I adored the connection that Isabel promotes in this book between women, and between women and nature. Frequently, in her books, she evokes nature as a friend of women, an important ally that gives you signs and provides you with herbs and other little treasures that allow women to keep their strenght, their heath, and to win some challenges. In Eva Luna, the atmosphere is mystical, surrealistic as always, and friendship seemed to me the greatest value.

This book is built of beautifully written snapshots of an adventurous and varied life. The setting is an unknown latin american country. Characters, nature, households and culture are vividly told. The main character is a rebel who survives and finds friends in unlikely ways. The story is never predictable. Surprisingly for a book from the eighties, a side character is transgender. I was never bored reading this book

Eva Luna, Isabel Allende

Eva Luna is a novel written by Chilean novelist Isabel Allende in 1987. Eva Luna takes us into the life of the eponymous protagonist, an orphan who grows up in an unidentified country in South America.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز چهاردهم ماه جولای سال 2005میلادی

عنوان: اوا ل‍ون‍؛ نویسنده: ای‍زاب‍ل‌ آل‍ن‍ده‌؛ م‍ت‍رج‍م‌: خ‍ل‍ی‍ل‌ رس‍ت‍م‌خ‍ان‍ی‌؛ ت‍ه‍ران‌: ب‍ازت‍اب‌ ن‍گ‍ار، 1383؛ در 346ص؛ شابک 9648223068؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان شیلیایی آمریکایی - سده 20م

بلیزا کرپوسکولاریو در خانواده‌ ای چنان تهیدست به دنیا آمده بود، که حتا نامی نداشت روی بچه‌ هایش بگذارد؛ در سرزمینی ناسازگار چشم به جهان گشوده و پرورش یافته بود، که بعضی سال‌ها در آن باران‌های سیل‌آسا می‌بارید، و سیلاب دار و ندار مردم را با خود می‌برد؛ اما سال‌های دیگر حتا قطره ‌ای باران نمی‌آمد، و قرص خورشید چنان بزرگ می‌شد، که افق را پر می‌کرد، و زمین به بیابانی خشک بدل می‌شد؛ «بلیزا»، تا دوازده سالگی کار و هنری جز تحمّل گرسنگی و درماندگی دیرپای نداشت؛ تقدیرش چنین بود که در اثنای یک خشکسالی طولانی، چهار برادر و خواهر کوچک‌ترش را به خاک بسپارد؛ و وقتی که دانست پس از آن‌ها نوبت خود اوست که بمیرد، تصمیم گرفت راه بیفتد رو به سوی دریا و دشت‌ها را پشت سر بگذارد، تا شاید با سیر و سفر عفریت مرگ را بفریبد؛ زمین پوک شده بود؛ شکاف‌های عمیقی بر آن پدید آمده بود؛ صخره ‌ها، سنگواره‌ های درختان و بوته ‌های پرخار، و استخوان‌های جانوران، رنگ باخته زیر پرتو آفتاب، بر سراسر آن سرزمین پراکنده بود.؛ گهگاه با خانواده‌ هایی روبرو می‌شد که مانند خود او، با امید واهیِ رسیدن به آب، به سمت جنوب روان بودند؛ بعضی‌ها داروندارشان را بر دوش یا بر گاری‌های کوچک گذاشته، و به راه افتاده بودند؛ اما، به دشواری می‌توانستند پوست و استخوان خود را به جلو بکشانند، و برخی در نیمه راه ناچار می‌شدند، بارهاشان را بگذارند و بروند.؛ آنان با درد و رنج فراوان خود را به پیش می‌کشیدند؛ پوست‌شان به کلفتی پوست تمساح شده بود؛ و چشمان‌شان، پنداشتی که با شراره‌ های سرختاب می‌سوخت.؛ هر وقت «بلیزا» از کنارشان می‌گذشت، با حرکت دست سلامشان می‌گفت؛ اما نمی‌ایستاد، چون نیرویی برایش نمانده بود، که آن را صرف دل سوختن به حال آنان بکند.؛ بسیاری از رهروها در کنار جاده از پا افتادند؛ اما او آن اندازه سرسختی نشان داد، که توانست زنده بماند، و از آن دوزخ سوزان بگذرد، و در پایان سفر، خود را به نخستین چکه‌ های آب و رشته‌ های باریک و کمابیش ناپیدای جویبارک‌هایی برساند، که باریکه‌ های سبزه‌ زار را سیراب می‌کردند، و در پایین دست‌ها پهنا می‌گرفتند، و به نهرک‌ها و مرداب‌ها راه می‌یافتند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 24/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Isabelle Allende ci racconta ilsud America da una prospettiva femminile unica

No he tardado nada en escucharlo por una sencilla razón, con Eva Luna he vuelto a esa Isabel Allende que me conquistó hace ya muchos años.
Este libro lo tenía pendiente y nunca me ponía con él y ahora en formato audiolibro ha sido el momento.
Sus personajes me ha conquistado del todo, la forma de narrar tan mágica, esas aventuras a veces increíbles y ese reflejo de una sociedad en un momento difícil que marcó a generaciones y a países.

