Daughter of Fortune

Isabel Allende is a wonderful writer and her book, Daughter of Fortune, was a delightful read. This book combines all of what I personally read for-interesting characters, new information (about the Gold Rush and China in this case), and good writing. Allende has a technique that is unusual in storytelling. She drops little hints about the future as she writes that you might overlook if you don't read carefully. Then she withholds information about past events and lets you find out about them unexpectedly. Allende is not a writer that you can "skim" through. I found myself reading more slowly, more carefully, so that I would not miss any of her delicious details. My book club selected this novel to read and everyone enjoyed it, although some found the plot somewhat unbelievable. I did not have that opinion myself. I thought the characters were very nicely done.

Allende's best works (The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Paula) display one common element. That element is a passionate narrative that stems from the first-hand emotional connection that she has with the book's characters and situations. Some of those connections exist in Daughter of Fortune. Like Eliza, Allende left Chile to settle in California. Another trait Allende shares with her heroine is that she fell in love with (and later married) a non-Chilean. Yet, any emotional passion created by these links is not strong enough to transcend Allende's use of the California Gold Rush period as the story's background. Since she did not experience the Gold Rush for herself, Allende's description of the period comes across like the history books that she must have used as research material. As a result, reading Daughter of Fortune is much like hearing an echo: there is some connection to the original source, but it is distorted and faded.Daughter of Fortune is better than the mess that is titled The Infinite Plan. The book has maximizes its use of narrative and minimizes dialogue. The main characters are well developed. And Joaquin's outcome is clever. But, the book doesn't have the passion of which Allende is capable. As a result, the book leaves the reader ultimately unsatisfied (as is evident by the number of reviews noting the abrupt ending). Hopefully, Allende will find a topic for her next book to which she has a strong emotional involvement.

"Daughter of Fortune" by Isabel Allende is the epic story of a woman named Eliza Sommers. She is born a bastard and left on the doorstep of a rich British family's home in Chile. She is not adopted by the brother and sister, Jeremy and Rose Summers, but is still raised like she was one of their own. Neither sibling has children of their own.Eliza is never treated completely as if she were their daughter, but she is given a good home and education to allow her to marry into the best of families. However, along the way Eliza falls in love with a lowly clerk and follows him to California, a land where gold has just been discovered and many were rushing to this place in search of wealth.Eliza goes to California with the help of a chinese doctor named Tao Chi'en, who also happened to be a friend of her "uncle" Captain John, who happened to be Rose and Jeremy's brother. She is stowed upon a ship and she and Tao Chi'en sail to California. From this point, the story diverges to tell the story of Tao Chi'en and his humble beginnings. His story is epic in nature as well.The story of Eliza is a story of a woman's journey towards self-discovery and love. I found "Daughter of Fortune" to be wonderfully written, an epic full of adventure and romance. I found myself glued to this book as I read it from cover to cover. I highly recommend it.

Isabel Allende is a strong and beautiful woman. She would be extremely interesting to many even if she could not write. But she can write. Allende tells a story well. It is no wonder that her books have a wide audience throughout the world. She is not, however, comparable in style or technique to either Jorge Luis Borges or Gabriel Garcia Marquez as some might suggest. DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE takes the form of a historical novel in the romantic tradition/genre. It is a straightforward narrative presented essentially chronologically from 1843 to 1853. The book's heroine is one Eliza Sommers, born of uncertain parentage and raised by English expatriates in Chile. Eliza's "formal" guardian is Rose Sommers - a handsome, proper, animated, and wealthy single woman with a "past." But equally influential in Eliza's upbringing is "Mama" Fresia - a Chilean peasant serving the Rose and her brother as cook and housekeeper. Love is the combustible fuel that propels Eliza's story forward and that serves to generate sub-plots and character development for all of the women in this book. And there are other dominating female presences here. There's Paulina, Lin, and "Joe Bonecrusher," There are men in this work, but they come across in varying degrees as unremarkable, weak, insentive, unethical, or immoral. This book is about admirable woman, plain and simple. And these women make for a good narrative. Strength and desire take Eliza from from Valparaiso, Chile to San Francisco, California; from Victorian privilege to New World adventure; from security to danger; from merchant commerce to Gold Rush. This is highly readable historical fiction.

Loved this book. This is an amazing historical novel which explores life in the 1850’s in Chili, China, on board a ship sailing from Chili to California, SanFransisco, and the gold fields of California. It explores love, betrayal, compassion, and racism, caste systems, tradition, and freedom. Unfortunately it reminds us that racism and cate systems were part of daily life throughout the world. A Must read