El cuaderno de Maya

Apr 26, 2012 Mohamed Al Marzouqi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

إعتراف رقم واحد: هذه الرواية أتعبتني كثيرًا، لأنني بدأت بقراءتها وأنا مشغولٌ من عقالي وحتّى أخمص نعلي في العمل. كنت أختلس نصف ساعة يوميًا لأقرأ ما لا يزيد عن 30 صفحة من دفتر مايا!

إعتراف رقم اثنين: على الرغم من أن مكتبتي تستضيف روايات أخرى لإيزابيل ألليندي. إلا أنّ هذه أول رواية أقرأها لها. ربما لكونها آخر إصداراتها

إعتراف رقم ثلاثة: أنهيت قراءة الرواية ونفسي تصرخ بعبارة واحدة "سأكرر خطيئة القراءة لكِ أيتها الرائعة .. إيزابيل"

إعتراف رقم أربعة: أخبرني صديق شاركني قراءة الرواية (وسبق له قراءة روايا...more إعتراف رقم واحد: هذه الرواية أتعبتني كثيرًا، لأنني بدأت بقراءتها وأنا مشغولٌ من عقالي وحتّى أخمص نعلي في العمل. كنت أختلس نصف ساعة يوميًا لأقرأ ما لا يزيد عن 30 صفحة من دفتر مايا!

إعتراف رقم اثنين: على الرغم من أن مكتبتي تستضيف روايات أخرى لإيزابيل ألليندي. إلا أنّ هذه أول رواية أقرأها لها. ربما لكونها آخر إصداراتها

إعتراف رقم ثلاثة: أنهيت قراءة الرواية ونفسي تصرخ بعبارة واحدة "سأكرر خطيئة القراءة لكِ أيتها الرائعة .. إيزابيل"

إعتراف رقم أربعة: أخبرني صديق شاركني قراءة الرواية (وسبق له قراءة روايات ألليندي السابقة) بأن هذه الرواية لا ترتقي إلى مستوى أعمالها السابقة، وفيها محاكاة إلى حد التطابق في بعض الفصول لثلاثية ملينيوم: الفتاة صاحبة تاتو التنين

إعتراف رقم خمسة: الرواية دفعتني للبحث عن تاريخ تشيلي السياسي إبان فترة حكم سلفادور ألليندي 1970-1973، حيث تناولت الرواية هذه التفاصيل -إلى جانب تفاصيل الإنقلاب العسكري الدمودي عليه- بشكل ممتع

إعتراف رقم ستة: الرواية كما يشي بها اسمها ليست سوى مجموعة من الحماقات في صورة مذكرات دونتها بطلة الرواية مايا بطلب من جدتها وهي تهربها من أمريكا إلى تشيلوي بعد تورطها -دون قصدٍ منها- في جريمة تزوير أموال. أما سبب هذا الطلب الغريب فتفسره الجدة في الصفحة الأولى من الرواية وهي توجه كلامها لحفيدتها مايا قائلة "سيكون لديكِ وقت إلى حد الملل يا مايا. استغليه في كتابة الحماقات التي اقترفتها، لعلّك تقدّرين ثقل حجمها"

إعتراف أخير: أكتب هذا العرض السريع للرواية وأنا أقاوم رغبة ملحة في النوم .. ولولا خوفي من أن تلاحقني مايا في منامي الليلة لأجلت الكتابة عنها غدًا(less)

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May 02, 2013 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, fiction

Isabel Allende has ranked among my favorite writers for a very long time. I try to read every book that she comes out with. The synopsis of "Maya's Notebook" sounded very interesting to me so I was especially excited to read this book. Now the story line of this book is a little bit different than anything I have read so far by Allende but her characteristic way with words is still very much present and makes this book a joy to read!

This book is made up of the things that the title character, Ma...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Pedro Benitez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Allende crea en Maya Vidal una ventana a una gran variedad de temas. El Cuaderno de Maya presenta a una muchacha de diecinueve años exiliada en la comunidad chilena de Chiloe, escondida de enemigos contraidos en años anteriores.

Allende reluce con el ambiente de Chiloe. Este cobra vida mediante sus vividas descripciones, tanto del paisaje como de la gente. Descripciones de sus habitantes, amigos de Maya, le dan a Chiloe un aire de serenidad, lentitud, sanacion y tradicion.

Maya, joven de pasado...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Talía rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: heartfuckingbreaking, mahahhaha, no-insta-love, oh-sniff, sad-funny-this-book-makes-you-b, sex-sex-ebrig-er, strong-female, tiny-cute-little-things, yay, wow

