If you have not read a book by Isabel Allende, you probably should not start with this one. It reads like a work of fiction (and an excellently crafted one, at that). Allende herself admits that she remembers things that cannot possibly have happened, and she includes these memories in her memoirs. She also uses the same texture and meandering style that she uses in her novels. She alludes to many of her works of fiction, so it is better to have read at least a few of her books before you start with this one. This is Allende's second memoir. The first deals with her life as a mother and is infinitely more emotional and intimate. This one is about her life as an immigrant and exile. It is less heartbreaking but still poignant, especially considering the discussions about immigration in the news now.

Allende shares her family and a bit of her own life in this book about Chili as a nation. Your opinion about Latin America may be different after you read this book.

Isabel Allende's "My Invented Country" does not pick-up where her previous memoir "Paula" left off, instead it expands on some of the biographical details from the previous book and is more of a deep, dreamy memoir of her native country of Chile. In fascinating, poetic detail Allende describes a land rich in culture, heritage, history and passion. There are vivid descriptions of the beautiful Andes and the native indian cultures who populated the region before the Spanish conquest and those who populate it still. And yet it doesn't feel like a travelogue, "My Invented Country" is probably the best book to read about Chile because it is about Chile as a nation and not a chunk of land, it is the strip of country Pablo Neruda immortalized in his poetry. As in "Paula" Allende here shares more about the wild, romantic history of her family and their peculiar history. There are hilarious moments and sweet ones where she recounts her relationship with her grandfather through the years of her youth and adulthood. The politics of Chile are also widely discussed, which is pleasantly expected considering the author's uncle was Salvador Allende, Latin America's first elected socialist president who was tragically overthrown by a fascist CIA-backed coup lead by the general Augusto Pinochet who established a junta over the country. Allende describes a time when there was hope for change in Chile, when Allende won the presidency and even Fidel Castro visited the country for 27 days. With frightening detail she also describes the dark days of the military dictatorship when radical right-wing laws were passed, thousands disappeared and others brutally tortured and killed. As always Allende writes here with beautiful expressions, funny anecdotes and a sense of humour when it comes to attacking hypocrites and contradictions in her own opinions. "My Invented Country" is a pleasant memoir to read, it is a trip down the memory palace of Isabel Allende, and a journey through a country we know so little about in the United States. Those who term Latin America as "backward" should read Allende's book, it might change their opinion.

Isabel Allende is a captivating writer, one who can spin tales of intrigue and magical mystery as well as any of our Latin American writers. Though this version of MY INVENTED COUNTRY is the paperback edition of the hardcover MY INVENTED COUNTRY: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile - the one this reader found on the 'sale book' counter in the local bookstore! - hopefully the writing is the same despite the change in title.

There is much that could be said about Allende's writing style: she moves from colloquial, humorous conversation and sharing to a manner of relating history in the form of the best historian writers. And it all works. Throughout the book Allende warmly describes just what makes Chile and its people unique and the information is not only fascinating but warmly charming. And then she very astutely takes us by the hand and for the last third of the book shares with us the political history of Chile over the last 200 years. Of course she is intimate with the Allende years, being part of that family that was forced into exile with the toppled government, but she does not present an acrid, angry stance but rather an optimistic view of the peoples' ability to change from Christian Democracy to dictatorship under Pinochet. For the first time this reader came away with the feeling that the entire process is understandable.

Allende never forgets that she has been a stranger in different countries all her life, that the Chile she knows is as much a part of nostalgia as it is fact. This book was written from her home in San Francisco and she shares with us the following insight: 'But that is how nostalgia is: a slow dance in a large circle. Memories don't organize themselves chronologically, they're like smoke, changing, ephemeral, and if they're not written down they fade into oblivion.' This is a warm insight into the mind of one of our important writers of the day. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, November 06

Isabel Allende is a captivating writer, one who can spin tales of intrigue and magical mystery as well as any of our Latin American writers. Though this version of MY INVENTED COUNTRY is the paperback edition of the hardcover MY INVENTED COUNTRY: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile - the one this reader found on the 'sale book' counter in the local bookstore! - hopefully the writing is the same despite the change in title.

There is much that could be said about Allende's writing style: she moves from colloquial, humorous conversation and sharing to a manner of relating history in the form of the best historian writers. And it all works. Throughout the book Allende warmly describes just what makes Chile and its people unique and the information is not only fascinating but warmly charming. And then she very astutely takes us by the hand and for the last third of the book shares with us the political history of Chile over the last 200 years. Of course she is intimate with the Allende years, being part of that family that was forced into exile with the toppled government, but she does not present an acrid, angry stance but rather an optimistic view of the peoples' ability to change from Christian Democracy to dictatorship under Pinochet. For the first time this reader came away with the feeling that the entire process is understandable.

