Daughter of Fortune: A Novel (P.S.)
by Isabel Allende
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of Isabel Allende and historical fiction
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Read in July, 2006
Ditemukan di depan pintu rumah pemilih sebuah perusaaan Ekspor Impor Inggris, Eliza, diadopsi oleh Rose Sommers. Sejak kecil Eliza dididik untuk menjadi seorang wanita bangsawan. Keluarga Sommers adalah warga pendatang dari Inggris yang membuka usaha di Chile. Eliza tidak pernah tahu siapa orang tuanya, yang dia tau hanyalah Miss Rose dan Mama Fresia, pengasuhnya.
Menginjak usia remaja, Eliza jatuh cinta pada seorang pemuda Chile, Joaquin Andieta. Mereka menjalin hubungan secara sembunyi-semb...more
Menginjak usia remaja, Eliza jatuh cinta pada seorang pemuda Chile, Joaquin Andieta. Mereka menjalin hubungan secara sembunyi-semb...more
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Orphan Eliza Summers was found as an infant squalling on the doorstep of a British merchant family in Valparaiso Chile. Raised to be a lady by the spinster sister of the household, given exotic treasures by the adventurous sea captain brother, and learning to cook by using her sensitive sense of smel under the tutelage of the Indian cook Mama Fresia, Eliza grows into a skilled and adventurous young woman with many talents - including that of 'disappearing'. The latter stands her in good stead wh...more
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Read in October, 2007
I remember beginning to read Daughter of Fortune several years ago but for some reason put it aside and never finished it. How I was able to do that so easily, I will never know because the second time around this book ended up being difficult to put down.
Isabel Allende has created a very engaging and well-rounded character in Eliza Sommers. I found the most endearing thing about Eliza was her stubborness and her imperfections. Often that is what will draw me to a character because...more
Isabel Allende has created a very engaging and well-rounded character in Eliza Sommers. I found the most endearing thing about Eliza was her stubborness and her imperfections. Often that is what will draw me to a character because...more
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At the request of Candice (a/k/a sister-in-law extraordinaire) I am reviewing Daughter of Fortune. I read it quite some time ago, but remember it as a favorite, in contrast to the last Allende book I just reviewed. In Daughter of Fortune, a young Chilean woman, Eliza, stows away on a ship bound for San Francisco. It is 1849 and adventurers from all over the world are arriving in California in search of gold. During the long sea voyage, she befriends a Chinese man, Tao Chi'en, who serves as th...more
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Read in August, 2004
The story begins in mid-19th century Valparaíso, Chile, then a thriving British port and the most compelling of the narrative's many settings. Enter Jeremy and Rose Sommers, a brother and sister pair who have established themselves at the head of expatriate society, valiantly tending the delicate flower of Victorian ways on the harsh alien soil. An abandoned infant grows up between worlds, spending her days half with her native-Chilean nanny immersed in the bustle of the kitchen and household c...more
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Read in January, 2008
I liked the characters in this book but felt like we should have known more about what caused Joaquin to desert his ideals and become a bandit. I also wish that there was a bit more. It alludes to Rose being in San Francisco but how did she get there? Did John take her on the steamboat? She and Eliza must have reunited but how did that go? Was it a tearful reunion or was it tense? Did Eliza ever find out who her real father was? How did her family react when they found out that she loved ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
passionate readers
This book begins in the mid 1800's and takes place between Chile, Britain, and America. You will follow the story of a diverse family who has many secrets stored away. The main character is, Eliza, a very determined young lady who is very advanced for her time. This book is full of history. The author is so descriptive in her words that you feel as if you are literally in the book; enthralled in the lives of the characters. I literally had a hard time putting this book down. I wept and I la...more
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recommends it for:
those who like magic and strong women
I admit it: I'm an Isabel Allende lover. Not all her books have been the best I've ever read, but this book is up there. I really enjoy the multi-generational span of her novels and the magical realism that inevitably makes her characters more interesting than many writers'. This novel tells the story of the childhood and maturation of Eliza Sommers, an adopted multi-ethnic girl who grows up to fall in love with a revolutionary thinker, Joachin Andieta. When Andieta leaves her in Chile to fi...more
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Read in October, 2007
I thought this book was really good, and had originally picked it up from the library as it was our San Mateo county reads book. ( basically all of the area libraries carry it, and then the whole community reads it and throughout the month there are different activities that are based around the book -for example with this book- Chilean festivals, singers, meals, book clubs, and an in person conversation with the author ) I love the idea!
