Names+and+foreshadowing

I think it is very creative that all the names of the women in the family are conected. Nivea is like the snow, Clara means light, Blanca means white, and Alba means dawn. All tha names pertain to brightness or light. I also like how Isabel Allende slips in a few sentences about what happens in the future. For example, she says that one day Amanda will have to give her life for Miguel, and Alba will have to identify Jean's body at the morgue. I want to know why these events happen, which makes me want to continue reading.1204161297

I like your point about the foreshadowing; only I wouldn't exactly call it foreshadowing. Allende doesn't hint at future events through symbolism or subtle contextual clues--she's outright tells us what is going to happen, giving us a snapshot of future events. It definitely does encourage you to keep reading, though, just to see how the events unfold or how Allende ties them all together at the end. She did this with the brothers in earlier chapters, but we didn't know what they had a disagreement about until chapter 7.1204259030

I completely agree. Another time Isabel uses foreshadowing in this chapter is when on page 283 she mentions how when Clara dies the house would lose its flowers, nomadic friends, and playful spirits. A lot of her foreshadowing seems to have a lot of time before the event happens, but in this situation Clara dies only 5 pages later.1204396092

I don't know, some of the foreshadowing I don't really care for. It's nice to have a clue of what happens next, but sometimes I would rather be surprised. Also foreshadowing can just delay an event from happening. (Well I know what is going to happen--so let it happen. Stop talking about it beforehand, and then repeating yourself) Perhaps it's due to problems with the translation, but some of her forshadowing sentences just sound awkward. I really like the book, but maybe if she had just edited a bit more...user:smu-ia