El cuaderno de Maya is a book that takes place in Chile, Chiloe, to be more specific. Maya is 19 and running away from the police. We don’t know why, all we know at first is that her grandma, Nini, is sending her away to this wonderful little town in Chile to keep her from those who are looking for her, and that Maya has a notebook where she writes everything she wants. That’s it. That’s the premise for this story. That’s all I had to settle with when I started reading it, so I didn’t know what...more El cuaderno de Maya is a book that takes place in Chile, Chiloe, to be more specific. Maya is 19 and running away from the police. We don’t know why, all we know at first is that her grandma, Nini, is sending her away to this wonderful little town in Chile to keep her from those who are looking for her, and that Maya has a notebook where she writes everything she wants. That’s it. That’s the premise for this story. That’s all I had to settle with when I started reading it, so I didn’t know what to expect, and certainly I didn’t know I was getting a crazy girl who had pretty much an unusual adolescence (I say unusual because when I was 16 I didn’t even think about doing what she did).
On this notebook Maya writes down everything she is experiencing in Chiloe, the people she has met, the legends or myths she has listened to from the natives, her relationship with Manuel Arias, her grandma’s friend and the one who had accepted her into his life to keep her safe. But at the same time she talks about her past, about what she did in order to be in Chile, away from everything she knows and away from, apparently, the rest of the world. She lets us know why she is the way she is, why her grandmother sent her away to her native country and how much did her pope’s death change her:
You see, Maya was practically raised by Nini and Pope, since her mom left her and went away and her dad was a pilot who was often… er, out of side. So she grew up with these two people taking care of her: Nini is crazy and has a peculiar way to see the world, whereas her pope was (because he died) and astronomer who spent most of his life searching for his planet. He wasn’t her real grandpa, her real one passed away time ago, but this person was Maya’s life, so when he died, when she was a teenager, she lost her mind. She thought of it as the biggest tragedy ever. Now, this part, when pope dies, was the hardest thing for me to read without crying because I understood her pain without even trying. I saw myself in her when my grandpa died, four years ago. It was a tragedy, because, I don’t know how is it in your culture, but in Mexico a grandparent is like a surrogate parent, and we are used to live or to spend a lot of time with them. They are practically the head of the whole family, so it is a big deal to lose one of them, especially if you spend some time living under their roof, like me and Maya. So, due to her pope’s passing away situation, Maya went crazy. She started to hate the whole world, Nini included; she started to miss classes, to hang out with people who were a bad influence on her. She started doing drugs, having sex, stealing… and a bunch of other dangerous activities for a 16 years old girl. Then, after having an accident, her dad send her to a school where people like her went… and so it goes the story until we got to the part Nani sends her to Chiloe.
Then, when she is not telling us about all that, she is talking about the magical place she is living in. Honestly, reading about such an amazing place was comforting; I could see myself there, with all these people, adopting their culture and their way of living life. She was recruited in a place where time did not pass, unlike the big cities where time slips away from your hands and everyone is living a fast life. No, in Chiloe everything was on a slow motion, and this is priceless. Trust me. To live in a little town where you can actually hear the silence and to see all the stars is, as Allende puts it, magical. You grow so used to this place, to its solitude and quietness that you can’t seem to adapt to a big environment where everything is so loud and stressful. Trust me again… I know what it’s like.
Apart from these, the dying and suffering along with Chiloe, I found Isabel’s writing… relaxing. It was different from all her other books. It was juvenile. Period. It wasn’t that fancy and that is good if you’re trying to make teenagers read. The format she used in El Cuaderno… was also different but I liked it, it was real and witty… everything was on its right place. She was never boring or tiring, no, instead she kept me reading until midnight, eager to know more about Maya’s life. That’s what made the whole reading enjoyable… well, this and Maya, who was a cynical character who fell many times over but who kept getting back on her feet. Yeah, she had to be sent away, but she learned, she started living again and that’s what counts, to me.
Four stars to this book because it was touching, funny and interesting. It had complex characters, a beautiful setting and hard situations. Yeah, oh yeah.
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Aug 13, 2012 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm almost done with this one... and am very much enjoying it.
It's about a teenage girl raised in Berkeley in an eclectic household by her Chilean refugee grandmother and her step-grandfather, an astronomer. She spirals into substance abuse, gets caught up in all kinds of things, and is basically sent into exile (back to Chile, full circle) for her own protection. Beyond her own story, which I think is told in a very convincing voice, is the story of her coming of age, discovering her roots, her...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Once Upon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The heart of this book is a coming of age story for a girl, Maya, writing her notebook at the age of only nineteen. Surprisingly she has so many things to say and so many events that have changed her life. Maya is what I would consider an “old soul” probably due to being raised by her grandparents and partly due to the environment in Berkeley, CA in the mid-70’s that greatly influenced her Grandmother “Nini” when she arrived there during that time, very young with a young son. Maya gets dropped...more The heart of this book is a coming of age story for a girl, Maya, writing her notebook at the age of only nineteen. Surprisingly she has so many things to say and so many events that have changed her life. Maya is what I would consider an “old soul” probably due to being raised by her grandparents and partly due to the environment in Berkeley, CA in the mid-70’s that greatly influenced her Grandmother “Nini” when she arrived there during that time, very young with a young son. Maya gets dropped on their doorstep, soon after her birth by her mother, and with her father being a pilot, her grandparents are everything to her. That is, until sixteen when her beloved Grandfather “Popo” dies. She is shattered and thus begins her turmoil.

When her Nini goes into her own grieving depression Maya is alone for the first time in her life. She mixes with the wrong crowd and does things that spiral her down so far its almost shocking the things that this seemingly innocent, even naive, young girl has happen to her. After sneaking out to meet these friends she ends up at the hospital where they contact Nini and she comes to the rescue. Ordered into rehab by a judge, in Oregon, she plots her escape.

Her escape from rehab to Las Vegas is shocking and ultimately sends her into hiding. The events that get her to Vegas and the way she lives while she’s there shows how Maya is both trusting & naive but she is also determined & strong. The way Maya writes in her notebook and explains things is also surprising in details and so easy to picture in your mind. The people of her little village, the events that happen to her and the family – the life – that she has made for herself becomes of the utmost value to her.

Living in Chiloé a small village in Chile with a friend of her Nini’s, Manuel, she writes in her “notebook” about her past, present and her hopes for the future. Compared to California where there is never any quite with iPods, TV, radio, Internet, etc she now finds herself in a place that rarely has even electricity. They eat what they grow or catch in the sea, they barter with others for bread and jam. She cleans & cooks for room & board. The people of the village become so important to her and she comes to find out about her past and how Manuel knows her Nini. This leads to answers about herself and how life throws you curves at the strangest moments.

Personally, I feel that at times it was slow (to say the least) but at other times I couldn’t put it down. Understand that this book is a journal of sorts and you will begin to get how personal her story is. How hard it is for her to even write down the things that has happened to her. You begin to see that the things this young Maya endures and is put through is necessary for her to become the woman she is becoming. The end of the book left me thinking about Maya and her strange family & friends. There is closure but more than that there is hope for Maya to have long and happy life. This story proves the old saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” in a way that tugs at your heart. This is not the kind of book that I would normally enjoy or seek out to read but I am very glad that I had the opportunity!(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 Ariadna73 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Check out what I wrote in my blog:

http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com/2...

