A beautifully written celebration of the senses, this historical fiction is set in an unnamed South American country and recounts the life of Eva Luna. The story opens in the early twentieth century with Eva’s mother’s tragic life story, including Eva’s birth. It then follows Eva as she moves from place to place, encountering challenges and developing friendships. Eva is a strong female who must make her way in the world with little assistance. Orphaned at an early age, her life is full of sorrow, but she gradually learns she is a gifted storyteller and she uses this gift to barter for what she needs. She encounters an assortment of diverse and colorful characters from many socioeconomic and political backgrounds. One of these characters, Rolf, is the subject of a significant sub-plot, which details his childhood and emigration to South America.

The book is character driven. There is no predominant plotline that encompasses the entire novel; however, Eva’s life is eventful, full of drama, deprivation, political struggles, and personal challenges. Allende’s writing is lyrical, full of imagery and emotion. Eva suffers, and it is easy to empathize with her. Eva relates segments of her imaginative stories, showing the power of storytelling to both escape from suffering and inspire hope for the future. At times the storyline ventures into unlikely scenarios and coincidences, and it could have used a bit more information on Eva’s age at each major event during the timeline. Allende is known for employing magical realism, and uses it here, but not in an overpowering way. Recommended to those who enjoy tales of overcoming adversity or the power of storytelling.

I'm delighted to say that my second Allende novel pretty much lived up to my expectations set by The House of the Spirits! I can see this woman becoming a firm favourite author of mine. She seamlessly blends magical realism with love, sexuality, politics, and feminism with a knack for characterisation that makes every sentence a joy to read!
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Eva Luna is a story about stories; as Eva grows up in a tumultuous political climate, she finds herself in the care of an eclectic range of people, all of whom later feature as characters in the stories she trades and writes for a living. Although the characters are bizarre, there's something fundamentally real about them as well. Allende uses them to explore themes of self-identity, sexuality, integration, mental health, and many more, creating an unforgettable cast.
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I also love her manner of including Chile politics without ever naming the country in which her books are set. The political side to her stories is never dull or dry or preachy, but another exciting and eye-opening element of her storytelling.
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The translator is Margaret Peden and her translation is smooth and readable in English, while maintaining the cultural features of a Chilean novel.
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The reason this wasn't a five star read for me was that it lacked a bit of the magic of House of the Spirits, and a lot of the scope since it only spanned two generations, one very brief! I also thought the ending wrapped up a little too neatly. But apart from that, Eva Luna was a delight and I'm excited for my next Allende!

Chamo-me Eva Luna, que quer dizer vida (...) Nasci no quarto dos fundos de uma casa sombria e cresci entre móveis antigos, livros em latim e múmias humanas, mas isso não me tornou melancólica, porque vim ao mundo com um sopro de selva na memória.

in Eva Luna

Apresento-vos Eva Luna, filha da selva e do analfabetismo, assim como de golpes e ditaduras militares, alternados com períodos de estabilidade democrática. Com vida de saltimbanco, a estória da protagonista deste livro acaba por invocar as diversas características do povo sul-americano: os afortunados e os desamparados pela vida, os simples e os que se julgam superiores, seja por uma questão de identidade pessoal ou de bens/cargos que possuem...

Um romance onde a comédia e a tragédia se cruzam, nalgumas partes até se confundem... Relato brilhante das aventuras e desventuras da vida de quem não nasceu rico e que permite um "cruzamento" entre o individual e o colectivo, o real e o ficcionado.

Excelente oportunidade para reembarcar novamente na prosa épica da autora, para quem já é fã. Ou para que a reedição da sua obra, por parte da Porto Editora, permita alargar o leque, já extenso, de admiradores desta escritora chilena. Recomendo em absoluto!

"Reality is a jumble we can't always measure or decipher, because everything is happening at the same time. While you and I are speaking here, behind your back Christopher Columbus is inventing America, and the same Indians that welcome him in the stain-glass window are still naked in a jungle a few hours from this office, and will be there a hundred years from now. I try to open a path through that maze, to put a little order in that chaos, to make life more bearable. When I write, I describe life as I would like it to be."

O dear o dear o dear. How on earth do we review Eva Luna?! And by we I mean me and the many voices in my head that are trying to sort this book out. I think that hard part about this book is that I'm not sold on the reliability of the narrator's voice/story. That's why I put the quote above. If we are to believe her words in that quote then how are we to believe the words that she wrote in this book? The relationships in this book seem a bit of to me as well. There is a bit of an incestuous theme throughout the book that makes me wonder what Allende was trying to achieve by making the relationships the way she did. At one point in time Eva Luna does comment saying, "I did not understand why the part of my body that was so sinful and forbidden could at the same time be so valuable" (106). Allende definitely explores this idea of vice and virtue and doesn't really hold anything back. What I absolutely loved about the book was the language. It's very pretty and at times I found myself reading a sentence a couple of times just to wrap my imagination around it. That's why this is a four star read to me. On the entertainment level I would rate it at about a 3.5 but darn it all if Allende doesn't have a beautiful way of turning a phrase! So there you have it....my jumbled review! I think I'll be thinking about this book for some time.

