My first reaction to finishing the book was relief at seeing hints of redemption even in the midst of the worst destruction Allende records in the book. Trueba finally realizes that the fantasized world, which he had fought for in Congress and believed in since he was a youth, is not the perfect world he had imagined it to be. Once Alba returns to the house on the corner after being tortured prison and sent to the concentration camp, Trueba finally stops taking her for granted and resolves to accept his granddaughter’s own individual ideas. This is not to say Trueba is a role model of any sort, but rather to recognize that change is possible, as Alba resolves to believe. That was a beautiful way to end the book: Alba has chosen life over and over, even in the face of death in prison. She wants to break the chain of hatred in her family and she seems to refuse to maintain her grandfather’s selfish streak by caring for the hurting like her mother and grandmother. Alba processes her struggles by compiling the life stories and legacies of her family, especially the women (it may make more sense as to why the women were so highlighted throughout the novel now that we know that Alba was writing this story after being hurt by so many men in her life-not all, though, of course). Unlike Esteban, when Clara died, Alba does not merely hold their memory within herself but rather desires to share and, at points, celebrate the legacy of her family. It’s interesting how Allende gives us conclusions to so many threads weaved throughout her novel yet, even still, she leaves us on a cliffhanger in knowing what the future will hold for Alba. The author leaves us to our imaginations: will Alba stay and live through the long years of the military government or will she die? Will her legacy live on? In the answers to these questions, we may even find out why Allende released this novel to the world.
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