What I liked best about the book were how well develo...more
What I liked best about the book were how well develo...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
readers who love a mixture of history and adventure
Daughter of Fortune: A Novel had a slow start, but it was worth getting to chapter two. The story starts in Chile and it is fascinating to read about a women's life in Chile during the 1800s. I know little about history during the 1800s in Chile and didn't realize the role it played in commerce.
The story moves to California and again the life the main character's life in amazing and probably realistic to the time although compressed into one character. The frenzy of the gold rush days and t...more
The story moves to California and again the life the main character's life in amazing and probably realistic to the time although compressed into one character. The frenzy of the gold rush days and t...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommended to Summer by:
Kate
Lovely, lovely writing takes you from Chile to China to Goldrush California, dipping into several of the cultures found there. A great adventure of self discovery populated with diverse and colorful characters.
I've read different jacket summaries on this book and was glad the one on mine was somewhat vague; it made the ending a real surprise. (Contributing to the surprise was the fact that I didn't read it all at once; it *does* foreshadow the ending but I'd forgotten about it.) I'd always l...more
I've read different jacket summaries on this book and was glad the one on mine was somewhat vague; it made the ending a real surprise. (Contributing to the surprise was the fact that I didn't read it all at once; it *does* foreshadow the ending but I'd forgotten about it.) I'd always l...more
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This book was good but not my favorite by far. The characters are not as charismatic as her previous characters. It's a little slow to start but the story is definitely interesting enough to finish.
From the Publisher
From acclaimed international bestselling author Isabel Allende comes this dazzling historical novel, a sweeping portrait of an unconventional woman carving her own destiny in an era defined by violence, passion, and adventure. An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Vict...more
From the Publisher
From acclaimed international bestselling author Isabel Allende comes this dazzling historical novel, a sweeping portrait of an unconventional woman carving her own destiny in an era defined by violence, passion, and adventure. An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Vict...more
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Read in September, 2007
Ironically, the strength of this book is the very thing that annoyed me by the end. Allende does an amazing job crafting complex characters and weaving their multiple stories together. Her descriptions invoke all the senses and make the reader feel like she/he is actually experiencing mid-19th century gold-crazy San Francisco. Tracing the lives of a half dozen main characters over seven years through three different countries is no easy task, and while Allende mostly handles it well, there ar...more
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Read in January, 2001
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Liz by:
DebThis review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in July, 2007
This book was pretty good. It has grown on me more in the months since I read it. It is set in Chile and the California Gold Rush of the mid 1800's. It is the story of a woman, who's circumstances of birth are shady, that falls in love as a teenager and spends the next 10 years of her life chasing that love. While is does show a woman who takes control of her life at a time when women had very little ability to make their own choices, there were times that I felt it slipped into being a silly ro...more
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A romantic historical novel, bordering almost too much for my tastes on romance over history, it briefly visits four cultures: English, Chilean, Chinese and Americana during the California Gold Rush. Our heroine, Eliza, an abandoned child brought up by a wealthy couple in Chile, finds herself pregnant, without a husband, at sixteen. If that’s not enough, her fiery personality allows her the gumption to haul her pregnant body to California where her intended has gone to make his fortune in gold...more
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Read in April, 2008
Eliza, as an infant, is left in a box at the home of Rose and her brother Jeremy. Rose, who never married keeps Eliza and raises her, along with Mama Fresia, the cook. Eliza grows in two different worlds as these woman influence her. This family gives new meaning to dysfunctional. Their secrets define them. Eliza grows to adulthood, falls in love, stows away on a boat to follow her lover, caught up in the gold rush, to California. in the process she is befrended by Tao Chi'en, a chinese doc...more
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Read in January, 2008
I enjoyed this book, the first Allende I've read. I swear I didn't know it was an Oprah book until I was partway into reading it, but I'd just finished that giant Ken Follett thing I'd also found out she recommended as I was partway through it, so I guess I'm on a roll. I think I'll try other Allende novels, though. But about this book, historical fiction, especially about women in the early west, is one of my favorite subjects. The first half of this book is about the young woman growing up...more
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