We can never say that this author has a very bad novel. This is an average novel. Useful to have an OK time and to relax the mind. If you are looking for something really good and profound; then you don't need to read this. On the other hand; if you want to relax your mind and have a little fun; you can try this story. It's not that bad.

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May 18, 2013 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

Write it Out

“Maya’s Notebook” is about a troubled, exploited teenager. I almost added mindlessly rebellious to this list but I think that’s almost inherent in the definition of ‘teenager’. You would think that this type of story would be horribly depressing and it is but there’s also joy in the form of her family who never gives up on Maya. Her childhood hasn’t been perfect however. No matter how much love and protection her grandparents give her it doesn’t make up for her parents’ abandonment....more

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May 08, 2013 Luanne Ollivier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Isabel Allende's writing. Island Beneath the Sea is one of the few books I've read twice. Allende excels at historical fiction, but in her latest book Maya's Notebook, she moves into present day with a young protagonist.

Abandoned by her mother and with a father always away at work, Maya has been raised by her beloved grandparents Popo and Nini in Berkeley, California. The house is filled with noise, life, colour, friends and most of all - love. But when her grandfather Popo dies, Maya los...more I love Isabel Allende's writing. Island Beneath the Sea is one of the few books I've read twice. Allende excels at historical fiction, but in her latest book Maya's Notebook, she moves into present day with a young protagonist.

Abandoned by her mother and with a father always away at work, Maya has been raised by her beloved grandparents Popo and Nini in Berkeley, California. The house is filled with noise, life, colour, friends and most of all - love. But when her grandfather Popo dies, Maya loses it. She turns to drugs, alcohol and crime. This downward spiral finally spits her out in Las Vegas where she sinks even lower and is in great danger - there are many want her dead. Nini sees one last chance to save Maya - she spirits her away to Chiloé - a remote island off the coast of Chile - Nini's homeland.

It is while exiled on the island that Maya begins to put her story to paper. We are privy to Maya's feelings, emotions and memories from the past and her hopes, dreams and struggle with the present to understand and reclaim her life.

Ahh, what can I say. Allende has yet again created characters that are so well drawn I feel I would know them if I met them walking down the street. The love, the loss and the emotions of her characters was tangible - I felt like a relative or friend was pouring their heart out and sharing their pain. Her prose are always evocative.

"Happiness is slippery, it slithers away between your fingers, but problems are something you can hold on to, they've got handles, they're rough and hard.

The narrative flips between past and present, with a little more revealed each chapter. I love this method of storytelling - it's addictive. (and always keeps me up late, reading just one more chapter)

The setting is spectacular - the island and its inhabitants play a major role in the book and Maya's life. Allende is familiar with the island and that personal knowledge makes a difference. I learned much about Chilean culture and history as well.

It was after finishing the book that I learned Allende had poured much of her own life into Maya's notebook. Her own family has suffered the loss of more than one child to drugs. Some scenes, dialogue, characters and situations have been pulled from her own experiences. I enjoyed Maya's Notebook, but given a choice, I prefer her historical works.(less)

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May 07, 2013 Mal Warwick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isabel Allende’s latest novel is a triumph.

Pick up a copy of Isabel Allende’s new novel, Maya’s Notebook, and get ready for a wild and wonderful ride through the years and up and down the length of the Western Hemisphere. Though structured as a coming-of-age novel of young Maya Vidal, recounting the four seasons of her twentieth year, Maya’s Notebook ranges from the glorious madness of Berkeley, where she was born and raised, to the back alleys and casinos of drug-addled Las Vegas and an Oregon...more Isabel Allende’s latest novel is a triumph.

Pick up a copy of Isabel Allende’s new novel, Maya’s Notebook, and get ready for a wild and wonderful ride through the years and up and down the length of the Western Hemisphere. Though structured as a coming-of-age novel of young Maya Vidal, recounting the four seasons of her twentieth year, Maya’s Notebook ranges from the glorious madness of Berkeley, where she was born and raised, to the back alleys and casinos of drug-addled Las Vegas and an Oregon rehab center for incorrigible teenagers, to the magical solitude of an island off the Chilean coast. Along the way in this wrenching journey you’ll find yourself drawn back in time to the CIA-inspired coup that overthrew Chilean president Salvador Allende and the murderous repression that followed for seventeen years under the late unlamented Augusto Pinochet. Maya’s Notebook is a tour de force. Only a writer of Isabel Allende’s maturity and rare skills could pull together all these disparate threads and weave them together so artfully into such a pleasurable, and often laugh-out-loud funny, reading experience.

Maya Vidal is (of course) an unusual young woman. As she describes herself at the outset, “I’m nineteen years old, female, single — due to a lack of opportunity rather than by choice, I’m currently without a boyfriend. Born in Berkeley, California, I’m a U.S. citizen, and temporarily taking refuge on an island at the bottom of the world . . . I’m five-ten, 128 pounds when I play soccer and several more if I don’t watch out. I’ve got muscular legs, clumsy hands, blue or gray eyes, depending on the time of day, and blond hair, I think, but I’m not sure since I haven’t seen my natural hair color for quite a few years now.” Her father is Chilean, an airline pilot, “handsome as a bullfighter and just as vain,” her runaway mother a Danish flight attendant whom Maya long fantasized was a Laplander princess.

Why does this striking young woman find herself on an island in Chiloe, where she’s taller than everyone else? Therein lies the tale. On arriving, when she meets her designated host, Manual Arias, an aging sociologist friend of her grandmother, Maya introduces herself by saying, “Hi! I’m on the run from the FBI, Interpol, and a Las Vegas criminal gang.” Only deep into Maya’s Notebook does it become unmistakably clear that she’s not joking.

