APHRODITE: A Memoir of the Senses [Hardcover]

Isabel Allende (Author), Robert Shekter (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Harper Flamingo; First Edition edition (1999)
• ASIN: B002B312YM
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,008,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of eight novels, including, most recently, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has also written a collection of stories; three memoirs, including My Invented Country and Paula; and a trilogy of children's novels. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-seven languages and have become bestsellers across four continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Isabel Allende lives in California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Examination Of Food and Life, June 8, 1998

By 

Michael Lima (Fresno, California USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses (Hardcover)

Allende has created a stunning rumination on life in her new book. And as an added bonus, she's thrown in a pretty good cookbook as well. This book serves as a wonderful counterpoint to Paula. While Paula was about death and it's effects on the human spirit, Aphrodite is about living life to its fullest by savoring what nature gives us.

Allende's strength as a writer is in using the powerful emotional connection that she has to the material to create an effective narrative flow. If she doesn't have that emotional connection, she ends up relying on her characters' dialogue, which is definitely not her strong suit (see The Infinite Plan). In Aphrodite, she uses only narrative, which shines with a playfulness and joy that comes from someone who is enjoying the material.

I remember attending a lecture where Allende said that after Paula, she thought she would never write again. I'm very glad that rice pudding helped her get over these feelings. This book should be read by everyone so that they may be reminded (as she obviously has been) that it's the simplest pleasures of life that make life worth living.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, September 26, 2001

By 

"blanchrd06" (Harrisburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses (Paperback)

This book was wonderful. I am cooking for myself for the first time in my life. This book gave me an appreciation not only for the aphrodisiac virtues in food but also for all their other sensual qualities. I recommend it to anyone who loves food or has an appreciation for anything sensual.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A global odysey through culinary sensuousness, September 13, 2003

By 

Govindan Nair (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses (Paperback)

For readers of Isabel Allende's novels, this might seem an unusual book. It is a passionate, unapologetic defense of the senses generally, and a catalogue of historical sexual and culinary practices punctuated with flavorful recipes, all of which place this history-cum-cookbook almost in a genre of its own. This book naturally radiates with warmth, beginning with the highly informative personal tributes Alende delivers to each of three of her major collaborators in this book, including her mother and her literary agent. The photos and drawing which are scattered throughout this book add an artistic backdrop to the evocative prose. It also made me appreciate more wholly a number of passages Allende devotes to food and cuisine in her non-ficiton book on her native Chile, My Invented Country (which I had also reviwed on this website).