The Stories of Eva Luna [Paperback]

Isabel Allende (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2001

Isabel Allende is one of the world's most beloved authors. In 1988, she introduced the world to Eva Luna in a novel of the same name that recounted the adventurous life of a young Latin American woman whose powers as a storyteller bring her friendship and love. Retruning to this tale, Allende presents The Stories of Eva Luna, a treasure trove of brilliantly crafted stories.

Lying in bed with her European lover, refugee and journalist Rolf Carle, Eva answers hes request for a story "you have never told anyone before" with these twenty-three samples of her vibrant artistry. Interweaving the real and the magical, she explores love, vengeance, compassion, and the strenghts of women, creating a world that is at once poingnantly familiar and intriguingly new.

Rendered in the sumptuously imagined, uniquely magical style of one of the world's most stunning writers, The Stories of Eva Luna is the conerstone of Allende's work. It is not to be missed by anyone -- whether a devotee of Ms. Allende's oeuvre or a new acquaintance to her work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The eponymous heroine of Eva Luna returns as the narrator of 23 tales, sumptuous marriages of Chilean writer Allende's earthy characters and her celestial version of magical realism. Although other figures from that novel also reappear (for example, Eva Luna spins her stories at the request of her lover Rolf Carle), this collection is in no sense a sequel: indeed, each piece here can stand alone. Allende's people are warm-blooded, original, memorable. A simple lyricism evokes European emigres to South America; social climbers; outlaws; schoolteachers; Indians; a nearly indefatigable imagination explores the critical moments in these figures' lives. Many of the stories build on the intricate attachments of unlikely lovers, such as a dictator and the foreign woman he abducts or a criminal and a judge's wife. Allende's inventiveness justifies her own comparisons of her literary creation to Scheherazade, and throughout all these short works whispers the mysticism of Eva Luna herself--her well-placed faith in a world of spirits and in the immortality of human love.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Born in Chile but now living in Northern California, Allende is the first female Latin American novelist to become well-known to the American reading public. Her novels-- The House of the Spirits ( LJ 4/15/85), Of Love and Shadows ( LJ 5/1/87), and Eva Luna ( LJ 10/15/88)--are frequently compared to those of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The title character of the third book narrates the 24 stories in this collection, which, though scattered with familiar names, places, and images, is an independent work, not a sequel. Allende employs the techniques of Latin American magical realism to create a vivid world full of humor, passion, pathos, and color. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/90.
- Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll . Lib., McMinnville, Ore.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (November 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743217187
• ISBN-13: 978-0743217187
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Spanish
  • #51 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Latin American

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

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Isabel Allende is a twentieth-century Scheherazade., August 22, 1997

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stories of Eva Luna (Mass Market Paperback)

Anyone wishing to read a book of stories that mesmerizes you like the first stories you ever heard need look no further than this superb collection. The framing premise is that Eva and her lover Rolf have relaxed after an amorous encounter, and now Rolf wishes Eva to tell him a story ("Make it up for me," he tells her). From the bed, Eva spins 23 amazing stories drawing from fairy tales, magic realism, the chaotic history of Latin America, and the reality (including dream reality) of women's contemporary and past lives.
Varying broadly in their setting and characters, the stories remain unified in their unflinchingly tough-minded view of life, filtered through the wish fulfillments of a tempestuous seductress. Using the inspiration of The Thousand Nights and a Night, Allende refracts the empowerment of women in a male-infested world through the lens of the power of words. The stories have a cumulative impact, but individual titles that stand out to this reader include "The Little Heidelberg," "Walimai," "If You Touched My Heart," "The Judge's Wife," "Our Secret," "Ester Lucero," and the wrenching final story, "And of Clay Are We Created" (with an ending similar to Woody Allen's Radio Days). Having been stranded on the flotsam of political chaos herself, Allende acutely details shifts in the characters' fates as citizens of impoverished and disempowered cultures. Moreover, the notion that postmodern narrative offers style but little feeling or substance is disproved by this author and book. Highly recommended

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have!, August 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stories of Eva Luna (Mass Market Paperback)

After being recommended this book by a friend, I sought out to find it. My bookstore only had Eva Luna in stock so I bought that and read it. For me, Eva Luna was a bit boring and not everything I expected so it was with hesitance that I decided to purchase The Stories of Eva Luna. But am I glad I did! Each story each worth reading, I could not put the book down and read it in two days. It has got to be one of the best books I have ever read. Magical, witty and full of imagination, Isabel Allende is truly a great author.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great avenue to discover the magic of Allende, November 11, 2002

By 

F. Lennox Campello "f. lennox campello" (Potomac, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stories of Eva Luna (Mass Market Paperback)

Having never read Allende before, I found this book in my hotel room in San Diego and flying back home, I devoured it as flew home. It is a magical, intoxicating book that has allowed me to discover the wonderful world woven by the word magic of Allende. In here we discover Eva Luna and her mother and their odd, surreal world in South America and their odd, numbing stories with Indians, revolutionaries, mad English doctors, Arab seductresses and a light-eyed storyteller with an incredible lifestory!