Maya is raised by her grandparents in a sprawling house in Berkeley. The great love of Maya’s life is her grandfather, her Popo, her grandmother’s second husband, Paul Ditson II, a huge and compassionate man as black as she is white, a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley. In exile in Chile, her constant companions are the old sociologist whose tiny home she shares; the local schoolteacher who suffers from unrequited love for the lonely old man; and a lame dog christened Fahkeen the day Maya arrived when a cab driver hears her try to get rid of the beast, yelling “Shoo! Get away, fucking dog!”

Almost in passing, Allende tosses out unforgettable passages. Berkeley is “that gritty, radical, extravagant city, with its mix of races and human pelts, with more geniuses and Nobel Prize winners than any other city on earth, saturated with noble causes, intolerant in its sanctimoniousness.” The school where Maya’s grandparents sent her “taught using an Italian system of experimental education in which the students did whatever the fuck we wanted. The classrooms had no blackboards or desks, we sat on the floor, the teachers didn’t wear bras or shoes, and everyone learned at their own pace.”

Maya’s Notebook is Isabel Allende’s 19th book. Allende, a long-time Bay Area resident, is Chilean, a first cousin once removed of the late president (not his niece, other than in the Spanish vernacular). Clearly, she’s spent a lot of time in Berkeley.(less)

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May 06, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A Memorable Journey of Self Discovery from Isabel Allende

With Maya Vidal, the protagonist of Isabel Allende’s new novel, “Maya’s Notebook”, Allende takes us on a most searing personal odyssey of self discovery as seen through the eyes of her likable, but emotionally scarred, protagonist, who literally falls into a psychological abyss of her own making; an abyss fraught with ample physical as well as psychological terror. Readers will find themselves rooting for Maya, hoping that she will prevail...more A Memorable Journey of Self Discovery from Isabel Allende

With Maya Vidal, the protagonist of Isabel Allende’s new novel, “Maya’s Notebook”, Allende takes us on a most searing personal odyssey of self discovery as seen through the eyes of her likable, but emotionally scarred, protagonist, who literally falls into a psychological abyss of her own making; an abyss fraught with ample physical as well as psychological terror. Readers will find themselves rooting for Maya, hoping that she will prevail despite ample obstacles in her path. A personal odyssey in which Maya learns some cold, hard, difficult, truths about herself and uncovers decades-held secrets about her family and its tragic history, especially in the bloody aftermath of the military coup that killed Chile’s elected president, Salvador Allende and created a harsh military dictatorship persisting for years under the leadership of the coup’s leader, General Augusto Pinochet. Told compellingly through Maya’s own eyes, “Maya’s Notebook” displays once more Allende’s tremendous gifts for storytelling and creating characters as memorable as Maya Vidal, her grandmother Nidia – affectionately known as Nini – and Manuel Arias, the aging anthropologist who offers her sanctuary on a remote island off the coast of Chile with a past nearly as enigmatic as her grandmother’s. When her kindly, almost saintly, grandfather, Popo, a distinguished Berkeley astronomer, dies, Maya embarks on a self destructive journey of drinking, drug addiction and thievery, escaping to Las Vegas where she becomes the target of drug dealing assassins, corrupt local police, and even the FBI. Barely escaping numerous scrapes with death, Maya finds her one chance of survival in her beloved Nini, who sends her to the remote Chilean island as a guest of Manuel Arias. There Maya begins unraveling the strange secrets of her family’s history, tries making sense of her own descent into alcoholism, drug addiction and thievery, and takes a most perilous emotional quest in trying to understand her own soul. “Maya’s Notebook” is destined to be remembered as one of this year’s achievements in mainstream literary fiction, as well as yet another memorable tale from Isabel Allende herself; one that will be cherished by her many devoted fans.

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Apr 17, 2013 Katharina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Zum Buch: „Mayas Tagebuch“ von Isabel Allende ist ein Roman, der am 1.8.2012 im Suhrkamp Verlag erschienen ist.

Die neunzehnjährige Maya ist auf der Flucht. Vor ihrem trostlosen Leben in Las Vegas, der Prostitution, den Drogen, der Polizei, einer brutalen Verbrecherbande. Mit Hilfe ihrer geliebten Großmutter gelangt sie auf eine abgelegene Insel im Süden Chiles. An diesem einfachen Ort mit seinen bodenständigen Bewohnern nimmt sie Quartier bei Manuel, einem kauzigen alten Anthropologen und Freund...more Zum Buch: „Mayas Tagebuch“ von Isabel Allende ist ein Roman, der am 1.8.2012 im Suhrkamp Verlag erschienen ist.

Die neunzehnjährige Maya ist auf der Flucht. Vor ihrem trostlosen Leben in Las Vegas, der Prostitution, den Drogen, der Polizei, einer brutalen Verbrecherbande. Mit Hilfe ihrer geliebten Großmutter gelangt sie auf eine abgelegene Insel im Süden Chiles. An diesem einfachen Ort mit seinen bodenständigen Bewohnern nimmt sie Quartier bei Manuel, einem kauzigen alten Anthropologen und Freund der Familie. Nach und nach kommt sie Manuel und den verstörenden Geheimnissen ihrer Familie auf die Spur, die mit der jüngeren Geschichte des Landes eng verbunden sind. Dabei begibt Maya sich auf ihr bislang größtes Abenteuer: die Entdeckung ihrer eigenen Seele. Doch als plötzlich Gestalten aus ihrem früheren Leben auftauchen, gerät alles ins Wanken. "Mayas Tagebuch" erzählt von einer gezeichneten jungen Frau, die die unermesslichen Schönheiten des Lebens neu entdeckt und wieder zu verlieren droht. Ein unverwechselbarer Allende-Roman: bewegend, spannend und mit warmherzigem Humor geschrieben.

Schreibstil, Perspektiven, Aufbau: Das Buch ist aus Maya’s Perspektive in der Ich-Form geschrieben. Es wechselt die aktuelle Zeit mit der Zeit vor den Geschehnissen, die sie zum aktuellen Ort gebracht haben.

