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Eva Luna: A Novel [Paperback]

Isabel Allende
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 30, 2005

Conceived in an embrace designed to comfort a dying man, born to a servant and raised as a hired hand, Eva Luna learns quickly that she has a talent that belies her humble start: the gift of storytelling. As the years pass and her imprudent nature sends Eva from household to household—from the home of a doctor famed for mummifying the dead to a colorful whorehouse and the care of a beautiful transsexual—it is Eva’s magical imagination that keeps her alive and fuels her ardent encounters with lovers of all kinds. And as her South American homeland teeters on the brink of political chaos, and Eva’s fate is intertwined with guerrilla fighters and revolutionaries, she will find her life’s calling—and the soul mate who will envelop her in a love entirely beyond her mystical inventions.

Eva Luna is a literary triumph, a novel brimming with battles and passions, rebellions and reunions—and some of the most exquisite characters Isabel Allende has ever created.


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Eva Luna: A Novel + The House of the Spirits: A Novel + Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A woman makes love to an Indian dying of snakebite, miraculously restoring him to life and engendering a daughter named Eva"so she will love life." Thus begins Allende's latest novel, a magnificent successor to The House of the Spirits and Of Love & Shadows. Set in a Latin American country, it relates Eva's picaresque adventures. Brought up in the house of an eccentric doctor devoted to mummifying corpses, where her mother is a servant, Eva is left an orphan at six. Her black godmother, or madrina , leases her as a servant to a series of bizarre households of metaphorical significance, the last of which she leaves in grand style upon emptying a government Minister's chamberpot over his head. Interleaved with Eva's story is her account of a certain Rolf Carle, with whom her life will become linkedshe tells of his youth in Nazi Austria and young manhood as a filmmaker in South America. Through a series of improbable and felicitous coincidences, Eva is taken under the wing of such exotic benefactors as a street urchin who becomes a guerrilla leader, a colorful whorehouse Madam, a kindly Turkish merchant and a stunningly beautiful transsexual. Like the author, Eva is a prodigious fabulist, weaving extraordinary tales that change reality at will, making it, as she says, easier to bear. Although the fabulist's art is seen as dangerously escapist, Allende's wonderful novel, crammed with the strange and fantastical, the sensuous and the erotic, also speaks powerfully in the cause of freedom. 40,000 first printing; BOMC and QPBC alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Born in the back room of the mansion where her mother toils, and herself in service from an early age, the enchanting and ever-enchanted Eva Luna escapes oppression through story telling. Rolf Carle flees Germany for South America, and ultimately works as a documentary film maker, to escape childhood memories of burying the concentration camp dead. The two are brought together by guerrilla Huberto NaranjoEva's lover and a subject for Rolf's camerain this dense, opulent novel that serves as a metaphor for redemption through creative effort. In her earlier works ( The House of the Spirits, LJ 4/15/85; Of Love and Shadows, LJ 5/1/87), Allende's rich language occasionally shaded into overripeness; but here the prose is more tightly controlled, the characterizations defter. Her best work yet. BOMC alternate. Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback (August 30, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553383825
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553383829
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,555 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.

My thoughts on Kindle en Español:

"El impacto de los libros electrónicos es formidable y está remeciendo a la industria del libro tanto como a los lectores. Aunque todavía la idea es relativamente nueva en español, ya se ha extendido en otras lenguas tan dramáticamente, que muchos autores nuevos publican en versión digital, saltándose a las editoriales. Confieso que soy adicta a mis Kindle y mi IPad, donde leo con letra grande y clara, en una pantalla liviana. Antes viajaba con una maleta de libros, ahora llevo mi biblioteca en la cartera y puedo adquirir nuevos libros en cualquier parte del mundo en pocos segundos. Dicen que los jóvenes le tienen miedo al papel y no tienen el hábito de leer - lo cual no es totalmente cierto - pero ahora pueden leer en sus pantallas. También dicen que la ficción desaparecerá, pero eso jamás ocurrirá, porque la humanidad necesita historias tanto como necesita oxígeno. Tal vez en el futuro el libro, ese compañero maravilloso, será un objeto de coleccionistas y de bibliotecas y nosotros, simples mortales, leeremos en pantallas. Pero seguiremos leyendo, de eso no tengo dudas." Isabel Allende

