Isabel Allende: ‘This is not a hobby, this is your main purpose in life’

‘I read it at a very important moment in my life, I was beginning to work as a journalist in Chile. And I had had all this anger against the patriarchy, this feminist impulse, but I couldn’t articulate it, I couldn’t use it. I couldn’t bring it into action. And then I read this book. And I realized that there was an articulate language to express what I was feeling. And it was a language full of humor, irony, and intelligence. And I just adopted the book as a manual almost for my work.’

‘This is an example of extraordinary, extraordinary historical fiction. When I read that book, I had a feeling of the research, which is not obvious in the book, it flows as part of the story. The reader never feels the obstacle of the research, the research is part of the narrative, is a part of life. I have written several historical novels and I always refer to that book thinking that’s the way I want [my work] to read. Like navigating in very calm waters.’

‘Nobody wants to leave everything behind, everything that is dear and familiar, and go on a dangerous journey that might end in a place where you are received with hostility, if not aggression, and you are not welcome. You are never welcome. And the hardships of the trip and of the place where you will arrive are terrible. But they are less than the struggle to survive in the place you come from. So Sonia’s answer was: without solving the problems in the places of origin, people will get out and will desperately get out.’

‘[Elizabeth Lesser] is a seeker. Since she was a child, she has been seeking for truth, for meaning. And this is reflected in everything she does in her life. in the way she is and the way she talks. So when in doubt, I go to that book. And I find there answers for things that are the questions of life. How do we want to live? What are we thankful for? What do we have to let go? What is the purpose of life? Why or why am I holding on to this grudge? Let’s see what Elizabeth has to say about that. So in a way, for me, it replaces religion, which I don’t have.’ 

‘This dystopian world is a possible world. Because I work with women, very vulnerable women and women at risk, I know that everything that happens in the book has happened before to women, or will happen or is happening. It is so possible that it’s no longer a dystopian world, it’s a possible world. [Atwood] is a fabulous storyteller. So you become the women there in Gilead, you become the victim.’