Covergestaltung: Das Cover zeigt Gesicht und Schultern einer Frau hinter einer nassen Scheibe, im unteren Bereich steht in weiß der Autorenname und in gelb der Titel des Buches.

Zum Autor: Isabel Allende, 1942 geboren, hat ab ihrem achtzehnten Lebensjahr als Journalistin in Chile gearbeitet. Nach Pinochets Militärputsch ging sie 1973 ins Exil, wo sie ihren Weltbestseller "Das Geisterhaus" schrieb. Auch ihr letzter Roman "Die Insel unter dem Meer" stand wochenlang auf der Bestsellerliste. Heute lebt sie mit ihrer Familie in Kalifornien. Ihr Werk erscheint auf Deutsch im Suhrkamp Verlag. (Quelle: Suhrkamp)

Meine Meinung: Für meinen Geschmack ist das Buch ein wenig zu langatmig geschrieben, vor allem die aktuellen Geschehnisse in Chile sind teilweise langweilig und auch als man dann später mal zu den früheren Ereignissen kommt baut sich durch häufige Wechsel nicht so wirklich Spannung auf.
Dies ist das erste Buch, das ich von dieser Autorin gelesen habe, daher kann ich nicht beurteilen, ob das Buch etwas für Fans von Isabel Allende ist. Für mich persönlich war es schwer, das Buch zu Ende zu lesen, und ich kann das Buch nicht guten Gewissens weiterempfehlen.

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Mar 19, 2013 ★Loredana★ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ogni scrittore, ogni artista ha il suo stile, il suo marchio di fabbrica… qualcosa che viene da dentro, e che, come un DNA o un’impronta digitale, traspira da ogni opera, da ogni parola, da ogni storia… è quello che talvolta, ai lettori più esigenti e schizzinosi, fa dire: “Eh ma scrive sempre le stesse cose!”; il che, talvolta, può anche essere rassicurante, per un lettore che sa cosa vuole da un libro, e non si aspetta, o non pretende, altro.
Isabel Allende ha forse, a mio avviso, il “marchio d...more Ogni scrittore, ogni artista ha il suo stile, il suo marchio di fabbrica… qualcosa che viene da dentro, e che, come un DNA o un’impronta digitale, traspira da ogni opera, da ogni parola, da ogni storia… è quello che talvolta, ai lettori più esigenti e schizzinosi, fa dire: “Eh ma scrive sempre le stesse cose!”; il che, talvolta, può anche essere rassicurante, per un lettore che sa cosa vuole da un libro, e non si aspetta, o non pretende, altro.
Isabel Allende ha forse, a mio avviso, il “marchio di fabbrica” più evidente… il suo essere donna, ma soprattutto la sua vita: tutto ciò che fa parte di lei, e del suo vissuto, c’è, e si respira, in ogni pagina dei suoi libri. Scrittrice e donna straordinaria, la vita stessa della Allende è un romanzo, ella stessa ha fatto della sua vita, di una parte della sua vita, un romanzo (“La somma dei giorni”), ma ci sono tracce di sé velate in ogni sua storia, in ogni suo personaggio. Io ho imparato ad apprezzarla ancora di più da quando ho intrecciato la sua storia con le sue storie, la sua vita con le vite e i personaggi dei suoi romanzi.
Cambiarsi e rinnovarsi fa parte delle prerogative dei “grandi” ad ogni livello, secondo me, e con il personaggio di Maya, Isabel Allende attua una grande rivoluzione narrativa . Abbandona le crinoline e i merletti dei suoi vecchi personaggi, li rimpiazza con i cellulari, internet e Facebook, e ispirata e spronata dai suoi nipotini ecco venir fuori il personaggio di Maya, un’adolescente dei giorni nostri, una “monella”, una trasgressiva… una storia che più moderna non si potrebbe, che quasi stride fra le sue e le nostre mani… eppure, anche in una storia così diversa e così distante dalla sua, l’Autrice riesce a creare e a caratterizzare dei personaggi straordinari, e delle storie che raccontano anche la sua, dei dolori che sono stati anche i suoi. La ribellione di Maya, che la porta sull’orlo della devastazione, deriva dal dolore lacerante di una perdita, e quel dolore, quella perdita per l’Autrice si chiama Paula, chi la ama come me lo sa. Anche se la storia parte dalla Las Vegas di oggi, l’Autrice attinge a piene mani dalla sua storia e dalle sue origini, dal suo Cile che non è stato più lo stesso dopo il golpe militare del ‘73, quell’altro, meno famoso 11 settembre, che ha portato la Allende all’esilio, così come ha segnato la vita di Manuel, un altro bellissimo ed enigmatico personaggio di questo libro. L’esilio e il dolore, la mancanza devastante di un affetto perduto, sono per l’Autrice così come per la piccola Maya, occasioni di rinascita, di crescita e di riscoperta, di sé e di quei valori che riempiono la vita e il cuore, l’amore e l’affetto di una famiglia, spesso da lei definita in senso più ampio “tribù”, nel romanzo come nella sua vita.
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Mar 06, 2013 Deon Stonehouse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-set-in-california, books-set-in-south-america, great-writing-general-fiction

Maya went off the deep end when her beloved grandfather died. Abandoned by her mother as an infant, Maya was raised in the loving, indulgent household of her grandparents. Her grandmother was a Chilean immigrant and activist married to a Berkley professor. Even after her father remarried and made a home for his daughter, Maya would spend most of her time with her grandparents in their big old hilltop home. Unmoored by her loss, Maya started running with a rough crowd, indulging in controlled sub...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have just finished reading Maya ‘s notebookby Isabelle Allende
Translated into Danish by Iben Hasselbalch

I thought the book was brilliant in some parts, but a little slow in other parts. Likewise it has some realistic aspects and some unrealistic aspects. Maya is estranged from her mother and she only meets her briefly when she makes a flying visit to Denmark. You could say that she has been let down by both her parents. She does not seem to have a particularly close relationship with her fathe...more I have just finished reading Maya ‘s notebookby Isabelle Allende
Translated into Danish by Iben Hasselbalch

I thought the book was brilliant in some parts, but a little slow in other parts. Likewise it has some realistic aspects and some unrealistic aspects. Maya is estranged from her mother and she only meets her briefly when she makes a flying visit to Denmark. You could say that she has been let down by both her parents. She does not seem to have a particularly close relationship with her father either. She is brought up by her grandparents, Nini and Popo and she adores both of them.