Una maravilla.

Set in an unnamed South American country with the usual magic realism, an assortment of generals and dictators, a good dose of sensuality and an eclectic cast of characters, the novel moves from the 1950s to the 1980s. It is told in the first person and is the story of Eva Luna, told in parallel with the much less detailed story of Rolf Carle. It is the story of a storyteller and has lots of twists and turns. It has been described as picaresque. Allende challenges the usual male hegemony she finds through her storytelling.
The characters do jump off the page and even the less sympathetic characters have some humanity. But it is the women are strong:
“I stopped examining myself in the mirror to compare myself to the perfect beauties of movies and magazines; I decided I was beautiful for the simple reason I wanted to be. And then never gave the matter another thought.”
There are elements of Scheherazade in Eva and this is followed up particularly in the volume which follows this, The Stories of Eva Luna. I didn’t love this as much as The House of the Spirits. The ending felt rather rushed and forced and somewhat melodramatic.
The opening is certainly strong:
‘My name is Eva, which means “life,” according to a book of names my mother consulted. I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of these things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory’.
Eva combines fiction and life and through the section on the escape of the guerrillas from prison towards the end Allende illustrates a device often used in oppressive regimes, telling the truth in a work of fiction. Allende charts the birth of a writer:
“I awakened early. It was a soft and slightly rainy Wednesday, not very different from others in my life, but I treasure that Wednesday as a special day, one that belonged only to me. I took a clean white sheet of paper-like a sheet freshly ironed for making love-and rolled it into the carriage. . . . I believed that that page has been waiting for me for more than twenty years, that I had lived only for that instant.... I wrote my name, and immediately the words began to flow, one thing linked to another and another. . . .1 could see an order to the stories stored in my genetic memory since before my birth, and the many others I had been writing for years in my notebooks”
Memory sustains life and this is certainly a life enhancing novel, despite the loss of focus at the end.

Having previously read The House of the Spirits , Of Love and Shadows, Daughter of Fortune and Zorro , I can't deny having certain expectations when it came to this author. Did I expect to like this book based solely on the fact I enjoy her writing? I must admit that I did. Did I end up liking it? Very much so, thanks for asking.


At this point, I think I can say that I'm not only familiar with this writer's style but also with Allende's imaginative scope. Allende's imagination is truly impressive. Still, I realized that her imagination (despite being so potent), is in some ways a world within world, a labyrinth of sorts, that is a narrative enclosed within certain themes. I will explain what I mean later on, but for now it will suffice to say that having identified those themes I could foresee much of what happened. That being said, I still felt this book was magical in the sense that it managed to steal my heart. There was at least a dozen times that was truly moved while I was reading it and it was more that enough to make up for occasional predictably and possible flaws. Allende's a talented writer, no doubt about that. You may tire of her books, you might even dislike her style to start with, but you must give her credit, for if this is not writing talent, what is? Nevertheless, I could help wondering how I would have felt about this book if this was my first Allende and not book no.5. Would I have had enjoyed the story more?

As I was reading this story, all of the Allende's other novels came to my mind. That analytical part of my brain didn't seem to get in the way of the other part that enjoyed this novel for what it was- good literature. Knowing where the narrative is going to take me didn't ruin neither the feeling of an authentic story, nor the emotional impact it had on me. The fact that I didn't find many things plausible didn't bother me either ( it is called magic realism for a reason, right?). However, at some point the similarities between Eva Luna and all her other female protagonists started to create this feeling of deja vu than subsequently lead to ask myself how much of them was in Eva Luna (and vice versa). I wonder how much these mental wanderings of mine were prompted by the fact that Eva Luna is, among other things, a novel about a woman who becomes a writer. In this novel, I really hung on those passages about the writing process. I found what the author (or Eva Luna? Or is it the same person in this case?) had to say about it very interesting. When Eva Luna explained how and even more importantly WHY she writes---that's such a precious passage. As someone who obviously loves reading, I found myself (metaphorically) nodding in agreement. We write and we read to make sense of this world. To put things into perspective. To be heard....Allende's (or Eva Luna's ?) words made me think of Tennessee Williams who (in one of her prefaces) compared all writers with a little Southern girl who wanted to be heard and payed attention to. In one other instance (or perhaps within the same preface) Williams said (something along the lines) that in real life we love and betray one another, if not in the same breath, then within a very short time period. Literature gives us an opportunity to process things. In life so many things are happening at once that sometimes we're simply unable to make heads or tails of it.

