there's a kind of magic in us that refuses to be tamed. the premise of this statement stands on a trembling ground, our own hands building the graves we hope to live inside for the rest of our lives. i vaguely remember my childhood memories playing games that could only exist in imagination and living inside stories that required all the belief someone is capable of holding. it is, thus, more tragic than surprising that i grew up to be such a skeptic.

when my friend gifted me this book, i wasn't prepared to dig the grave i build long back only to find the hope that i once buried down was still alive. eva luna is a person made up of dreams, of everything that our imagination is capable of fabricating. she weaves reality out of her stories and is brave enough to live in it. despite my incredulity, i like to believe that there's a part of eva that still lives inside all of us, fierce enough to be wild.


i love people. i love the stories that made them, that break them, that give them hope, that give their dreams wings, their thoughts, their emotions, their magnanimous smiles, their overwhelming sorrows, their debilitating struggles and their soul- crushingly beautiful lives. a beautiful character of one of my favourite movies said that if there’s any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone. just like eva, her words bring me closer to myself. we do not always dig up the ground to build graves, we sometimes dig it up to hide our most beautiful, prized treasures.


there's something extraordinarily divine in you and me. and in this all-encompassing space that exists in between. it is our understanding, our lost and found treasure - our magic.

I don't know how to describe this book in a good way but I feel like the story is almost floating by. Hm in a good way, like a cold breeze in a hot summer day. You follow Eva Luna's life and she has quite the life and she is a storyteller. I've read this the first time in 2017 but even if I liked it then Isabel Allende isn't a writer I've rushed to pick up. Just a few here and there. But after reading a few recently I've fallen in love with her writing and is eager to read more.

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.

رواية حكايات كما يجب، تدفق ممتع ولطيف جدا ممزوج بخيال خصب من إيزابيل الليندي، ثاني تجربة معها واكيد لن تكون الأخيرة.

En Eva Luna, la autora retrata la convulsa y relativamente reciente Latinoamérica política, cultural, económica y social. Son todos sus países y a la vez no es ninguno. Por lo mismo, me llamó mucho la atención que la ficha de este libro en GR indicara que está ambientado en Chile. Con conocimiento de causa puedo afirmar que no es así y borré inmediatamente ese dato. Sí, por supuesto hay varias referencias a sucesos y situaciones de la historia chilena, pero de igual manera a la de muchos otros países de América, generando una amalgama que no deja duda que la autora es una de las máximas exponentes del realismo mágico.

Esta novela es la primera que leo de Isabel Allende y me dejó absolutamente fascinada su calidad narrativa; te envuelve y te seduce con las historias de un sinnúmero de personajes que rodean la vida de Eva y Rolf, los personajes principales. En capítulos alternados entre ellos, conoceremos sus experiencias de vida desde su más tierna infancia y cómo forjaron su destino entre tragedias y desarraigo, pero con un espíritu de superación que hace inminente su encuentro hacia los últimos capítulos.

Lamento haber tardado tanto en descubrir a Isabel Allende y con seguridad voy a seguir incursionando en sus otras obras.

n  Reto #28 PopSugar 2021: Un libro de realismo mágicon

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.

Como casi todos los libros de Allende, un viaje a través de la memoria y la imaginación.

Eva Luna has a gift. The child growing up in an unnamed South American country is blessed with the ability to weave compelling tales which enchant her audience - children and adults alike. It provides her with a way to survive in an extremely tough world. She is born into the underclass and jobs are brutish, insecure and poorly paid. People close to her die or get sick on a regular basis.

Cue a fascinating journey involving amongst other things mummies, a stuffed puma, corrupt politicians and policemen, a (Lebanese??) shopkeeper with a harelip, an old lady in a lifesaving coffin, street urchins and a smoldering revolution. Allende manages to pack so much life into a short book, much of the story is tragic but at the same time positive and life affirming.

Some great funny bits amongst the grit and grime - who wouldn't want to pour a full chamberpot over the head of a pompous politician?

A truly wonderful read

كان يا مكان ، كانت هناك امرأة مهنتها رواية الحكايات .. وكانت تنتقل في كل الأنحاء عارضة بضاعتها : قصص مغامرات وحرمان ورعب وحب ، كل واحدة منها لها سعر مناسب ..


كان يا مكان .. كان فيه رواية اسمها إيفا لونا، الشوق ليها عدى كل الحدود وكان نفسي اقراها جدا، ولما يأست من توافرها pdf رحت اشتريتها .. وداليا الجميلة الحمدلله ربنا بعتها ليها عشان نقراها سوا واتقاسم معاها صدمة سنين الانتظار وسقف التوقعات اللي وقع فوق دماغي