Today I bring you the review of “La Teoría de los Archipiélagos” by Alice Kellen. A beautiful story of acceptance, love and changes.
Synopsis
The theory of archipelagos says that we are all islands, we arrive alone in this world and we leave exactly the same, but we need to have other islands around to feel happy in the middle of that sea that unites as much as it separates. I have always thought that it would be a small island, one of those where there are three palm trees, a beach, two rocks and little else; I have felt invisible for much of my life. But then you appeared, who would undoubtedly be a volcanic island full of caves and flowers. And it’s the first time I wonder if two islands can touch each other in the depths of the ocean, even if no one is able to see it. If that exists, if between the corals and sediments and whatever anchors us in the middle of the sea there is a point of union, without a doubt it is you and me. And if not, we are so close that I am convinced we can swim to you.
Review
It is an easy and quick book to read, it has 300 pages that captivate you from minute one. The timeline changes between the past and the present, always following our protagonist Martín. The temporal changes are marked by chapters so it is not confusing at all.
As I said, we follow the story of Martín, a writer and illustrator of encyclopedias and other books who has a great passion for drawing. But due to marital problems that do not allow him to complete his work, his boss suggests he go on a retreat to a small town in Valencia where he has a house, so he can relax and finish the encyclopedia on time.
Due to a little problem with the coffee, he loses a large part of his notes on the flowers that he was supposed to illustrate and explain. So he meets Isaac, the town orphan who turns out to be an expert in medicinal plants.
In the present, Martín returns to that little Valencian town, to recover something that he left behind years ago.
It is a beautiful story with an ending that makes you shed a few tears, that page by page makes you fall in love more but above all, it is a book to reflect on, about life, but above all about love and relationships. About what is right and moral.
You may feel more identified with Martín, a fairly “simple” man, who does not take risks and prefers that others make decisions for him. Or with Isaac, who is the complete opposite, a man of strong character, emotional and stubborn. But both combine perfectly and complement each other.
As I have said other times in my YouTube videos, and for those who don’t know I say it now, I don’t usually underline books because it makes me very sad and I don’t usually make sense of doing it and I don’t mark the pages with post-its either. But in this book it has been impossible for me not to, there are so many phrases with which one feels identified, so many reflections that are worth thinking about, that I practically have at least one underlined phrase per page and all of them marked with post-its so you can find it quickly.
It is very difficult for me not to give any spoilers about the book because I want to tell you everything, to be able to comment on each character and each moment of the story. Plus, it’s full of beautiful drawings.
I highly recommend this book and I loved the comparison with archipelagos, I agree with it and I had never thought about it this way.
Have you read it? Tell us what you think.
Any recommendation?