Much of her life takes place on the island of Chiloé. This book actually put the Island of Chiloé on the map for me. I loved the descriptions of the people and their way of life in contrast to the people and the way of life in Las Vegas and other parts of the United States. Chiloé sounds like a serene and peaceful island in contrast to Las Vegas with its criminal gangs and corruption. You can visualise the contrast between serene life in Chiloé where seals play in the waters and where Maya would often go for a quiet time to remember her grandfather, Popo, after he dies.

I thought the emotional descriptions were very good. You learn to empathise with Maya. Basically she is a very kind and caring girl. Everything goes to pieces when ‘her Popo’ dies. To cut a long story short she runs away to Las Vegas and gets mixed up with a criminal gang and becomes a drug addict. When she is in Las Vegas she is in real danger and she is so high on drugs that I seriously did not think she would survive.

It is only by luck that she escapes the clutches of the criminals whom she is involved with. Nini helps her to escape, but eventually the criminals track her down on Chiloé and try to kill her because ‘she knows too much’. In my opinion she escapes by chance which would be unlikely in real life.

It is interesting reading this sort of book in translation. I often wonder how much is the translator’s input and how much is Allende. The target audience was Danish for this version and I wonder how the other translations vary. In my opinion the book did seem a little bit too Danish and I wondered whether this was deliberate on the part of the translator. My Spanish is not nearly good enough to read the book in its original, but if I ever get around to improving my Spanish I will definitely have a go.
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Dec 07, 2012 Noel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: latin-author, lit-and-fiction, magical-reality, spanish

Spanish/English: Disclaimer: I was born in Chile, lived through the dictatorship with a very different experience and have been to the Island of Chiloe which is as beautiful and mysterious as Allende describes. Naci en Chile, vivi ahi antes y despues de la dictadura con una experiencia muy diferente a la descrita en el libro; he viajado a la Isla de Chiloe la cual es tan linda y misteriosa como Allende lo describe.

Quiero partir por decir que Isabel Allende es una de mis autores favoritas, y est...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Gattalucy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

...A volte ritornano

Meno male. Credevo che la vena poetica della prima Allende si fosse prosciugata definitivamente.
Gli ultimi libri dedicati agli adolescenti, poi, mi avevano proprio annoiato, e negli altri avevo avvertito più un bisogno spasmodico di scrivere di tutto ad ogni costo, senza più la lirica dei suoi primi testi indimenticabili.
In questo Quaderno ho ritrovato a tratti la Allende buona, quella irresistibile quando parla dei vizi e delle virtù dei cileni, appassionata nel descrivere l...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Bertrand Brasil rated it 5 of 5 stars

O novo romance de Isabel Allende, O Caderno de Maya, diferentemente de seus tradicionais romances, é passado nos dias atuais. Apresenta a trama de uma garota americana de 19 anos que encontrou refúgio em uma ilha remota da costa do Chile, depois de cair em uma vida de drogas, crime e prostituição.

Em seu novo lar, já em processo de calmaria, Maya faz amizade com personagens inesquecíveis, entre eles, um sobrevivente de tortura e um cachorro muito especial.

O Caderno de Maya é o depoimento escrit...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Um romance muito bem escrito ( não fosse ele escrito por Isabel Allende), uma escrita muito acessível, uma história actual com a qual facilmente nos podemos identificar ou, pelo menos, simpatizar. Uma das coisas que mais gostei foi o cuidade que a autora teve em abrandar o ritmo da acção, começando a contar-nos factos do passado de Maya para logo a seguir voltar à narração do dia-a-dia mais calmo que Maya agora experimenta. Outra coisa que também me agradou foi o facto de o mundo da droga nos se...more

