Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Book Title: Daughter of Fortune
Author: Isabel Allende
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gold Rush
My Grade: B+
# of Pages: 399
Summary: Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.
So begins Isabel Allende's enchanting new novel, Daughter of Fortune, her most ambitious work of fiction yet. As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco and northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes among whom Eliza moves - with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi'en - California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquín gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.
Daughter of Fortune is a sweeping portrait of an era, a story rich in character, history, violence, and compassion. In Eliza, Allende has created one of her most appealing heroines, an adventurous, independent-minded, and highly unconventional young woman who has the courage to reinvent herself and to create her own destiny in a new country. A marvel of storytelling, Daughter of Fortune confirms once again Isabel Allende's extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world's leading writers.
My Thoughts: I remember beginning to read Daughter of Fortune several years ago but for some reason put it aside and never finished it. How I was able to do that so easily, I will never know because the second time around this book ended up being difficult to put down.
Isabel Allende has created a very engaging and well-rounded character in Eliza Sommers. I found the most endearing thing about Eliza was her stubborness and her imperfections. Often that is what will draw me to a character because it makes them real, and I found Eliza couldn't be more real if she had even stepped off the page.
Every character that Eliza encountered helped to enrich her life and each one added more to the story that kept you reading, but obviously the one you bonded to the most was the one who held a story of his own: Tao Chi'en. The bond those two created could drive you crazy and was really kept me reading until the very end.
Without giving anything away I'll finish off by saying this book is written like Eliza has developed: raw and real. Allende is not afraid to stray from the "Hollywood" style of story telling, with everything working out as it should or the way the reader wants it to end. There are bumps and blips throughout the story that will drive you true-heart romantics out of your mind, but those of us who crave a certain reality in our stories will love it.
In the end this story will make you feel good, even better than your typical "feel good" book because you feel like you can tell yourself, this is real... maybe it really did happen...
Next Book: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: Isabel Allende
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gold Rush
My Grade: B+
# of Pages: 399
Summary: Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.
So begins Isabel Allende's enchanting new novel, Daughter of Fortune, her most ambitious work of fiction yet. As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco and northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes among whom Eliza moves - with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi'en - California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquín gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.
Daughter of Fortune is a sweeping portrait of an era, a story rich in character, history, violence, and compassion. In Eliza, Allende has created one of her most appealing heroines, an adventurous, independent-minded, and highly unconventional young woman who has the courage to reinvent herself and to create her own destiny in a new country. A marvel of storytelling, Daughter of Fortune confirms once again Isabel Allende's extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world's leading writers.
My Thoughts: I remember beginning to read Daughter of Fortune several years ago but for some reason put it aside and never finished it. How I was able to do that so easily, I will never know because the second time around this book ended up being difficult to put down.
Isabel Allende has created a very engaging and well-rounded character in Eliza Sommers. I found the most endearing thing about Eliza was her stubborness and her imperfections. Often that is what will draw me to a character because it makes them real, and I found Eliza couldn't be more real if she had even stepped off the page.
Every character that Eliza encountered helped to enrich her life and each one added more to the story that kept you reading, but obviously the one you bonded to the most was the one who held a story of his own: Tao Chi'en. The bond those two created could drive you crazy and was really kept me reading until the very end.
Without giving anything away I'll finish off by saying this book is written like Eliza has developed: raw and real. Allende is not afraid to stray from the "Hollywood" style of story telling, with everything working out as it should or the way the reader wants it to end. There are bumps and blips throughout the story that will drive you true-heart romantics out of your mind, but those of us who crave a certain reality in our stories will love it.
In the end this story will make you feel good, even better than your typical "feel good" book because you feel like you can tell yourself, this is real... maybe it really did happen...
Next Book: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian • review
Back to the Book List.