the voice of the memoirist, removing the usual distance between narrator and reader. It feels very much like sitting in the waiting room with Isabel at the hospital or at her daughter's bedside as she passes the time by sharing these sometimes intimate stories. The book is full of colourful 'characters', the perfect environment for a writer to grow up in. Her father is an vague mystery, her father-in-law a man of uncommon wisdom and creativity, her maternal grandfather a classic patriarch figure. There's a lot here about her relationships, both with family and with lovers, and about writing. Isabel is humble about her early attempts at writing, as she was being met with far more criticism than praise. She had the honour of knowing Pablo Neruda, long before she became a serious author herself. There's also a lot here about Chile's political turmoil, from the perspective of someone living through it. I grew up believing Chile had always been a dictatorship, but reading this I learned about its three decades of democracy before I was born, only ending with the coup that took power from Isabel's uncle Salvador (a man she barely knew) in 1973 and descended the country into chaos.This memoir reminded me throughout that we never pause to remember the past in a vacuum, because the present is always unfolding without pause. Rehashing memories happens simultaneously with worry about the future and the drama of the present. Anyone can write a memoir about their past, and it's only natural that a polished author should write one so well, but it has me wishing I could write this brilliantly about my own life and family.

[Ml11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is one of the best books I have read by the author. True to her style, this autobiography moved and touched me. Highly recommendable. (Translated from Spanish)

[julia1955 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The two most intimate and personal works of Isabel Allende gathered in a single volume. (Translated from Spanish)