Allende never forgets that she has been a stranger in different countries all her life, that the Chile she knows is as much a part of nostalgia as it is fact. This book was written from her home in San Francisco and she shares with us the following insight: 'But that is how nostalgia is: a slow dance in a large circle. Memories don't organize themselves chronologically, they're like smoke, changing, ephemeral, and if they're not written down they fade into oblivion.' This is a warm insight into the mind of one of our important writers of the day. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, November 06

I read this when it first came out, and after reading Paula this summer (her earlier memoir written during her daughter's critical illness) I went back to it to see how Allende had managed to cover so much of the same territory in a way that was fresh enough to merit a second memoir. And the answer, unfortunately, was that she hadn't. My Invented Country provides some interesting information about the people and country of Chile (often in the form of sweeping generalizations that I suspect are no more uniformly true than any sort of broad characterization one could make about Americans), and does so with Allende's characteristically sharp and funny prose (I particularly enjoyed her explanation on why it is unwise to faint in a Chilean supermarket). But the parts that I recall as being the most interesting--the political history of Chile and her own decision to go into exile--are covered so much more completely, and in so much more compelling a fashion, in Paula, that reading My Invented Country after Paula feels like being told the same story repeatedly by a storyteller who has lost interest in the tale and no longer thinks the details are very important. My best recommendation is to skip this one but do read Paula: a brilliant, moving and often very funny memoir that closely examines Allende's life and the loss of her country and daughter.

I read this when it first came out, and after reading Paula this summer (her earlier memoir written during her daughter's critical illness) I went back to it to see how Allende had managed to cover so much of the same territory in a way that was fresh enough to merit a second memoir. And the answer, unfortunately, was that she hadn't. My Invented Country provides some interesting information about the people and country of Chile (often in the form of sweeping generalizations that I suspect are no more uniformly true than any sort of broad characterization one could make about Americans), and does so with Allende's characteristically sharp and funny prose (I particularly enjoyed her explanation on why it is unwise to faint in a Chilean supermarket). But the parts that I recall as being the most interesting--the political history of Chile and her own decision to go into exile--are covered so much more completely, and in so much more compelling a fashion, in Paula, that reading My Invented Country after Paula feels like being told the same story repeatedly by a storyteller who has lost interest in the tale and no longer thinks the details are very important. My best recommendation is to skip this one but do read Paula: a brilliant, moving and often very funny memoir that closely examines Allende's life and the loss of her country and daughter.

My Invented Country is Isabel Allende's best book after her first title The House of Spirits. I have read most of her titles always in Spanish and with this book I was engaged immediately by its beauty of language. Isabel's writing is almost poetic. She has the ability to craft sentences and produce descriptions like very few authors can. I enjoyed her descriptive narrative of both her country Chile and of her life experiences that have made her the person she is today. REading this book is a must for all Allende's fans. It will help you understand her previous books better. I have now started to read the House of Spirits again which I am enjoying even more than the first time as I do now understand where her ideas were coming from. Thanks Isabel Allende for sharing with us your amazing story.

I absolutely loved Allende's memoirs about her daughter - Paula - so I was expecting a lot from this book. It was nothing like Paula and hugely disappointing. It wandered with no point at all. It was hardly funny and seemed to be just a lot of thinking out loud and navel-gazing. In this way I found the book slightly arrogant - she presumed that everyone should want to hear about the slightest details. I found some of the information about Chile interesting but generally I got the feeling that Allende wrote this book more for herself than her reader. I stopped reading 3/4 of the way through.

I absolutely loved Allende's memoirs about her daughter - Paula - so I was expecting a lot from this book. It was nothing like Paula and hugely disappointing. It wandered with no point at all. It was hardly funny and seemed to be just a lot of thinking out loud and navel-gazing. In this way I found the book slightly arrogant - she presumed that everyone should want to hear about the slightest details. I found some of the information about Chile interesting but generally I got the feeling that Allende wrote this book more for herself than her reader. I stopped reading 3/4 of the way through.

If you're a fan of Isabel Allende, read this book to understand more about her, and about her various novels. Even if you've never read any of her work (I haven't read it all yet), get yourself a glass of wine and kick back on the porch with this rambling, amusing, and absolutely readable memoir. It's a heavily subjective (of course -- witness the title) account of a country, a people, and a person, and it's entirely wonderful. Expect passion, politics, sarcasm, sterotypes, humor, history, legends, love, compassion, and contradictions. Come to think of it, what else WOULD you expect?

I don't think this was one of Allende's best. Paula, her other memoir, was amazing. Still, I like how her affection for her country comes through and how she struggles to make her peace with it and her new home, San Francisco. The book was a bit loose and meandering. Her humor was great.

My Invented Country is Isabel Allende's best book yet. This amazing biography takes the reader on a poetic journey though Ms. Allende's young life. Her writing is stellar and poetic. This book is to be savored for its beauty of language. Writers dream of crafting sentences like these. Lovers of language will adore this book for its symmetry and grace. Readers of all ages will love it for its beautiful and absorbing story.

Simply an amazing memoir that reveals more than I ever knew about Chile and Chileans. The funny thing is you start of thinking the book will be mainly about the events of Sept. 11, 1973, when Pinochet took power in a coup but it is not at all yet that event is really the one that has led Allende on thsi long journey as a observer of life par excellence.

In reality the book is more about a woman searching for her sense of place in a world turned upside down by living a life in exile. The honesty and power of her words is just so uplifting without descending into "look at me, me, me" sort of navel gazing.

If I could give it ten stars I would.