The Wind Knows M Name
By Isabel Allende
( Library Copy)
All I can say is, Wow! I haven't read any of Ms. Allende's work. I have heard her name for many years. Unfortunately, I haven't thought to pick up her work. I wish I did. What was I afraid of? Why did I wait so long? She blew me away with literary magic. I am blown away. Why, you ask. It wasn't the drama or the plot. It was with her writing. I just can't say enough about her work. Yes, there is drama and social justice but It was much, much more. She was a literary wonder how she was a genius to connect emotions with abandonment and trust and connecting it with the holocaust and separation at the border.
It was an author who brought the characters, and the thought and feeling of how the characters dealt with issues and didn't shy away from it. She dealt with them head-on with all the characters with their actions, personality, behaviors, feelings, and emotions. She seemed to be able to put herself in the character's head and play it out perfectly.
In 2018 the government did something unprecedented in my lifetime and I am sure many others felt the same way. It was just cruelty( not that the Trump administration wasn't cruel already). But, this topped it to the max. Separation at the border ( Mexico/ USA). Trump promised a border would be built entirely across Mexico/USA. Would be paid by Mexico, Not. FYI- It didn't happen. It was partially built but paid for by the US, not Mexico. The Border Patrol tore children and babies away from their parents. Do you remember watching this? They were put in detention and put in cages(icebox). Most of them wondered what will happen to the children. Since there wasn't any documentation of names. Where would they go? Most of them were put in foster care? No trail was left You don't think some Americans used this for a speedy adoption.
The novel has two timelines and two locations and two main characters. Samuel Adler is a 5-year-old boy living in 1938 in Vienna. Samuel's father disappears during Kristallnacht. With the help of family and friends Samuel's Mother plans an escape for Samuel to leave and travel to Britain by himself temporarily. He only brings a small suitcase and his violin. She plans to meet up with him when it is possible. He is traumatized by the action his mother takes to keep him safe. He is fostered by a kind and wonderful Quaker family. It takes him a while to warm up to his new family.
Jump to 80 years later, Anita Diaz and her mother are running from military gangs in El Salvador. They are determined to escape to the United States. They finally arrive at the Border. Where the US government has put an order to separate children from their parents( FYI-This is true). Anita is separated from her Mother and placed in cages in Arizona. As a way of comforting herself, she escapes from reality into a new reality world. Where she has made up an imaginary friend, Claudia. While in the protection of US Immigration, a social worker and a lawyer attempt to look and find her mother. They find her mother never went back to El Salvador.
I loved the author's writing and how she was able to use the character's emotions and use them similarly to relate to each other. How she was able to resolve their trust, forgiveness, and isolation issues. For Samuel to use music for both of them to connect and Samuel was able to come out of his shell after so many years and find love. There is so much more and I don't want to give spoilers about these two characters. You will just have to trust me. You will love them. I loved how the author connected both the history and the contemporary history of the separation of families. I wish the author had delved a bit more of the process of finding family during the holocaust. She didn't touch much on it.
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