Reread 2021: you know that great feeling of rereading a childhood favourite and finding it actually manages to hold up to your memories? Yeah, well: this didn’t... For nostalgias sake I’m keeping it at 4/5 stars because I have wonderful memories of reading this with my mum when I was about 10, but really: this doesn’t age well.
———————————————————————————
Summer, my tiny hometown in the Netherlands, quite some years ago…
I had come to the library with purpose today. The scrunched up piece of paper with recommendations in my mom’s crooked handwriting in hand, I entered the building. I had always known this day would come, but never thought it’d come so soon. I take the right turn, where I have always taken the left, half expecting to hear someone ask me: “are you lost little girl”. But I am not lost. I stand at the threshold, and open a door I have never been able to close ever since. I loosed a breath I didn’t know I was holding. An endless labyrinth of shelfs lie before me. I am simultaneously intimidated and in awe. 10 minutes later I emerge from the labyrinth, the book from my piece of paper in hand. But I know in that moment that I will return here often. This is my new home: The Adult-section.
I do hope you enjoyed that piece of melodrama… Seriously though, when you are a kid, going to the adult section for the first time seems like a big deal. The first time I went there was for this book. Nowadays, this book would be appropriately shelved as YA, and my mom knew this when she recommended this to me (Don’t worry, she didn’t send her child out to fetch 50-shades of erotica or some traumatizing horror-book). However, this was the zeros and small-town libraries in the Netherlands where blissfully ignorant of the existence of such rebellious new genres. To prevent this review from becoming a novel in itself, I will get to the book now. I really had a great time with it, and with the entire trilogy for that matter. I loved the setting, the writing, I loved the hint of magic, and loved the character (especially grandma). It stands the test of time decently, but probably not as much as some other YA/in between books. If I were to read it for the first time now, I’m not sure I would love it as much as back then.
To come back to the start of my review: before you get into this book, you should know that this book was mis-marketed in my opinion (at least it was in the Netherlands). It's very different from anything you know from Isabel Allende. The target audience should definitely be the younger end of YA. Teens and pre-teens, which was me when I read this for the first time. It won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but I still feel it does deserve a bit more love and attention than it has gotten so far.
E' un libro per ragazzi. E' la prima considerazione che viene in mente alla fine della lettura. Non e' una nota riduttiva, ma piuttosto indicativa. I due protagonisti principali, Nadia e Alex, ragazzini di 13 e 15 anni, danno il passo a tutto il racconto ambientato nella foresta amazzonica. Il tenore della narrazione varia dall'avventuroso fino ad arrivare al fantastico-favolistico. Il materiale per farne qualcosa di piu' "pesante" ci sarebbe stato in abbondanza. L'analisi etnografica delle popolazioni indigene, l'incombente pericolo di estinzione di queste popolazioni, l'avidita' ottusa dei civilizzati, l'opportunita' immensa dell'utilizzo oculato delle risorse della foresta, sono tutti temi sfiorati, esposti e poi sempre declinati in tono adolescenziale, evidentemente per una precisa scelta dell'autrice. Ne nasce quindi un buon libro di formazione per ragazzi o piu' generalmente un libro di avventura e svago. Una piccola postilla polemica potrebbe essere rivolta al teorema di fondo del libro. L'idea del "buon selvaggio", privo di pensieri malvagi, refrattario ad ogni azione cattiva, intento ad agire unicamente in ossequio ad istinti "naturali" e in quanto tali giusti, e' tanto sbagliata, superata e pericolosa, quanto consolatoria e assolutoria per il paternalismo dei cattivi "civilizzatori".
3.5 Disfruto muchísimo como escribe Allende y este libro fue muy lindo. No llega a 4 porque muchas veces me costó seguir leyendo cuando llegaba a ser un poco lento. Mi mamá me lo regaló cuando hicimos un viaje a Apure/Bolivar y por esto mismo nunca lo terminé, pero recomenzarlo esta vez me llevó a recordar ese viaje y a disfrutar este libro aún más.
Getting to the end of this book was very difficult, simply because it was so boring. It was one of the worst books I read for quite some time. Everything in the book was over-simplified and childish, from the setting to the characters to the plot. I especially didn't like the pseudo-fantasy, bordering on new-age elements. I'm not sure what demographic it is aimed to, but I would probably not have liked it at any age. It seemed like the author got a very wrong idea about what YA books should be like. One star out of five.
“El temor es bueno, es el sistema de alarma del cuerpo, nos avisa del peligro; pero a veces el peligro es inevitable y entonces hay que dominar el miedo”
Este libro es el primero de la trilogía, tiene una buena conclusión y no es necesario leer los otros dos libros, pero estoy segura que después de terminar el primero no podrás despedirte tan fácil de los personajes.
Una novela diferente a lo que nos tiene acostumbrada la autora, llena de aventuras y con una crítica a todo lo que ha pasado y sigue pasando en el Amazonas.
Recuerdo haberlo leído con 13 o 14 años y me encantó. Esa atmósfera de realismo mágico me sorprendió y si lo mezclas con una trama de aventuras con dos adolescentes pues no se puede pedir mucho más para un chaval que apenas había leído mucho más. Tal vez una relectura ahora bajaría la puntuación pero me quedo con el buen recuerdo.
Es el primer libro que leo de Isabel Allende y me ha gustado mucho su estilo. Sobre el libro siento que algunas partes se me hicieron un poco apresuradas y quizás confusas, pero aún así me gustó, el trasfondo es también bastante interesante, aún así siento que es un libro de fantasía para gente que no suele leer fantasía o que les cuesta este género, ya que es fantasía bastante ligera, aunque como libro de aventuras es fantástico. En fin, la historia engancha bastante y es muy entretenida, recomiendo este libro en especial para quienes recién se adentran en el género de la fantasía. Por el momento puedo afirmar que continuaré con esta trilogía y con la autora en general, me ha gustado bastante.
تاخذك هذه الروايه الى غابات الامازون لتعيش مغامره لن تنساها ابدا
يذهب الكساندر كولد مع جدته كات كولد الغريبة الاطوار الى ادغال الامازون للتحقيق عن كائن غريب يدعى البهيمة
فيتعرف هناك على ناديا الفتاة التي عاشت طوال حياتها بين السكان الاصليين للامازون تتحدث لغتهم وتفهم ثقافتهم
ومن هنا يظهر ان على اليكس وناديا او(الجغوار والنسر)حماية قبيلة اهل الضباب من بطش الراغبين بسرقة خيارات الامازون وقتل قبائله
مغامره تحبس الانفاس لن تشعر بالملل وانت تقرأها
عند قلبي لاخر صفحه في الروايه شعرت انني فقد اصدقاء قصيت معهم اسعد الاوقات اليكس وناديا وكات وغيرهم لكنني سعيده لوجود جزئين اخرين لنفس الابطال سعيده لانني ساقابلهم من جديد بمغامره جديده