Reading In The Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende made me more aware of the difficulties immigrants face when trying to come to the United States. Most of them are trying to escape the violence in their small towns. Their family life is so meaningful for them but they must leave to remain safe and have enough money to buy food. They leave their family life to have a safer and healthier life in the states. They are hard workers who want to send money home. They are not bad people but very similar to the pilgrims who came looking for religious freedom and a place to live.
Isabel Allende has written a beautiful book and several vivid main characters. Everyone has had a a difficult life but things work out for the best in the end.

Summary:
        A severe snow storm in Brooklyn makes for unlikely friendships and love when three people- two women, both immigrants, and a dour professor are thrown together by chance.  They tell their stories as time and situation keep them together.  A story filled with pain, but also compassion; guilt and forgiveness.  Two people, in the winter of their lives, will find a love that could complete them.
My Thoughts:
I have loved Allende ever since I first read Eva Luna when I was fifteen.  This is still what I consider to be the gold star for magical realism.  With her way with descriptions and her beautiful characters, she can get me out of myself better than any other author.   I now own the book in paper (my eighth copy) and eBook…. and I eagerly await an audible edition (in English please).  When I saw that Netgally and Atria books was offering her newest novel…. well, I had to have it.  Many thanks guys, please know that  I will be buying the audible edition for myself and at least one hard back for Christmas presents.
Now, this book was spectacular to me because of the time she spent introducing each character- fanning them out and breathing life and pain into them.  Their stories broke my heart- Allende has a gift for making things real and terrifying with just a few words.  I feel that this is important, especially now when so many (POTUS) try to use immigrants- both legal and illegal- as scapegoats for issues that they don’t want to take a deeper look at.  Seeing the stories of where these women came from humanized the issues faced by so many- though hopefully not to this extent.  This is not a quick read for me- I had to take my time, breathe it in and take breaks; but it was worth it.  I loved this book so much!  Five stars!!!    
On the adult scale, there’s a lot.  Violence, language, alcoholism, light sexual content, rape….. this is one that while I would let my niece read, there would be a discussion later- there are, after all, some very heavy hitting content.  I give it a seven.

Looking forward to reading another Isabel Allende. But, I was disappointed.

Solid 3, sometimes a 3.5.

There are three interwoven stories—present-day Brooklyn, Guatemala in the recent past, and 1970s Chile and Brazil. The back stories were the most interesting parts; the present, not so much. Love, aging, some humor, political and social issues intertwined. All sad stories. Present more contrived. There’s so much and yet, not enough.

So titled because the present-day story takes place in winter and two of the three main characters—are in the winter of their lives. These are Richard Bowmaster, 60-year-old human rights scholar and Lucia Maraz—a 62-year old Chilean guest lecturer who is a tenant in the building Richard owns. Their lives and that of Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented Guatemalan caretaker/nanny [for want of a better term], intersect because of a traffic accident between Richard and Evelyn.

Richard’s story was to me, the least interesting. Lucia’s and Evelyn’s stories were far more complex and captivating. And, I liked Evelyn’s story the best. Her family history/relationship with her grandmother and brothers [less so, her mother]. Evelyn’s journey to the US with a coyote was a informative and realistic. Her reunion with her mother in Chicago and then ultimately the catalyst for her trip to New York were minor, but important. Once in New York, Evelyn becomes a caretaker for a of a boy with cerebral palsy—an integral part of the story.

Certainly Lucia’s story--consider the author and Chilean history--was the most grounded in reality. And quite interesting. Again, the but.

The book is well written, and there are some excellent descriptions/phrases.

Consider: “… she had become resigned to watching her waist disappear because she did not have the discipline to combat the process in the gym.”

“A long, thick, black snake crawled over her leg in a ghastly caress.”

“…her romantic vocation or simple inertia meant she could never make a decision.”

But my interest waxed and waned. When it got going, kept me going, but…

I Love this book by Isabel Allende!! She always writes beautiful stories. This is my new favorite of hers until the next book!

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.—Albert Camus
In the middle of a blizzard, Richard is moved to shed his twenty-five year long isolation and dares to love again, guided by Lucia, who has lost everything several times but still takes a chance on love.

What brings them together is Evelyn, an undocumented alien, the loving caretaker of a boy with Cerebral Palsy whose parents' toxic relationship and troubled lives has left her knowing more than is safe for her to know.

The trio resolve to undertake a dangerous mission to protect Evelyn, a journey into a silent landscape of deep snow and journeys to their pasts.

Isabel Allende's In the Midst of Winter is a story of rebirth, forgiveness, and love. The character's back stories take up the most space, told piecemeal in long chapters between the action.