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May 20, 2012 Elisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “Il quaderno di Maya” è la storia di una ragazza di vent'anni, Maya Vidal, che nella sua breve vita è già sprofondata nell'abisso, adesso sta tentando la risalita. È una storia di dolore, passività, amore e riscatto. Perché Maya trova la forza per riscattarsi, per reinventarsi, per ridarsi una possibilità.
Maya è cresciuta con i nonni paterni: la sua Nini e il suo Popo. La sua Nini, cilena, lascia il suo paese insieme al figlio, ancora bambino, quando prende il potere Pinochet. Da allora non ha...more “Il quaderno di Maya” è la storia di una ragazza di vent'anni, Maya Vidal, che nella sua breve vita è già sprofondata nell'abisso, adesso sta tentando la risalita. È una storia di dolore, passività, amore e riscatto. Perché Maya trova la forza per riscattarsi, per reinventarsi, per ridarsi una possibilità.
Maya è cresciuta con i nonni paterni: la sua Nini e il suo Popo. La sua Nini, cilena, lascia il suo paese insieme al figlio, ancora bambino, quando prende il potere Pinochet. Da allora non ha mai messo più piede in Cile. In Canada Nini conosce il suo Popo, i due si innamorano e restano insieme per tutta la vita. Il figlio di Nini ha a sua volta una figlia con una donna danese, che però non ha intenzione di prendersi cura di Maya, perciò la lascia coi nonni. La sua è un'infanzia bellissima, piena di viaggi, di stravaganze, piena di libri, di storie, di quaderni riempiti con le sue parole. Un'infanzia serena passata a cercare un pianeta non ancora trovato insieme al suo Popo, che è per lei il più grande punto di riferimento. Quando lui muore lei ha appena 16 anni e la sua vita viene stravolta. Maya non sa gestire un dolore così grande e si lascia andare, va alla deriva. Frequenta strane amiche problematiche, inizia a bere, poi a fumare. Quando la sua Nini se ne accorge è già troppo tardi. Da lì in poi sarà tutta una discesa. Destinazione la strada di Las Vegas. I giri loschi in cui si è cacciata faranno di lei una vera e propria ricercata, in fuga sia da pericolosi criminali, sia dall'FBI. Risalire l'abisso è difficile, ma Maya ha accanto una nonna vulcanica e sopra le righe e, anche se sempre in giro per lavoro, ha anche un padre. Ovviamente poi c'è il Popo, Maya continua a vederlo, è sicura che sia stato lui a salvarle la vita, in più di un'occasione.
Per sfuggire ai suoi aguzzini Maya viene spedita dalla sua Nini a Chiloé, un'isola nel sud del Cile. È qui, immersa nella natura, che scrive il suo quaderno. Il quaderno di Maya è un continuo andare avanti e indietro nel tempo, un continuo parallelo tra l'abisso dell'anno precedente e la tranquillità e la forza d'animo dell'anno dopo. A Chiloé vive con Manuel Arias, un uomo taciturno incapace di lasciarsi andare alle emozioni, non vuole porte in casa sua e Maya non sa spiegarsi perché. A tratti il libro diventa quasi un romanzo corale, dove protagonisti non sono altro che questo sperduto angolo di mondo e la gente che lo abita, con tutte le sue arretratezze culturali, con il suo far appello continuamente alla magia più che alla medicina.
Maya riscopre se stessa, scopre l'amore per un Daniel venuto da lontano, ma soprattutto per sé.
“Il quaderno di Maya” mi è piaciuto tantissimo. Davvero un bel po'. È una storia che fa ridere, fa arrabbiare, fa venire i brividi, fa emozionare. È una storia d'amore in fondo. Di un amore lungo una vita. Di un amore di pochi giorni. Di un amore sconfinato per chi non c'è più. Di un amore per se stessi, che rinasce.
Non manca il riferimento alle violenze avvenute in Cile sotto la dittatura di Pinochet. Da brivido certe descrizioni.(less)

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Mar 20, 2012 Dauro Veras rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latino-americanos

Esta é uma história de superação humana e de ritos de passagem entre a adolescência e a idade adulta -sem moralismos, com doses de suspense, bom humor e pitadas de história recente do Chile. Maya é uma californiana de 19 anos que se meteu em encrencas nos Estados Unidos e foi mandada pela avó chilena pra se esconder por uns tempos no arquipélago de Chiloé, no sul do Chile. A narrativa é em primeira pessoa, como num diário, alternando a ação entre a vida dela numa pacata vila de pescadores artesa...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Lotolight rated it 2 of 5 stars

Comenta la autora, mi querida Isabel Allende: "este es el personaje con quien más he sufrido" (o algo parecido en la contraportada). Con honestidad declaro que no comprendo su motivación para tal declaración, teniendo entre su carrera literaria personajes tan diversos, tan humanos, heridos, maleados por la vida, buenos, malos y feos. ¿Por qué ha de compararse una chiquilla cuyo mayor trauma es perder a su abuelo con Severo del Valle, quien amó a una mujer y se casó con ella para proteger su hono...more Comenta la autora, mi querida Isabel Allende: "este es el personaje con quien más he sufrido" (o algo parecido en la contraportada). Con honestidad declaro que no comprendo su motivación para tal declaración, teniendo entre su carrera literaria personajes tan diversos, tan humanos, heridos, maleados por la vida, buenos, malos y feos. ¿Por qué ha de compararse una chiquilla cuyo mayor trauma es perder a su abuelo con Severo del Valle, quien amó a una mujer y se casó con ella para proteger su honor, vivió los horrores de la guerra donde perdió una pierna, vivió para casarse con Nívea y vivir demás traumas incluyendo la muerte misteriosa de su bella hija Rosa? ¿o con los protagonistas de la novela "de amor y de sombra" quienes viven el golpe de estado y son enviados al exilio? ¿o con Eliza, la joven que se enamoró de un cualquiera que la dejó embarazada, viajó a encontrarlo en California y tuvo un aborto en medio del océano pacífico como polizón en un barco mercantil y debió vestir de hombre para buscar a su amado por todo California?

Considero esta una novela suave, a pesar de los tropiezos que vive esta niña. Un intento de Isabel por reflejar la vida actual, por lograr una novela "moderna". Como habitante de California ha de haber observado esa realidad alrededor suyo, los jóvenes drogadictos, descarriados, mareados y acelerados por la vida moderna que se transfigura a una velocidad vertiginosa. No es una aproximación ideal a los temas mencionados, es una mujer madura tratando de comprender un mundo de jóvenes que ni los mismos entienden. En boca de Isabel se siente plástico, forzado, fuera de su territorio.

Sin embargo, lo que considero rescatable es la inserción de un archipiélago exótico y (considero yo, en la mayoría del mundo) desconocido. Describe las islas como sólo ella lo logra, tanto que logramos saborearlas. El verdadero don de Isabel es mostrarnos lo que ama, lo que vive (lo comprobamos en libros como "la suma de los días", inmensamente gozosa es la lectura de este libro por su naturalidad, fluidez y variedad de temas abarcados).

En mi humilde opinión, esta autora intenta la exploración de nuevos terrenos literarios, no logrando satisfactoriamente su objetivo.(less)

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May 13, 2013 Darcy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, audio-book, listened-to-at-work, ya

I really enjoyed reading this one, it wasn't always pretty, often gritty, but through it all Maya's voice stayed strong.

I loved learning about Maya and her grandparents, especially Popo. Those two had a very special relationship and his death is the catalyst that seemed to through Maya's off balance. I sort of hated Nini during this part. Had she been able to see out of her own grief she would have seen that Maya was out of control.

