Daughter of Fortune
Isabel Allende
2001
396 pages
I have finally managed to finish a book by Isabel Allende, and I’m thinking it’ll be the one and only book by Allende I ever finish. I read Daughter of Fortune (okay, I skimmed parts), and while I didn’t find it as excruciating as Ines of My Soul, it didn’t knock my socks off, either. I find her style (or maybe it’s the translations?) to be long-winded and tedious.
Daughter of Fortune follows Eliza Sommers, who was abandoned on the doorstep of a wealthy English family living in Valparaiso, Chile. Adopted into the family, Eliza is raised in privilege, yet always remains aware of her murky beginning. As a teenager, she falls in love with a young Chilean. After he leaves to find his fortune in the goldfields of California, Eliza decides to follow him. Eliza’s story is interspersed with the tales of other people in her life, including the Sommers family and others who she meets as a child and a young woman in California.
This is my final book for the Expanding Horizons Challenge. I had to make a few substitutions (due to Ines and Istanbul not working out), so here’s the final round-up:
- Things Fall Apart (African)
- Twinkle, Twinkle (Asian)
- Daughter of Fortune (Latin American)
- From Heaven Lake (Indian)
- Pomegranate Soup (Middle Eastern)
- Sky Dancer (Native Peoples – Maori)
Pomegranate Soup is hands down my favorite. Things Fall Apart and From Heaven Lake were also good, although I wouldn’t recommend them for everyone.
I don’t have much memory of this book so I might be in agreement. It was a few years ago. Books have to stand the test of time, right?
PS I referenced you w/o linking to you in my latest post… fyi
Sorry (I suppose) that Allende didn’t work out. The only one I’ve ever read by her is Zorro, which was okay, but I agree: she can be long and tedious at times.
Thanks so much for participating!! (Yay, you finished!!