Lucia is an immigrant, a professor, who escaped Chile when her brother's involvement with a gang led to his death and made her life unsafe. Lucia is a character women will love. Evelyn is an illegal alien from Guatemala who also took the dangerous journey to America to save her life. Both women understand what it is like for a loved one to simply disappear.

Richard is Lucia's boss at New York University and had invited her to be a visiting professor. He rents Lucia a basement room. He has lived in a winter world ever since the loss of his baby to SIDS left his wife severely depressed. Richard drank and partied his sorrows away. A tragic accident took their remaining child's life, and later he lost his wife.

I felt sympathy for the characters and appreciated Allende addressing the violence that causes most of today's immigration to America. She demonstrates the horrors that force people to leave their homeland and family and give a face to illegal immigrants. Allende's passion for the plight of women and children is evident throughout the novel. 

The novel shows that in the midst of great disappointment and pain people can find new life, that the possibility of love can come unexpectedly. The love story between Richard and Lucia is very beautiful.

I was not a fan of how the story was presented. The characters tell their stories to each other, but the authorial voice is telling the reader, not the characters.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved the author's earliest novels. This current novel fell a little short of my expectations. An "okay" story, but not great.

This novel held a lot of promise, but in the end didn't quite deliver.

In the midst of a blizzard that has all but shut down NYC, Richard, Lucia and Evelyn find their lives intertwining by a twist of fate. Finding themselves in an impossible situation, they make a decision that will bond them for the rest of their lives.

There is quite a bit of back and forth in this novel. We hear each character's back-story, and try to learn how they arrived at their current position. This is where the narrative got a bit tangled for me. It felt as though the author wanted to make an important and compelling statement on immigration, and life in Central/South America. These flashbacks were the strongest parts of the book, but lost poignancy when combined with the "soap opera" antics of the current-day narrative.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende is a fictional work about three very different people brought together during a snow storm by very unusual circumstances.
The story begins with a major snow storm in New York City. Richard Bowmaster, a human rights scholar, lives in Brooklyn with his four cats and realizes one has been accidentally poisoned by antifreeze. He ventures out in the treacherous weather to take the cat to the emergency vet. On the way home he slides on ice and hits the back of a car driven by Evelyn Ortega, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. The damage is minor but Evelyn sets off quite a storm of a different kind when she shows up at Richard’s door that evening. Not being able to understand her he enlists the help of his tenant Lucia Maraz, a guest lecturer from Chile. The story moves from modern-day Brooklyn to Guatemala, Chile and Brazil in the past. It explores the issues of slavery, human trafficking and the plight of immigrants and refugees in America. We see the possibility of romance developing between Richard and Lucia even though they are very different.
The story is well written and historically factual as far as what I know but I found it very confusing to keep up with the past of all three plus what they were doing in the present. For me the past could have been dealt with in less details, and thereby less pages. At one point I almost put the book down as it seemed to go on and on but I persevered and finished it. I found the chapters about the present more interesting they kept my interest much better. In the end all the stories come together in a way that makes sense and answers most of the questions of what happened in the past and present times. I give this book 3 of 5 stars. For me the stories of the past never quite came together with the present-day story. The present-day story really didn’t make a lot of sense and they took a long time accomplishing a feat you want completed quickly if ever in that kind of situation.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere, you already know that Allende is a luminary that owns the literary lane of magical realism, and is renowned for her fictional immigration stories. But it’s her accessibility, the way she spins her tale as though speaking to a good friend, along with her sparkling great humor and feminist spirit that keep me coming back for more. My bookshelves may be crowded, but when I have to clear old books away to make room for new, my Allende shelf is never up for grabs. These are books I will read again, and that’s a thing I don’t do much. In the Midst of Winter is one I read digitally and free, thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books in exchange for this honest review, but sooner or later I will have to find a hard copy to complete my shelf. You will want to read it too.

The narrative shifts between three main characters. Richard Bowmaster is a 60 year old human rights scholar that has recruited 62 year old Lucia Maraz, a lecturer from Chile, to his university. Evelyn Ortega is an undocumented Guatamalan refugee that works as a domestic. She filches her boss’s Lexus to go buy diapers for her charge on an icy day in Brooklyn and collides with Bowmaster’s car. Bowmaster is a pain the ass, but he nevertheless agrees, by inches, to help Evelyn. The story shifts between the present day crisis—there’s a body in the trunk of the Lexus, and it’s impossible to call the cops if there’s a chance Evelyn may be deported—and the back stories of all three characters.