This is the first book by  Isabel Allende that I've read and I can totally see myself getting addicted to her writing...That, and my mother has sent me about 10 of her books to read here in Malaysia. But I stayed up all night last night just to finish the last half of the book, and that usually means that I really like it. The story is about two people who fall in love, but the story is about thier lives before they meet. The story is also about the social and political situation in the annoymous South American country Allende is writing about. I believe its Chile, but if anybody knows for certain tell me! Beautifully written. I just picked up some of her short stories in Spanish, so I'm pretty excited to keep reading this author!

Finally she picked out outfits like those in the movies: ballet slippers, full skirts, elastic belts. My most precious acquisition was a diminutive brassiere in which my ridiculous breasts bobbed like two lost plums. (PG 120)

I always enjoy a good Isabel Allende novel. She always throws in the historical background of the era so we can imagine the scene and the times the characters are going through. This was my favorite part of the novel otherwise I found Eva Luna's normal life a bit boring or maybe told in a boring way, I can't say which.

Allende is a wonderful storyteller of the mundane and I don't think I'll ever stop reading her novels. She's just so intriguing and full of the most ridiculous paths for the characters that it must be real in her own head making it real for us readers.

From orphans to transsexuals and prostitutes to communism... It all jives together.

Fun to read anyway but maybe not her best.

It is hard for me to recapture the innocence I once had with books, where the words were so real it was like being in a super reality. Age, a better understanding of the world, and my new education to psychotherapy has made literature more understandable and a little less mystical. But Allende gets me pretty close. The psychological lense of me understands Eva Luna's storytelling as therapeutic tool, her retelling of a traumatic past with newly imagined happiness makes the present palatable and a future possible. And I'm grateful that despite the novel's trekking through some terrible times--destruction of the Indians, abusive childhoods, government suppression, guerrilla revolutions, and violence against women--Allende does not glory in the gore but tells her story frankly and magically. The novel let me taste again the wonderful mystery of the literary art. Sure, at times logical and understandable with child development and psychoanalytic theory, but mysterious and fiercely beautiful nonetheless.

I finished this book 3/28 but had to take some time to think about my review. And after thinking a bit I’m still not sure what I want to say so guess I’ll just go for it. First off I do enjoy Isabel Allende’s books and for the most part I e joyed Eva Luna. There were some things that bothered me though. The first half was better than the last- the last half seemed to ramble a bit and Lost my attention. It felt sort of a chore to read the last part. The characters were strong and well developed. The event that really bothered me was in the second half just before Eva left the home of Riad. I just had a hard time with that and the story went down from there.
So I gave the book 4 stars could e en be a 3 1/2.

ساحرة

"She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well and, if we so desire, it is legitimate to enhance it and color it to make our journey through life less trying."

Eva Luna was orphaned at an early age, but her mother passed on her gift of storytelling. Eva was poor and worked as a servant for some eccentric people in an unnamed South American country. While reality was grim, a good storyteller can change her reality by embellishing it with magical qualities. Eva's stories were also a way to give back by entertaining people who were kind to her. She used her talent like a South American Scheherazade.

The life of Rolf Carle, who came from Eastern Europe to South America as a young man, intersects with Eva's life when they are adults. The talented photojournalist reported on the volatile political situation of the 1960s-1970s. Eva wonders if changes of leadership will make much difference to the South American women who live in such an oppressive patriarchal atmosphere.

"Eva Luna" is a picaresque book full of adventure and colorful characters ranging from the powerful and wealthy to those living in the red light district. Eva has the gift of taking the harshness of life, and replacing it with magical adventure in her imaginative stories.

"Беше ме обзело някакво постоянно безпокойство - за първи път ревнувах и това чувство, прилепило се за кожата ми денем и нощем като тъмно петно, като мръсотия, която не може да се махне, стана толкова непоносимо, че когато най-сетне успях да се отърся от него, се бях освободила окончателно от стремежа да притежавам друг човек и от изкушението да принадлежа на някого."

As I slogged (yes, slogged) through, Eva Luna lines from a Dessa song kept running through my mind:

Saccharine read--
Such a sentimental novel
Give you cavities
If it doesn't drive you to the bottle.

In "Matches to Paper Dolls", Dessa is rapping about reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, but her words seem apropos when considering Isabel Allende's Eva Luna.

I am not saying that Eva Luna wasn't without its moments of beauty (Allende's descriptions of setting were so...lush), but mostly it just made me nauseous (and made me roll my eyes so many times I lost count).

In the latter half of the book, Eva Luna starts writing a telenovela; a telenovela that echoes her own experiences (and that, kind of interestingly, brings into question everything that has happened in the book thus far: "When I write, I describe life as I would like it to be," (301)). Eva Luna's script is described as a "jumble of bizarre characters and unrealistic anecdotes [...] it was a mess [...] such a mishmash" (256-7). This description could just as easily be applied to Allende's novel.

There is something empowering about creating or "writing" your own story--this concept is, arguably, Eva Luna's strongest theme. Even then, it doesn't work entirely. The story Eva Luna creates for herself is a girlish fantasy...one of romance and mysterious suitors and happy coincidences--a salacious melodrama for the masses. There is no sense of personal growth here, even though it is vaguely alluded to.

This book kind of had promise? Sort of not really? Ohmigah, think about it: how much better would it have been if Mimi was Allende's protagonist?! Needless to say, this book is going straight into the take a book/leave a book bin down the street from my apartment.