I hated so many of the choices that Maya made, they lead her on...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Stephen Parker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

This is my first Isabel Allende novel, and I have to say I'm impressed with her ability to weave some lurid, pulpy and sometimes mystical plot elements into a grounded story about a young woman and her struggles with her identity. The book takes its time in unspooling the plot, which is fitting given the first-person voice. It's as if we're getting to know Maya, and as she feels comfortable sharing the trauma of her past she does so.

I enjoyed the first person voice of the novel, but I couldn't h...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Josue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Este libro se compone de dos partes bien delimitadas, que se entrecruzan a ratos a lo largo de la historia: El pasado y el presente de Maya. Si la historia solamente hubiera hecho énfasis en el pasado de Maya, sin duda alguna tendría las 5 estrellas bien merecidas, pues es un relato crudo y muy real de lo que viven muchos adictos de hoy en día, y como una serie de eventos llevan a que una adolescente que lo tenía todo llegue a tocar fondo, al punto que no puede imaginar su vida sin drogas ni alc...more Este libro se compone de dos partes bien delimitadas, que se entrecruzan a ratos a lo largo de la historia: El pasado y el presente de Maya. Si la historia solamente hubiera hecho énfasis en el pasado de Maya, sin duda alguna tendría las 5 estrellas bien merecidas, pues es un relato crudo y muy real de lo que viven muchos adictos de hoy en día, y como una serie de eventos llevan a que una adolescente que lo tenía todo llegue a tocar fondo, al punto que no puede imaginar su vida sin drogas ni alcohol, y que además termina involucrada en el terrible negocio del narcotráfico, y todo lo que esto conlleva. Allende incluso logra que el lector se vea a través de Maya, al punto que uno siente como la protagonista vive la abstinencia cuando se está en el grado más alto de la adicción, y que sienta en carne propia las degradantes situaciones que le toca vivir a lo largo de este proceso. He de agregar que otro gran punto a favor es como muestra el proceso de superación de adicción de la protagonista, y además que la familia de Maya, sobretodo los abuelos, (que sin duda alguna no representan el típico estereotipo de abuelos buenos e inocentes) logran que el lector logre estimarlos tal y como Maya los estima. Ahora bien, el presente de Maya, que es lo que ella vive en Chiloé, es lo que a mi parecer le resta puntos al libro, pues si bien es cierto es indispensable que ella llegue a este lugar para que termine de superar su enfermedad, la poca acción que ocurre en este lugar y la cotidianidad de los acontecimientos que allí ocurren hace que la lectura a ratos se torne pesada y hasta aburrida, y esto hace que uno como lector espere impaciente las partes en las que Maya habla de su no tan lejano y trágico pasado, que son la base esencial para entender porque Maya es como es. Aún así, destaco el hecho que a través de la pluma de Allende, tanto Maya como los lectores aprendemos de las costumbres de este pintoresco pueblo, y además que trata el tema de lo que fue la terrible dictadura de Pinochet y lo mal que la pasaron los chilenos durante este duro período de tiempo, y tenemos el testimonio de un personaje que vivió esto de primera mano. A modo de conclusión no me queda más que recomendar este libro a cualquier adolescente o adulto que quiera conocer de primera mano las vivencias de una joven que lo perdió todo y tuvo que renacer de entre las cenizas, y además de paso aprender más de la historia de Chile de mano de la gran Isabel Allende.(less)

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Mar 19, 2012 Simona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quanto mi è mancato leggere la Allende!
Quanto mi è mancato leggere le grandi passioni, le grandi storie che questa scrittrice straordinaria sa raccontare, con la delicatezza di sempre.
E' la storia di Maya, una giovane adolescente che cresce con i nonni, la sua Nini e il suo Popo( il suo punto di riferimento, il suo alleato), in quanto il padre è pilota di aerei e la madre, una principessa Lappone. E' proprio dopo la morte del suo adorato Popo, che Maya cade in una spirale di droga, alcool e sess...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Bonnie Brody rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isabel Allende goes a bit off the beaten track with her newest book. Told from the first person, supposedly in the form of a notebook, it is about a young woman named Maya Vidal and her family. Maya lives with her Chilean grandmother, Nini, and her grandfather, Popo, in a large, picturesque home in Berkeley, California when this novel starts. Popo loves Maya unconditionally and he is her north star. As the book goes on a bit, Popo dies and Maya falls into the darkest despair of her life. She sta...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Inês Montenegro rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance

Intercalando o presente mais calmo e de reparação e o passado conflituoso, Isabel Allende conta-nos a história de Maya, e, através dela, a de várias personagens que a rodeiam, que também têm muito que se lhe diga. É uma leitura cativante e fluida, tanto quando nos encontramos no presente do Chile como quando nos deparamos com a vida passada no Canadá e em Vegas.
É fantástico o modo como a autora consegue apresentar temas pesados e preocupantes como a dependência de drogas, o perigo dos gangs de r...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chile, crime, female-authors, isabel-allende, latin-america, latin-american-books, north-america, spanish-language

One of my wonderful friends sent me an early release copy of this book and I about died when I opened the package. Allende is my FAVOURITE author of all time (ALL TIME #kanyeshrug) and I quickly gobble up any book that she writes. (Even Zorro, which was a book handed to her instead of a story of her own devising).

When I was reading her memoirs, I hadn't previously realized how much of her life she truly puts into these books. The relationship to her books and the 1973 coup in Chile seems incredi...more

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May 20, 2013 Marianne Barrameda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have only read a couple of Allende's works prior, and I enjoyed both of them (Island Beneath the Sea and Daughter of Fortune). I jumped at the chance to read her latest.

Maya's Notebook is a poignant telling of the journey of a teenager into finding herself. Her story told of stark contrast between the different lives that she lived within the span of only a few years. Allende masterfully wove intricately, alternating between past and present, the cancers that today's societies struggle agains...more

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