Customer Reviews

Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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).

This book breathed with sensuality and passion. I really enjoyed that it was a mature woman taking hold and getting lost in her senses. I found that it was not pretentious, but rather whimsical. A delight!

I have read "Paula" and there is no doubt that Isabel Allende is a talented writer. Her passionate tone seems to just find a way to your heart.

Aphrodite is acookbook erotic-style... truly inspires fun ideas for both food and foreplay. Great historic facts on spices, a collection of rather comical stories and the recipes are to die for.

If you are a hedonist. Get this!

Succeds enormously in every task it seems to set for itself, and there are quite a few. My forays into reading Allende's novels and short stories have resulted in very mixed impressions - some books I've loved, some been less impressed with, and sadly, one or two I've been uninspired to finish. With Aphrodite, however, I found myself enticed to read very slowly at first, by way of savoring. Even the book's design is beautiful, with vibrant images in full color (in both hardcover and paperback).

I have read this book in installments. Why? Because I knew my mother would have a fit if she knew I had read it. Lusty, juicy, it's wonderful education for a curious young lady like me.

Allende's newest endeavor speaks volumes about the need to enjoy life through as many senses as possible. Her narrative style and imaginative descriptions make the reader feel sexy in the kitchen and erotic in the dining room. She shows how food, like people, can be comforting as well as sensous. I really enjoyed this book for its playfulness and its success in putting the erotica back into a good meal shared.

Isabel Allende's prose is truly delightful. Her gift for weaving all the elements of this book together is incredible. I look forward to reading it again and again and sharing it with someone of course. Anyone who is a lover of sensuality and great literature would enjoy this memoir.

This collection of stories reads like an erotic cookbook of sorts. There's even a recipe section!