Allende never pulls her punches. There’s no realistic way to talk about Guatemala, about the atrocities that people like Evelyn flee, without including violence, and the details here ensure that we won’t forget once the book is done. There’s rape here, and some rape survivors may have to give this one a miss. For everyone else this is a no holds barred must-read. The author deftly alternates the difficult, horrific scenes with lighter material, and this not only makes the book an easier read, it heightens the pace and makes the gritty passages more memorable. There is also less magical realism in this novel than in her others; but make no mistake, Allende’s signature style is here in full force and voice.

The way Bowmaster is developed, inch by inch, into a civilized human being is indeed mesmerizing. Feminist readers will cheer for the way Lucia owns her destiny. Older women aren’t old ladies; they are women first, and nobody drives it home better than this writer.

My favorite moment is that between Marco, Lucia’s Chihuahua, and a moose, a memorable bit of side business.

Undocumented immigrants are a greater part of our national conversation than ever, and so there’s no better time to read Allende. Like all of her work, this book is funny, smart, tender, wrenching at times, and in the end, it tells us that humans are intrinsically good. I came away with a lighter heart and a spring in my step.
You have to read this book, and it will be for sale Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

After reading The Japanese Lover early in the year, I was excited to receive an early release of Allende's latest book. What has always impressed me about Allende, a much celebrated Chilean-American author, is her ability to shift genres throughout her long career. Her last book encompassed a rich white California family with WWII and the Japanese, and her latest book is a complete departure from that. In the Midst of Winter is a beautifully drawn, character-driven novel that begins during the blizzard of 2015, yet takes the reader to Brazil of the 90's, Chile in the 70's and 80's, and Guatemala of today. The three main characters, who are faced with a blizzard, a sick cat, and a dead body, share their lives and inner souls with one another as they try to solve the various crises: Richard, owner of the Brooklyn brownstone where they are all stuck, a recovered alcoholic and NYU professor, unfriendly and snarky, but with a deep well of sadness inside; Lucia, a free-spirited Chilean adjunct professor who rents out Richard's basement, owner of a one-eyed chihuahua, and a tragic family history from the authoritarian takeover in Chile; and Evelyn, a young Guatemalan girl whose car accident precipitates their meeting, and who bears a past that is almost beyond surviving. It is an oddly compelling story, full of humor, sadness, and great hope; it was a perfect read on chilly fall days.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read Isabel Allende’s In The Midst of Winter.
“In the midst of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible summer.’ “ (99%) Sixty year old Richard, who has suffered great losses, is living the quiet life of a professor, who teaches all day and goes home to lead a solitary life. His tenant, Lucia, who has suffered great losses throughout her life, lives downstairs and has given up on love and herself. But, one snowy day, when Evelyn, an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant, runs into Richard’s car and begs for help as she fears for her life, the stories of these people unfold and fold back into each other. This is a beautiful book of life, living, second chances, and fleeing from the bad guys. You will be captivated, as well as highly entertained.

With this book, Isabel Allende returns to subject matter that made her reputation as a premier storyteller. Invoking elements of magic realism into a powerful story of political terrorism. The title In the Midst of Winter holds a double meaning. The action of the present day which forms the framework, takes place during the Snowzilla called Jonas in January, 2016, but it also refers to the promise of summer in an ice bound land of old age.

Richard Bowmaster, an NYU professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies has built a fort around his heart, believing that his personal life is in deep freeze. Living out his day with his four cats in a Prospect Park brownstone in Brooklyn, he neither feels nor seeks stimulation believing that part of his life has passed. Lucia Maraz, a visiting professor from Chile, is also in deep freeze, shivering in his basement apartment -- both find their lives permanently changed when Evelyn Ortega, a young Guatemalan woman, bangs on Richard's door following a fender bender during the blizzard. These three, along with a "chihuahua dressed like Sherlock Holmes," find themselves on an adventure none of them would ever think of attempting on their own, but in the sharing of their histories, they forge life long bonds. Ms. Allende's skills are in full bloom here. Each story, told in incremental portions, is riveting and powerful. From Evelyn's flight from the Northern Triangle of Central America ("...the most violent part of the world not at war."), to life in Santiago, Chile during the military coup of 1973 (which Allende experienced first hand), to human trafficking in today's USA.