A few words about this novel. Its protagonist is Eva Luna, a daughter of a servant and of a wandering Indian. Eva grows up in a house of her mother's employer, a strict doctor who doesn't even know Eva is there and who didn't even notice that his loyal servant (Eva's mother) had been pregnant. Eva's mother conceived her with a snake bitten Indian. Eva's Indian father miraculously survived the snake bite, but left her mother as soon as he recovered. Eva Luna is an imaginative child, enchanted by her mother's stories. Eva's inherited, among other things, her mother tendency to daydream. What does life has in store for this little girl? As I was reading the story of Eva Luna and her childhood, I couldn't help comparing it with the childhood of the protagonist of Daughter of Fortune. Is this one so different, I asked myself? As long as I enjoy her writing, does it even matter? Should it matter?

I will explain what I mean. If my observations are correct, Allende's novels are strikingly similar not only in their choice of protagonist, but also in their plot. It is almost as there is a formula to them (something you wouldn't exactly expect in magic realism). Often there is a young female protagonist with an interesting family background. This background is always revealed, making her novels a mix of individual and collective, of individual story and family sagas. Childhood memories always play an important part in the development of the heroine (and the other protagonists for that matter. ) The atmosphere of South America as a multicultural and unique blend of contrasts, is always well recreated and often reflected on. Often there is an elderly man who not having an emotional contact with anyone establishes it with a young girl. In The House of Spirits, the strict (scientific) Estaban loves his granddaughter dearly. In Eva Luna, the little girl cares for a dying elderly man so tenderly that he decides to leave everything to her, despite him not being exactly sure who she is. This older man, an employer of her late mother, establishes a first real emotional connection only on his death bed. As a life of one young girl gets started. An appropriate metaphor, I would say. Life and death travel hand in hand in Allende's novels- as they do in life.


There is another theme that is often repeated in Allende's novels. Theme of forbidden 'almost' incestuous love (the so called Wuthering Heights syndrome, love between people not related but raised together or in some cases that of one raising the other- this would qualify as The Thorn Birds syndrome, right?) are frequent. In addition, Allende's heroines often fall in love with man who are revolutionist and guerrilla fighters. Often they have to hide their love from everyone. Likewise, often her heroines have to decide between two man, one of whom was their first love and to whom they feel bound with strong strong passion AND the other someone they met after the first, learned to love more slowly but more steadily). As far a I noticed this was pattern was followed in Eva Luna, Daughter of Fortune and Of Love and Shadows. Another thing I noticed is that there is no stereotyping. A heroine may have romantic feelings or attraction even towards man from the regime (take for example, the army fiance in Love and Shadows and the military figure who courts Eva in Eva Luna).


Often the female protagonist is, at some point in the narrative, imprisoned or tortured. At any rate, the heroine always observes a lot of suffering but despite of it she always manages to establish meaningful relationships and friendships. There is always a bit of humour, amidst of all the melancholy, death and sadness. Her female protagonist always feel a connection with their country and people. Their gaze is both critical and loving at the same time. The conditions and the times in which the heroine lives in are always turbulent, there is always a revolution of some kind. Politics are always a part of her heroine's life, which doesn't mean that romantic lives of Allende's heroines are lacking in anything. Quite on the contrary, the themes of politics, war, power, oppression and danger often get mixed up with friendship, idealism, artistic tendencies and love. Moreover, Allende's heroines often break taboos be it by falling in love too early and running away only to change their mind and fall in love with someone else towards the end of the novel, or by loving someone out of their social circle, or/and someone of other race or religion.

Isabel Allende has a very unique writing style, and this I'm sure, was noted by many. Personally, I'm a fan of her style of writing but it is not the only thing that fascinates me. You see, somehow Allende manages to retell stories without making them sound repetitive and that is something quite exceptional. I could find 1000 similarities between her novels, between her protagonists, between her plots...I could find so many to make a good case that she is recycling them...However, I don't believe that to be the case. As Allende herself notes in Eva Luna- sometimes changing even a little detail can change the story. For example, at one point in the story, Eva retells the story of a death of loved one in such a way as to make that person deal with loss more easily...and who knows if this 'invented' story isn't in some ways true? Perhaps their loved one really felt they were there with them in that moment? So, I'm not sure it could be said that Allende recycles her stories. Probably it wouldn't matter to me- even I believed it to be true. Her stories move me deeply. You know how most painters have a certain style and you can recognize them in different stages of their artistic development? Well, the same can be said about Isabel Allende. I might never tire of her books. Enough said.


