SOURCE: "Westward Ho the New Age Covered Wagon," in The New York Times Book Review, May 16, 1993, p. 13.

An American poet, critic, essayist, and editor, Bly is a prominent figure in contemporary American letters. In the review below, he examines Allende's treatment of American history in The Infinite Plan.

Isabel Allende moves in this book [The Infinite Plan] into new territory for her fiction: the site is North America, her main character is an American man, and while describing with verve the last two generations of a North American family, the novel doubles as a cameo history of the United States. As World War II is ending, Charles Reeves, a tent preacher, is driving his family, with several retainers, westward in a kind of New Age covered wagon, bringing news of a harmonious universe that unfolds according to some Infinite Plan (hence the title). We recall that the United...