The Infinite Plan: A Novel (P.S.) [Paperback]

Isabel Allende (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010 | Series: P.S.

In The Infinite Plan, critically acclaimed, bestselling author Isabel Allende weaves a vivid and engrossing tale of one man's search for love and his struggle to come to terms with a childhood of poverty and neglect. It is the story of Gregory Reeves and his hard journey from L.A.'s Hispanic barrio to the killing fields of Vietnam to the frenetic world of a San Francisco lawyer. Along the way, he loses himself in an illusory and wrongheaded quest, and only by circling back to his roots can he find what he is missing and what he wants more than anything in life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A richly embroidered, ambitious tale, Allende's latest novel charts one man's spiritual progress against five decades of history and cultural change. Allende relies less on her customary magical realism (The House of the Spirits ) than on concrete, often graphic details in her first attempt to depict North American characters and settings. Greg Reeves, the son of an itinerant preacher who claims that life is governed by an infinite plan, spends the latter part of his childhood in the L.A. barrio where his family settled when their father became ill. His best friend and soul mate there is Carmen Morales, the daughter of a hospitable Latino family. The novel follows Greg and, to a lesser extent, Carmen through turbulent experiences as each searches for identity. Greg discovers several different kinds of racial discrimination in the crowded barrio; later, he taps into the social and sexual revolution in Berkeley; and he suffers through the crucible of Vietnam, from which he emerges determined to become rich and powerful no matter the cost in morality or peace of mind. He enters into disastrous marriages with two beautiful women, both of whom, he belatedly realizes, resemble his passive, remote mother; he also fails as a father. Allende's intensely imagined prose has clarity and dimension; she describes the exotic and the mundane with equal skill. The rambling, diffuse narrative nicely mirrors the random quality of life itself: Greg discovers that "there is no infinite plan, just the strife of living." In portraying Greg as all too human and fallible, however, Allende risks making him an unsympathetic character. By the time he gains insight into the emotional factors that govern his personality ("at last I felt in control of my destiny . . . the most important thing was to search for my soul . . ."), readers may have tired of his self-destructive behavior. 100,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; BOMC alternate ; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This novel by renowned Chilean author Allende ( House of Spirits , LJ 4/15/85) is the story of Gregory Reeves's journey from childhood to middle age and long-sought peace and happiness. Gregory's journey is marked by the contending philosophies of his mother's Bahai faith; his father's personally revealed, metaphysical explanation of the universe, called "The Infinite Plan" (the selling of which provides the family's income); and the traditional Catholicism and sense of nostalgia that permeate the Latin barrio where Gregory lives as a child. Though the book is not provocative and the plot is somewhat predictable, it is held together by a deep interest in the colorful, enchanting characters and their evolving relationships to one another. This is recommended for all fiction collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/93.
- Sherri Cutler, Brennemann Lib. , Children's Memorial Medical Ctr. , Chicago
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 Reprint edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061976822
• ISBN-13: 978-0061976827
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #500,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of eight novels, including, most recently, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has also written a collection of stories; three memoirs, including My Invented Country and Paula; and a trilogy of children's novels. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-seven languages and have become bestsellers across four continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Isabel Allende lives in California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better in final execution than others, if not content, December 28, 2001

By 

Omni - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Infinite Plan: A Novel (Paperback)

There I am devouring Allende like a large meal, going from book to book, thought to thought, era to era without any regard to continuity or subject. I almost left The Infinite Plan for last but it was next on the pile so I picked it up and as weird as this sounds, enjoyed it more so than all the other novels that kept going on and on in their spinnings through history and drama and characters and relationships.
Gregory is a real protagonist, I wasnt even sure if I liked him though I knew for sure that he didnt even like himself. He seems to meander through life with aims that are less focused than an Allende plot. But this time the meandering works, the sense of simply walking with a character and them telling you there life is really used to its fullest here. Again m review is as a comparison to other Allende books and yet this style, the masculine voice/perception really seemed to come across. What I particularly found provocative, worth the price of admission, if you will was the root of Gregorys problems, essentially accepting the company of unhealthy, needy people in his life. He even has an associate in the law firm he owns who regularly tries to commit suicide in the bathroom. Thinking about the characters and their spiraling lives made me think that there is a marked ear for humor, a comedy lost within Allendes work. It all becomes this heavy historical missive and borders sometimes on a historical romance novel that is laborious and in love with its own language. To read her in Spanish must be a real treat, an added attraction to her work because I can see how the crossing of historical tapestry can become tiresome.
This time though, she strikes the mark in the final analysis of a character and his problems. Not perfect but it comes closer than the others do in fully executing a character. I agree with a previous reviewer that the Vietnam scenes are a little awkward but the awkwardness now strikes me as waiting to be funny, hilarious even but Allendes characters tend to be so somber that their laughter is suspect or predatory for something that is about to bring more sorrow.
I dont recommend this at full price nor do I suggest it as the only Allende novel to be read but it is a nice distraction from her main body of Latin American historical/romance work. It comes as a pleasant off-shoot to the present world and a strong experiment in a writer changing from a feminine focus to masculine.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Isabel will tell you yourself..., July 30, 2002

By 

Spinillo Patrizio "patspinillo" (Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Infinite Plan: A Novel (Paperback)

Isabel would be able to tell every story, to put a reason in the life of every person. In reading the life of Gregory Reeves, I had the impression that the dreams, hopes and hidden reasons of my life were becoming clear to myself. Reading her books is like telling her your story, and waiting for her to give it a reason and, at the same time, to put poetry in it, to make it worth to be told.
In her narration, also the feelings, the pains, the irrational of an existence are put in a rational light. But nonetheless her writing does not loose the poetry of the irrational that she shares with other South-American writers, like Marquez or Amado.
I'd say that the secret of her books is really this merging of rational and irrational, the sense and order of feelings and the mysterious poetry of what seems rational.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Allende's weakest offering, August 16, 2000

By 

Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Infinite Plan: A Novel (Paperback)

Usually when I read a book by Isabelle Allende I am mesmerized and eagerly turning pages waiting for another revelation. In this book I was just bored and disappointed.

The main character is the child of a minister whose "Infinite Plan" sounds more like New Age speculation than revival preaching. He is raised in the Barrio where almost every character confirms to the whole Latin Men are sexy but sexist stereotype and when he grows up to be a lawyer, he's a complete creep.

I can see that Allende's purpose is to take a likeable character, transform him into a jerk (as he warns you on about page 100 or so) and then slowly bring him back to humanity (there is one line about how he thought he was moving in circles but he was actually moving in spirals - I still remember that one.) but by the time he gets to his resolution, you still don't like him that much. He's been such a self-absorbed yuppie that you want to smack him upside the head a few more times.

The rest of the characters are either awful or poorly drawn charactitures. There is the daughter who becomes a drug addict (and the main character realizes that its not his fault that his kid is such a screwup but then again, it kinda is his fault) and there's his best friend from the Barrio who has some strength and you really wish that she was in another book and not hanging out with these losers. There's the father who's mysterious and the sister that's constantly angry. There's also te best friend that is loud and abrasive.

Now, this is still an Isabelle Allende book and as an Isabelle Allende book it has some great emotional highs and lows and some memorable scenes. It just isn't as sustained as her masterworks like House of Spirits or Eva Luna.

A common complaint among women readers is that men who try to write women characters usually get them wrong. They are either window dressing or so obviously stereotypical as to be surreal. This book seems to be Allende's attempt to write a book from the male perspective. It's a failure, but it's an interesting failure. A better portrayal of the emotional lives of men would either be Fight CLub or High Fidelity (either the movies or the books are great)