The only novel of hers that I didn't fall in love with was Zorro. I used to think that Zorro didn't turn out that well because Isabel Allende was limited by the theme and because those limitations somewhat cramped her style. Now, that I think about it, I think Zorro failed because the protagonist was a man. Allende was meant to write from a female point of view, her novels are stories told from a distinctly womanly/feminine point of view. Not that I mind that, you know. Her sensual heroines are a refreshment. In real world, I find it hard to believe that such bold woman would be so universally liked- but who knows? After all, persons who know how to love are often the ones who end up being loved the most. How can love be just a coincidence? The more we love, the greater the odds we will be loved in return. Friendships are born out of love. Romantic love is just another form of love. Friendship are hardly ever developed without courage and initiative. The same could be said for love. It is not a matter of chance or of a coincidence. I, for one, don't believe in coincidences. I believe in magic.

هذه الرواية هي الرواية الثالثة التي كتبتها الروائية العظيمة إيزابيل وقد اختلف أسلوب إيزابيل في هذه الرواية عن رائعتها التاريخية أنيس حبيبة روحي حيث تشعر أنها أكثر نضجا في الأخيرة
ربما لأن إيفا كانت من بواكير الروايات التي كتبتها الليندي
الرواية تدور حول فتاة نشأت في ظروف غير طبيعية
عاشت كخادمة تتنقل من بيت لآخر منذ صغرها وكانت قد اكتشفت مهارة قص الحكايات لديها وهي الوسيلة التي استخدمتها للتواصل مع الآخرين بعد أن فقدت والدتها وهي طفلة ولم يعد لها أقارب سوى عرابتها التي قدمتها كخادمة لإحدى العائلات
كنت أرى كثيرا في بطلة الحكاية شخصية الليندي الماهرة في السرد
تقول الليندي : "دائماً ما جذبني عالم سرد الحكايات. كانوا ينعتونني بالكاذبة، أما اليوم فإنني أربح من كذبي هذا، وفي النتيجة أصبحت كاتبة. الكذب، كما يذكر أغلب الكتّاب، أصبح متفوقاً على الحقيقة، والرواية الأدبية تتجاوز العالم الواقعي الذي يحيطنا"
تماما كبطلة الرواية
هناك أحداثا كثيرة بالرواية ماضي الفتاة والدتها عرابتها علاقاتها صداقاتها المشبوهة
وحرب العصابات ضد السلطة التي أقحمت نفسها فيها في هذه الرواية تطرقت الليندي للأجواء الديكتاتورية التي كانت تعم البلاد والتمرد الذي كان تعيشه مختلف الطبقات من خلال حرب العصابات الخطيرة التي تورطت فيها إيفا

لاشيء يشبه سرد الليندي الممتع ولا قدرتها البارعة على جلب البهجة لعينيك وأنت تقفز معها من سطر لآخر
هذه الروائية بارعة تستطيع أن تقدم لك المعلومة والمتعة في آن واحد

ماذا أكتب؟، السؤال الذي هربت منه على مدار شهور نظرًا لضغوط الحياة وانشغالي، شهور وأنا أقرأ وأكتفي بتقييم صامت حزين متحسرًا على أيامٍ كنت أكتب فيها وأحكي كما يحلو لي، فأقول لنفسي أن لا بأس فهذه سنة الحياة على كل حال. تمرّ الأيام ليأتي عمل أدبي مثل هذا ليضرب بسنة الحياة المفترضة هذه عرض الحائط ، يزلزل كياني ويأسر قلبي بسحره وينتزعني انتزاعًا من صومعة الصمت وطاحونة الحياة، يشعرني بسخافة كل هذه العقبات أمام دقائق أكتب وأحكي فيها عن شعورٍ يصعب وصفه، أحكي فيه عن قلم إيزابيل الليندي الذي يثبت للمرة الثامنة قدرتة الاستثنائية على خطفي من عالمي الكئيب، ما الجديد الذي يمكن قوله عن شهرزاد قلبي وعقلي؟، ألا تكفي هذه السطور القليلة للتعبير عن جمال هذه الرواية وعظمة أثرها في روحي وقلبي؟.. يبدو أنه لا مفرّ من الحكي

في الصفحة الأولى تجد مكان الإهداء اقتباسًا من ألف ليلة وليلة: "..فقالت حينئذٍ لشهرزاد: يا أختاه قُصّي علينا حكاية نمضي بها الليلة"، وفي الصفحة التالية تبدأ الحكاية بهذا السطر:"اسمي إيفا، وهو يعني الحياة"، بعد هذين السطرين تعيش الحياة حرفيًا بكل كيانك، متسائلًا ألف مرة ومرة: أهي حياة إيفا أم حياتك؟. ومع النهاية فقط تكتشف أنها ليست حياة إيفا ولا حياتك، إنما هي الحياة مجردة من أي نسب، نعم، حكاية إيفالونا هي حكاية الحياة ذاتها.