There is an interesting timeline here: Allende began this book in January 2015, as is her habit. But in today's world, it couldn't be more timely. I've heard her say that she writes employing her first language Spanish, and her books are first published in that language, and not in English until the same partner she has been using for over 30 years completes the translation. That would mean that this was accomplished before the current administration's xenophobic acts had been implemented.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Publishing Group for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Evelyn is a young woman who escaped the atrocities of the MS-13 gang in Guatemala; Lucia, an older woman who experienced her own horrors in the political turmoil of Chile; Richard, also older and an acquaintance of Lucia’s, has fled from his own miseries in Brazil. They are all drawn together during a blizzard in New York City when Richard is involved in a minor accident with the car driven by Evelyn. The car conceals a secret with which they must deal. As they do, they share their life stories and love blossoms between Evelyn and Richard.

Isabel Allende is a skilled storyteller, and she is at her best when weaving the history of the various Latin American countries into the personal narratives of her characters. While she is to be applauded for at least tangentially touching on the plight of many immigrants today who are forced into human trafficking, I thought the storyline involving the present day actions of the characters was a bit amateurish. While that was a flaw, it does not detract from my recommending this book. When focusing on the backgrounds of the three characters, the book was fascinating and her reflections on aging sometimes painfully accurate.

This new novel by Isabel Allende starts out in a basement apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn. The geography resonates with me; it is a replica of the apartment my husband I lived in during the early eighties. Lucia begins the narration with complaints about how cold it is, not happy with her landlord, Richard. Both Lucia and Richard teach at NYU. In fact, Richard hired Lucia and offered her the apartment. The two scholars are barely friendly, and Lucia can't ever get warm enough. Richard keeps the thermostat very low. The story begins with a historic snowstorm and an emergency trip to the vet for Richard's cat.

A collision with another car brings together the three main characters who teach each other how to become friends and even, perhaps, lovers. The young woman driving the vehicle is a nanny for a wealthy couple, and when they all get out to examine the damage to the car, the make a horrible discovery. Their odyssey begins, and the three people with connections to Central and South America become intricate players in each other's lives.

I appreciated re-discovering the revolutionary years of Chile and Brazil. The terrible stories of life in Guatemala reminded me of the years I taught English to young people who had escaped from their villages, with families sending them away to save their lives. And I love a good love story although this one needed a bit of magical thinking to make it work. Allende's devoted readers will enjoy this new novel coming out at the end of the October.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The foundation of the novel is the relationship between Richard, 60 and Lucia, 62. The question that lingers between these two, is love possible in the mature years of one’s live? Well as the novel unfolds, we find the passions along with Richard that he thought he had long locked away. Lucia had always longed for a lover/partner in her life and was determined to not let age be a hindrance.

“Her desire to get the most out of life grew greater as her future shrank, and part of that enthusiasm was the vague hope of having someone to cherish, even if this clashed with the reality of a lack of opportunities.“ Allende has a host of characters stuffed into this novel, but none important than the young immigrant Evelyn. The way Evelyn eventually lands in Brooklyn, all the way from Guatemala is an inside look into the horrors of immigration outside the legal route.Her story is tormenting. It is Richard’s accident with Evelyn that leads to the discovery of all their lives. And through Allende’s humor and compassionate empathy we learn of the history of each person and how by chance they have all ended up in Richard’s brownstone in Brooklyn, NY trying different to figure out what to do about the strange situation they find themselves in.

The pacing is just right and as the back stories are filled in, the novel moves at a nice, always interesting pace. The immigrant, refugee live is given many pages, the politics of south and Central America are given some attention as well. The bottom line is can one create a second act, when the first act contains so much history, heartbreak and loss. As Lucia remarks to Richard as he laments his last days with his former wife, ““That’s many years with your soul in winter and your heart locked away, Richard. That’s not a life. And the fearful man of those years is not you. In these last few days, when you were forced out of your comfort zone you were able to discover who you really are. It may be painful, but anything is better than being anesthetized.” So Allende will make a believer out of her readers that not only is love possible in the mature years, it may be entirely necessary. Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for an advanced ebook. Book hits shelves October 31, 2017.

Parts of "in the Midst of Winter" engaged me, but overall, the novel is a disappointment. There's absurdity here and some of that is engaging. I finished it. What works well is when Allende flashes back to the three characters' pasts to explore how they got into this somewhat implausible situation.

And what is that situation? Professor Richard Bowman is taking his cat to the vet in a terrible snowstorm and rear-ends a car driven by a young Guatemalan nanny, which happens to have a body in the trunk. The nanny, Evelyn, is in a terrible state, and Richard takes her back to his apartment to get them both out of the blizzard, and calls his neighbor, a professor from Chile named Lucia. The three of them collude to hide the body and protect Evelyn from her employers, who own the car.

"In the Midst of Winter" emphasizes Allende's tendency to tell the story as opposed to letting the reader experience it. Her fans will enjoy it, but it is far from her best.

