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Summary: From Chile to San Francisco during the Gold Rush
Review: Isabel Allende is a wonderful writer and her book, Daughter of Fortune, was a delightful read. This book combines all of what I personally read for-interesting characters, new information (about the Gold Rush and China in this case), and good writing. Allende has a technique that is unusual in storytelling. She drops little hints about the future as she writes that you might overlook if you don't read carefully. Then she withholds information about past events and lets you find out about them unexpectedly. Allende is not a writer that you can "skim" through. I found myself reading more slowly, more carefully, so that I would not miss any of her delicious details. My book club selected this novel to read and everyone enjoyed it, although some found the plot somewhat unbelievable. I did not have that opinion myself. I thought the characters were very nicely done.
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Summary: Simply great.
Review: Though it took me a while to finish this-I was busy for the most-I read Daughter of Fortune with pleasure. Isabelle's work is nicely done and Margaret Sayers Payden-who should have credit-did a really great job of translating. A worthy Oprah read.
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Summary: Multicultural tour de force
Review: Isabel Allende proves she is one of the brightest talents of her generation with "Daughter of Fortune." This is the tale of Eliza Sommers, a Chilean orphan abandoned on the doorstep of the head of the British Import & Export Company in Valparaiso, Chile. She is raised by the Sommers family, a beautiful sister dedicated to her spinsterhood and her very English, very conservative brother. There are regular visits from the Sommers' sea captain brother, and Eliza is also partially raised by the Sommers' Chilean servants. Even though the Sommers have high hopes for her future, Eliza impetuously falls in love with a penniless Chilean clerk who abandons her to join the California gold rush. Thanks to her unconvential upbringing, Eliza has the courage to strike out on her own after him with the assistance of her Chinese friend Tao Chi'en.Allende's remarkable talent accurately brings to life the English ex-patriot community in Chile, Tao Chi'en's peasant childhood and apprenticeship as a traditional Chinese doctor, the wild, untamed early days of the California gold rush and the rapid civilization of San Francisco. To portray any one of these settings so realistically would be noteworthy; to combine them all so artfully in one book is truly breathtaking. The scope of this book is amazing, and some readers may regret that we only get glimpses of some of the pivotal characters and that several plotlines and relationships are never fully resolved. Personally, I thought this was another example of Allende's realism. So often in life we only know a fraction of the life and personality of those who indelibly alter our own lives, and we seldom receive neat conclusions where all of life's mysteries are resolved.
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Summary: daughter of fortune
Review: This is an excellent book! I have read all of Allende's books except for Paula and Portrait in Sepia. Still I think that la hija de fortuna is the best. I enjoyed the characters you could actually feel their suffering and trials. I wanted so badly for the Chinese doctor to marry Eliza and I can't wait to finish retrato en sepia which is like a sequel but it has figures from the Trueba family that seem to be from House of the Spirits. Anyway I highly recommend daughter of fortune, as it is rich in descriptive language, full of strong females, and captivating in it's complexity.
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Summary: An engaging read
Review: I'd read House of the Spirits and Eva Luna years ago, read Paula many years later, and thought I'd pick up another Allende fictional work. It doesn't have the richness of House of the Spirits or Eva Luna, but I still enjoyed it tremendously. It was somewhat predicatable (I guessed correctly on what Miss Rose's notebooks contained, what Eliza would do when Joaquin left, and what would happen to Eliza on the ship, for example), but Allende's descriptions kept me interested and I kept turning the pages. If you expect "realistic" portrayals of women in the mid to late 1800s Chile and California, you won't find it here. Lighten up and read the book anyway -- and then give it to a teenage girl so she can see she doesn't have to be a victim of societal restraint or love.
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Summary: Needs a Sequel
Review: I also picked this book because I thought I'd use Oprah's judgement on picking good books. Overall, it was ok. Personaly it took me a while to read it. It was a bit dry in some parts but good in others. The writer put way too many details in that I didn't really care about, and I found myself skimming over the pages because it wasn't moving fast enought for me. Sure, I still read every word in the book but not as if I was totally into it all the time. I came away with a feeling that it could have been better if the writer developed the relationship between Eliza and Tao more. If the begining of the book was spead up a little bit there would have been more room for Tao. I felt disapointed also at the end because it was just starting to get good. Maybe someday the writer will write another book that starts where this one left off at. The one thing I found particularly intresting about this book was the way the author put so many different religions in. I am always captivated at the way different cultures treat God.
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Summary: Historical fiction at its best!
Review: My love of this book comes less from the story, captivating though it may be, but from the wonderful setting the story takes place in. Allende is phenomenal at bringing Gold Rush California to life. The book's main characters are immigrants in the period, and their experiences provide a vibrant insight into what life may have been like in this exciting, yet tumultuous, period. The story also provides great insights for one's own life (as all good stories do). It's captivating to see the tremendous life experiences that a person goes through for the sake of passion, only to discover that the end she was chasing is less impressive than the journey her passions took her along. A great book...
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Summary: Gripping Historical Fiction set in Chile and California
Review: This is wonderfully entertaining and atmospheric fiction about Chile at the turn of the century and about Northern California during the goldrush. The characters are well defined in this translation from the spanish and the action is compelling. There are a mixture of cultural environments represented by the characters and they are changed over time by the new society growing in the San Farncisco area. These characters teach us ensightful lessons throughout the story. A great read!
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Summary: Conmovedor
Review: Fue esta la primera novela que leí de Isabel Allende... desde entonces, no he dejado de leer. Es una novela conmovedora, con todos los aspectos de la vida cotidiana de su época. Un relato encantador, con una pasión reveladora de la liberación femenina y el coraje y sacrificio que ello conlleva.
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Summary: A Good Read - an Unfinished Story
Review: Very entertaining, very well written - actually had a hard time putting the book down. (Haven't had that experience in a while.) But then I turned the page...and it was over!? It was almost as if some editor or publisher somewhere said: "Okay, it's getting too long...let's just end it here." I would definitely suggest it to anyone, but prepare yourself for feeling as if you want to write more at the end to finish the story.
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