Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses [Hardcover]

Isabel Allende (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 1998

"Me apprepiento de los platos deliciosos rechazados por vanidad, tanto como lamento las ocasiones de hacer el amor que he dejado pasar por ocuparme de tareas pendientes o por virtud puritana," ya que "la sexualidad es un componente de la buena sauld, inspira la creatcion y es parte del camino del alma...Por desgracia, me demore treinta anos en descubrirlo."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There is something about reading suggestive material that awakens the senses--too often ignored in the fray of modern life--and fires the imagination. Perhaps it brings us back to those breathless, palpitating moments from childhood when puberty was a rosy smudge on the horizon and sex was an abstract term. Aphrodite is a long, savory, enthralling ode to sensuality.

In this bawdy memoir-cum-cookbook, Allende has put together an apothecary of aphrodisiacs, from snake's blood and rhinoceros horn to the more commonplace and more palatable oysters, "those seductive tears of the sea, which lend themselves to slipping from mouth to mouth like a prolonged kiss ... can be purchased in bottles, but there they look like malignant tumors; in contrast, moist and turgid in their shells they suggest delicate vulvae--a prime example of food that appeals to the eye." Chapters such as "Alligators and Piranhas"; "Supreme Stimulus for Lechery"; "Bread, God's Grace"; "Forbidden Fruits"; and "The Saucy Way to Foreplay" offer categorical listings on the aphrodisiac qualities of meats, spices, fruits and vegetables, and alcohol. A few chapters into the book, one begins to wonder what foods aren't considered erotic: "the shape of the wheat head is considered phallic, which proves human imagination knows no limits." Wine (no surprise there) is recommended because "it lessens inhibitions, relaxes, and fosters joy, three fundamental requirements for good performance, not only in bed but at the piano as well." However, as in many situations, moderation is key: too much and you may find your guest asleep in the soup.

Allende dismisses nouvelle cuisine in favor of earthier foods and more satisfying portions. More than 100 recipes are provided, from sauces and soups to hors d'oeuvres, supplemented with her voluptuous commentary. Recipes such as Mykonos Sauce, with walnuts, pistachios, basil, garlic, and milk; Widower's Figs; Filet Mignon Belle Epoque; and Alicante Cream Soup, with leeks, shrimp, oysters, paprika, and cream will have you in an apron (and perhaps not much else) in no time.

"If cookbooks make up part of your library," Allende notes, "books on eroticism should, too." And what more delightful combination of the two than Aphrodite, which provocatively underscores the relationship between sustenance and sexuality, and the aphrodisiac qualities of watching a man cook: "[Women] suppose that if he can remember how many minutes frog legs can tolerate in the skillet, how much greater reason he will have to remember how many tickles our G spot demands." Spiced with litanies of lust and longing from Anais Nin, W.B. Yeats, Pablo Neruda, and Lady Onogoro, and enriched with Allende's warm humor and lusty joie de vive, Aphrodite will tantalize your senses and engender lascivious grins. Recommended in delicious but moderate doses, this book is not for the faint of ... er, heart. --Jhana Bach

From Publishers Weekly

Sex and food, once celebrated as two of life's great joys, suffer a lot of bad press these days. Genuine epidemics, coupled with monthly findings of new things that are bad for us, have pushed otherwise happy souls into programs of agonizing denial and, in severe instances, abstinence. Thankfully, in this sophisticated defense of pleasure, novelist Allende (The House of the Spirits) puts the joy back into eating and loving with all the panache that marks the best of her fiction. Though passionate about her subject, she remains consistently whimsical with this mix of anecdotes, recipes and advice designed to enhance any romantic encounter. As always, her secret weapon is honesty: "Some [aphrodisiacs] have a scientific basis, but most are activated by the imagination." Allende's vivacity and wit are in full bloom as she makes her pronouncements: "There are few virtues a man can possess more erotic than culinary skill"; "When you make an omelet, as when you make love, affection counts for more than technique." Her book is filled with succinct wisdom and big laughs. Despite sections titled "The Orgy" and "Supreme Stimulus for Lechery," Allende comes down emphatically for romance over sex and for ritual over flavor in a work that succeeds in being what it intends to be?fun from the first nibble to the last.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (March 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060175907
• ISBN-13: 978-0060175900
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,418 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).