Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Mrs. High Energy: Isabel Allende
April 12, 2008

I recently interviewed Isabel Allende about her latest memoir for Latina magazine. It was by done by phone and it was 8am her time, 11am mine. What most struck me was the energy and friendliness Allende projected even through the telephone holes at that hour.  She talked fast, like the pace she writes and publishers at. Like three espressos in a row fast, though she revealed later that she doesn’t drink caffeine. (Enviable natural energy). Her manner of speaking is open and relaxed-- just like she sounds in Paula and its sequel out this month in English, The Sum of Our Days. Below is how the Q&A part of the interview read where I asked her a series of "fun" questions. Like about knowing Antonio Banderas and about who she sees playing her role in a movie about her life. I'll give you a hint: Rambo.

What made you into the writer you’ve become?

Being a journalist. The act of being interested. And my need to communicate, wanting to tell something to someone. It’s like extending a hand to trap somebody, then forty more.

What countries have you lived in?

Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Belgium, Switzerland, Lebanon, Madrid and the United States.

You write in Spanish, how long have you been communicating in English?

20 years now. But you’re not the same person (when you’re talking in a new language). Your irony, talking without thinking, doing mathematics in your head, praying, cooking…it’s different.

What are your essentials when you are writing?

Silence, being alone, and feeling warm and bundled. And Willy (her husband), he protects me and is my chef for dinner at 7. Oh, and Jasmine, mango tea. No caffeine needed for me.

Where did your husband Willy learn to speak Spanish?

He learned it in ghettos of Los Angeles. He’s a bandit of Mexican Spanish.

Tell us about your writing to your mother as a way of understanding and forming the episodes of your lives.

My mother Carla is 87. We write each other daily letters for 15 years and I call her if her letter doesn’t come. Then she prints them out and returns the pile of letters to me at the end of each year. I have a closet filled with these letters.

What do you think of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet?

She’s extraordinary: That in a conservative and catholic country that a single woman, mother, agnostic and socialist is President… extraordinary. It’s a sign of our advances in overcoming machismo.

What would be your top five books and authors from Latin America?

Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, José Donoso’s The Obscene Bird of Night, Jorgé Luis Borges’ The Aleph, all of Pablo Neruda and all of Sor Juana de Inés de la Cruz.

You know Antonio Banderas. Is your husband jealous?

(Laughs) He could be my son! But Banderas is charming and lovely. It’s like Willy with Michelle Pfeiffer.

Who would you choose to play you in the movie version of The Sum of Our Days?

Peneople Cruz or Sylvester Stallone. I’m a tank. Sweet, but still a tank.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on April 12, 2008 | Comments (0)