I received this book courtesy of NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, the publisher. In full disclosure, I am a fan of this author. I have read several of her previous books and especially loved “The House of Spirits”. I was excited for the opportunity to read her latest novel.

The book starts with a minor car accident when Richard Bowmaster hits the car driven by an illegal immigrant, Evelyn Ortega, from Guatemala. A deceased woman’s body is found in the back of Evelyn’s car. The main plot of the story is what to do with the dead body. Threads veer off from the main plot with background information for Richard, Evelyn Ortega, and Lucia Maraz (co-worker and renter in Richard’s housing). Because of these threads, the story timeline bounces around but is easy enough to follow. Information around Chile, Brazilian and Guatemala are included. Evelyn’s illegal immigrant status will touch your heart. There is some heartache and struggles within the story which allows the reader to connect with the characters.

Throughout the book I kept wondering why anyone would work so hard to dispose of a body that they had no involvement in its demise. Other than that, I really liked the book.

Isabel Allende books tend to lean toward an Hispanic theme and this one continues that trend with South America. This book doesn’t surpass “The House of Spirits” but is still entertaining in Allende style.

3.5/5 This story is about 3 people who come together under strange circumstances. While we discover how they are going to deal with their present situation, we get flashbacks of each character and the struggles they have undergone. Overall, I feel like it was a bit disjointed. Their individual stories were good, but didn't seem to fit the tone of their present situation- as in maybe these should have been different books. I thought Evelyn's story was particularly interesting, and would have read a whole book about her life in Guatemala and her journey to, then struggle with living/surviving in the US.

Life seems to dole out hopelessness like the flight of a wingless bird.

Richard Bowman looks out the window of his three-story brownstone in Brooklyn with much apprehension. Abundance is to be embraced unless it is in the form of a snow storm. The city has all but shut down with its streets almost impassable. As a professor at NYU, no classes can be a point of celebration.

Tucked under another abundance in the form of blankets in the freezing basement apartment, Lucia Maraz considers her options. She, too, teaches at NYU and knows that nothing will draw her out of this cocoon come hell or high water.......make that mounds of snow. Her precious Chihuahua is snuggled by her side like a hairless growth with a bark. Perhaps she'll make some homemade soup and invite her landlord Richard down for more than a spoonful.

Meanwhile, Richard is shocked to find that one of his cats is throwing up pools of lime green curdles. Looking under the kitchen cabinet, he finds evidence of anti-freeze tampering and little paw prints. He calls the vet and takes off in his meat-locker of a vehicle. Ol' Tres will be kept for observation. Richard keeps a sob at bay and takes to the road again.

Snow has a particular loveliness from afar.......until you slam into the back end of a Lexus on an icy street. Oh, dear readers, this will now be a collison of tragic human beings and their precarious lives from here on out.

A young Hispanic woman is behind the wheel of that Lexus. She says but few words. Richard hands her his card and tells her to contact him. His insurance will take care of everything. But no insurance could possibly cover the damages that will yet surface in the coming days.

And now three planets will align in this system of mishaps and misfortunes. Young Evelyn raps softly on the door of Richard's brownstone that evening. She stammers and appears quite shaken. Having no other recourse, Richard calls Lucia downstairs and demands that she come up. He desperately needs back-up. Throughout the night, each of our unlikely trio recants the stories of their pasts. Evelyn reveals that she is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. Presently, she is working as a nanny for a young boy with CP. The Lexus is owned by her employer. In her past, Evelyn suffered unspeakable atrocities in Guatemala. But she's here on Richard's doorstep to reveal the heavy weight of one more dark secret........a dead body in the trunk of that Lexus.

But it is here within the pages of In the Midst of Winter that I find myself still yearning. The initial formula for this storyline was encased in jars of overflowing tragedies. Those jars of life experiences by Evelyn, Lucia, and Richard were told beautifully and breathlessly and they provided a solid mosaic of the resilience of the human spirit for which Allende is known. She allows you into these locked rooms to observe the multi-degrees of each individual's personal sufferings with the dimly lit linings of their souls.

This "sacredness" was somehow up-ended with the unraveling of the chase story and the questionable explanations that followed. It jolted us from the odyssey of transformation to the most implausible set of irregular motions at the end.

But hear me out: An offering by Isabel Allende is still a treasure. There was humor and pithy dialogue wrapped up in very complicated characters. There are descriptors that will rim your eyes with tears. I will leave you with a quote from Allende herself: "A woman like her took up a lot of room." And so does the highly, highly talented Isabel Allende.