Customer Reviews

I love Allende's characters and her writing. Michael R. Decker  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
I liked the fact that she used a large cast of characters in her story. Brandy Parker  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Are you looking to add some vivid color into your life?
Isabel Allende's literary and highly imaginative writing
style will captivate and and delight you in this highly
visual and sensual novel. I found this book to be much
better and less formulaic than the HOUSE OF SPIRITS was. The
character is fully fleshed out and seems more real; perhaps
because the protagonist is a woman, Eva Luna herself, and in
the other book, Allende offers the narrative through a
domineering and somewhat obtuse man's eyes. The growth of
Eva Luna is beautifually told and readers will identify with
her throughout. This evocative novel set my imagination on
fire and made all the colors in my world appear brighter
while I was reading it.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars CAPTIVATING January 23, 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Conceived on her father's deathbed and almost strangled to death by her umbilical cord, the baby who emerged would become the woman, Eva Luna. Her birth is incredible and her life is even more so as Eva spins for us her story and the story of those who impacted her life.

Isabel Allende captivates the reader by having us take a glimpse of the life and times of Eva Luna, a child whose life is so surreal and incredible to the point where fact and fantasy become one and the same. Eva's voice sweeps us into the dark world of perverts, undesirables and revolutionaries. Through Eva's stories you get a closer look at a society rotten at its core while masquerading as a democracy.

Come with Eva, as a little girl where she plays with a stuffed puma owned by a mad-man who uses Indians for his embalming experiments. Watch as this orphaned girl is "sold" off by her strange godmother who believes in the gods of her ancesteral Africa and the saints of Catholicism. Watch Eva as she grows from childhood to adolescense to an adult who has to confront the reality of love and revolution.

EVA LUNA is a lyric tale whose language draws you immediately into the life of the character and her supporting cast. You feel a deep empathy for this woman and you see through her eyes the contradictions that life has to offer. Allende has given us an exceptional work that explores both the spiritual, political and sensual side of a woman caught up in the stream of chaos in her South American country. Come, let Eva tell you a story, her story and you will find yourself unable to tear yourself away from her amazing tale.

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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A good one by Allende November 2, 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Sometimes, actually pretty often, Isabel Allende's writing overflows with her own love of language, and you kinds want her to dial it down a little. Not so much, however, in Eva Luna. The writing is more controlled; the book reads as tho an editor actually paid some attention to it before sending it to press.
Child of a servant, the beautiful and enchanting Eva Luna escapes into lyrical storytelling when life gets too tough to bear. She and Rolf, a film maker, are brought together through Eva's guerrilla lover. The result is a lovely piece of literature that works as a metaphor for salvation through creativity.
It's a good one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars read this book
Actually read anything by Isabel Allende. She writes this book like many of her books- from the view of a storyteller. Engaging story of a girl and how she lived and grew up.
Published 1 month ago by t
2.0 out of 5 stars Over written
Good start but this early Allende work is over written with too many words to elaborate character and story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by crystal l mcdowell
3.0 out of 5 stars good book
Fantastic book with an amazing narrative, extremely well written and a real pleasure to read. The story flows and is one of those books difficult to stop reading.
Published 1 month ago by Alice
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
Excellent book. Isabel Allende is a first class writer. who mixes history and entertainment for a very enjoyable reading experience.
Published 5 months ago by Penelope F. Mcginnis
5.0 out of 5 stars Allende's books: Eva Luna
Isabel Allende has produced a number of books (see the Amazon listings), most of them well worth reading, but if you have to pick one for a starter, try "Eva Luna" it is... Read more
Published 10 months ago by vishniac
4.0 out of 5 stars When is the kindle version available?
I love Allende's books which goes without saying. But very few of her books is avaiable in Kindle format. I have stopped buying paper books to save space in my house.
Published 11 months ago by X. Haining
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent condition and speedy delivery
I was terrified of purchasing a used book online because of horror stories about terribly damanged books being sold as "good" books; however, that was not the case with this... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Meag
5.0 out of 5 stars Eva Luna; Love that book
I've been searching for this book in my neck of the woods for the past five or so years. No modern bookstores, or second hand or exchange ones have been able to provide it. Read more
Published on February 20, 2010 by Sasha
4.0 out of 5 stars MY REVIEW
Allende's use of magical realism in her book,Eva Luna,is highly redolent of the style of other Latin American writers of the same genre e.g Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Read more
Published on September 15, 2009 by Uzo Dibia
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE THE BOOK! DEFINITE READ!
If you are looking for adventure and wild, crazy and interesting characters, this is the book for you. Read more
Published on August 27, 2009 by R. E. Paulino
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