SOURCE: "The Odyssey of an Evangelist's Son," in The Wall Street Journal, May 24, 1993, p. A8.

Simon is an American biographer who has written works on such figures as Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. In the review below, she argues that The Infinite Plan is "ethically diverse," but "not deeply felt."

Isabel Allende was working as a journalist in her native Chile—writing news and feature articles, horoscopes and a lonely-hearts column—when, as she tells it, she met the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda for lunch. Neruda, who had read her pieces, gave her some advice: "You are a horrible journalist," he told her. "But—you are a wonderful story-teller! You have the imagination of a great writer."

Inspired by Neruda's comment, Ms. Allende began the manuscript that became her first novel, published here in 1985 as The House of the Spirits. Two novels and a collection of stories...