Culturally and historically informative novel

books:


	• Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allende, 2000 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 398 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

Enjoyable HIstorical Adventure

This is a historical novel set in the Chile of the 1830s and 1840s and in the California of the Gold Rush era. The main character is Eliza Sommers, an orphaned foundling, who is adopted by Jeremy Sommers, the strictly moralistic representative in Valparaiso of the British Import and Export Company, and his sister Rose and brought up as an English lady in a foreign land. As a teenager, however, she falls in love with a young revolutionary named Joaquin Andieta, but he abandons both Eliza and his revolutionary principles and leaves Chile for America hoping to make his fortune in the Gold Rush. Distraught, Eliza stows away on a ship in order to follow him to San Francisco, where she is befriended by Tao Ch'ien, a Chinese doctor.

The book's main attraction for me was its unusual setting; nineteenth century Latin America not being a common background for a British readership. The Chilean scenes, which form the earlier part of the book, were the most interesting, giving a vivid picture of life in that country during the early Victorian period. Ms Allende was perhaps most at home writing about her own country. Although the author seemed to have researched the historical background, the Californian scenes were never quite as vivid as the Chilean ones, and some of the incidents in this part of the book seemed far-fetched. For example, in order to avoid being mistaken for a prostitute (the occupation of most of the women who made their way to Gold Rush California) Eliza disguises herself as a man, and even for a time passes herself off as Chinese, without her deception ever being discovered.

I found that the weakest sections were those dealing with Tao Ch'ien's youth in China. When dealing with the Far East, Ms Allende's research seems to have let her down, as I spotted a number of errors. There was, for example, no such country as "Malaysia" in the nineteenth century; before independence from Britain in 1957 it was always known as Malaya. Confucius did not live "fifteen centuries before Christ"; he was born in or about 551 B.C., so Allende's estimate is inaccurate by nearly a thousand years. Chinese family names precede personal names, so the doctor should have been Ch'ien Tao (or Qian Dao in the pinyin system used to transliterate other Chinese words in the book) rather than Tao Ch'ien. The Chinese scenes refused to come to life, and the characters (apart from Tao Ch'ien himself) seemed more like stereotypes based upon Western preconceptions than individuals. Old men are sages imbued with the mystic wisdom of the Orient and Chinese women are gentle, submissive and know two hundred and twenty-two ways (a surprisingly precise figure) of pleasing their husbands sexually. Whereas Allende's Chile (and to a lesser extent her San Francisco) come across as real societies, her version of China seems more like a magical kingdom from a fairy-tale for adults.

As with the settings, some of the characters in the book are more credible than the others. Both Eliza and Tao Ch'ien emerge as memorable individuals, but many of the minor figures do not. Joaquin, for example, is an insubstantial figure, a plot device for getting Eliza to San Francisco, rather than a believable character. Rose Sommers is a potentially interesting character, but Allende never really seems to have made up her mind as to how she should be portrayed. At times Rose seems like a prim Victorian spinster, at others as a beautiful and independent-minded young woman, and this inconsistency tended to undermine her credibility.

One thing that does stand out is the description of social conditions in both Chile and California. Like her uncle, the late Chilean president Salvador Allende, the author's political sympathies are on the left, and this comes out in the passages about poverty in Victorian Chile and about the darker side of Gold Rush California; the frequent exploitation of the miners, the racism directed against blacks, Hispanics and Chinese, and even slavery. Although California was officially a free state, the authorities seem to have turned a blind eye to abuses such as Chinese women being forced into prostitution against their will. We are reminded that the Gold Rush was not simply an exciting chapter in the history of America's expansion westwards to the Pacific.

Ms Allende is sometimes regarded as a member of the Latin American "magic realist" school of fiction, but I wonder whether it is really possible to categorise the literature of an entire continent in this way. Certainly, she occasionally makes use of the supernatural (Tao Ch'ien is visited by the ghost of his late wife), but book seemed closer to the traditional historical romance or adventure story than the sort of work we normally think of as "magic realism". It has both strengths and weaknesses, but is on the whole an enjoyable read. It lacks, however, the depth and significance found in the work of some of the author's Latin American contemporaries, such as Marquez and Llosa, to whom she is sometimes compared.

for more information click here

Culturally and historically informative novel

I read this book in one go while travelling in Venezuela and thoroughly enjoyed it. The intriguing family history told by Allende is absolutely brilliant. I've also learned a few interesting things about Chinese culture, even though I've been living with an ethnic Chinese for 20+ years! All in all, this is a master piece, in my view even surpassing The House of Spirits.

for more information click here

a wonderful read

It was our Book Club selection. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down and plan now to read the rest of her novels.
Living in the "gold rush" area as I do brought the book even more to life for me.

for more information click here

A good story turns great

The book takes a long time to get on its feet, but when it did I couldn't put it down. I loved how you follow around the main character and you go into other people's pasts. And the many plot twists that Allende throws at you make the book so much more interesting to read. Also, all the characters seem three dimensional because there's so much amazing depth to them.
I was rather disapointed with the ending though. A bunch of random things happened, and then the book ended. Despite that, Daughter of Fortune still gets a great review from me, and I plan on reading more books by her in the future.

for more information click here

Interesting and historical

I enjoyed both the story in this book and its historical detail. It is an enjoyable read. The charactors are diverse, the settings rich, and the love story realistic.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the ending is uninteresting. It's one of those endings that makes you feel like the author just wanted to be done with it, or was, perhaps, on top of a deadline, so she justs ended it.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

search for books
daughter of fortune, daughter, fortune

Impressum / about us