الحب والحرب والدراما، مزيج إيزابيل الليندي المميز الذي ترتكز عليه كأساس لمعظم رواياتها، وهو أساس الرواية هنا مع استبدال الحرب بخلفية سياسية لثورة شعبية ضد الديكتاتورية والظلم تُطبخ على نار هادئة في خلفية فصول الرواية، أما الحب، فكان له نصيب الأسد من الأحداث، وهنا، كالعادة، للحب بريق مختلف، وأشكال وألوان ستكتشفها لأول مرة، وسحر خاص لن تجده سوى في روايات إيزا العزيزة. لكن، على عكس المعتاد، وحيث تتوقع أن تنتصر الحكاية في النهاية للحب كونه محور الأحداث، نجد هنا اختلافًا جوهريًا أعطى للرواية سحرًا خاصًة يجعلها تتفرد عن باقي رواياتها.

المعتاد أن الحكايات في روايات إيزابيل تكون الوسيلة لربط الأحداث وتضافر الخيوط وتلاقي المصائر، لكن هنا، الحكايات هي الغاية قبل الوسيلة، هنا الحكاية عن سحر الحكايات نفسها، عن قوتها الفريدة وقدرتها على تحديد المصائر، بالحكايات عوّضت إيفا نفسها عن أمومة فقدتها مبكرًا، وبفضلها نجت من طفولة ممزقة طاردها فيها شبح التشرد والجوع، ثم مراهقة متأججة المشاعر ومشتتة الأهداف، ثم أنثى مكتملة الأنوثة تسافر من مكان لآخر تشاهد العالم بأحداثه وصراعاته، بالحكايات ناضلت، وبالحكايات ذاقت العشق ففهمت معنى الحياة وسر الوجود.

خلال رحلتها نلتقي بتاجر عربي له شفّة أرنبية وقلب حنون، وثائر رافض للواقع، وخادمة هي منبع الحنان، وصحفي حالم بالحرية والحب، لكل شخصية حكايتها وصراعاتها وأحلامها، شخصيات ثرية ومعقدة بدرجة تكفي لأن تستقل كل شخصية منها برواية خاصة، وستنبهر كالعادة من كم التفاصيل والصراعات والأحداث ما بين الخيال والواقع، والدمج العبقري بين التاريخ والحاضر، والتي لو تحدثت عنها بإسهاب لاحتجت لكتابة رواية أخرى..

هذه رواية في مديح الخيال باعتباره السلاح الأقوى لتحمّل قبح الواقع، وسحر السرد القادر على امتصاص آلام قلبك ومعالجة شروخ روحك، لأجل كل هذا زلزلتني وأخرجتني عن صمتي، ولأجل إيفا حاولت أن أكتب، أن أحكي أكثر عمّا فعلته بي، ولكن ما قيمة كلماتي مادامت ستعجز عن وصف كل هذا السحر؟، وهل يجوز أن أحكي في حضرة شهرزاد؟.

تمت.

تذوب فيها كأنك جزء منها
!مُبهرة جداّ

Allende's Eva Luna is part look at South American history, in particular revolutionary history, and part Arabian Nights.

It is all magic.

Much is said about lyrical novels, and Allende's novel isn't so much lyrical as a rich tore with hidden passages and meanings.

It's a pleasure to read if not engrossing.

This was an absolutely gorgeous read, but it’s not without its faults. First off I want to give some warnings for transmisogyny, orientalism, racism, and just overall dated attitudes towards women, children, Indigenous people, and I’m sure some other groups I’m missing. This book deals with so many topics that become interwoven with each other, it can be a bit difficult to follow each thread and hold onto it. But I think in the end, Allende does a good job at bringing everything together and making you care. Things that you thought wouldn’t matter, end up coming full circle in the end. And I think this book has a lot to say and might have been groundbreaking in a different time. Overall, this is such a sweeping and enrapturing magical realism tale that feels almost like it’s being told to you straight from Eva Luna herself. It’s very reminiscent of the oral tradition, and I think that’s what truly makes this book shine.