Status
Call number
Collection
User reviews
I loved this book. The detailed descriptions of the California gold rush as told from the perspectives of the prospectors, the merchants who supplied them, the "soiled doves" - the prostitutes who were the only women in the region in the beginning - were gritty and totally believable. The plight of the Chinese, the Mexicans and Chilieans, and the native American Indians were all too believable -as the white Americans and Europeans sought to take advantage of every dark-skinned or obviously foreign person they could - cheating them out of their claims, their freedom, and sometimes their lives. A wonderful look at an important event in American history, and the birth of one of our greatest cities - it is also a lovely story of a young woman who goes searching for love and discovers freedom.
'Daughter of Fortune' is not as complex as The House of the Spirits; it can be viewed as the groundbreaking novel's cheerful sister. We have a rebellious, role-breaking heroine (House of Spirits: Ditto) in love with a hopeless, down-on-his-luck socialist/Marxist (House of Spirits: Ditto) while living in an imprisoning and unforgiving society (HOS: Ditto).
Where this branches away from The House of the Spirits is in Allende's newer interest in writing about the northern parts of the American continent. We get to go to California and hang out with the go-getters and upstarts of the Gold Rush. This is great fun.
There's not a lot of trailblazing artistry in Daughter of Fortune. It does tend to revisit Allende's plot devices a bit too much at times. But Allende's genre is a compelling one, a spiritually calming one. One I find myself wanting to return to, often.
A delightful historical fiction read and I now understand why Allende is considered to be such a gifted novelist.
Eliza's life changes drastically when her young lover sets sail for San Francisco harbor and the promise of a brighter future that the Gold Rush was said to offer. Eliza sets off after him by becoming a stowaway with the help of a Chinese sailor/doctor, Tao Chi'en. Once in California, Eliza realizes just how large and spread out the new territory can be and the difficulty in finding her first love is great.
Isabel Allende writes a very convincing historical fiction. Her characters are well drawn and three dimensional. The only problem I had, and it is a small one, is that the story was a little predictable. None the less, I enjoyed following Eliza in her search for her young lover, herself and unconventional love. 3.5 stars
"You have English blood, like us", Miss Rose assured Eliza when she was old enough to understand. "Only someone from the British colony would have thought to leave you in a basket on the doorstep of the British Import and Export Company, Limited. I am sure they knew how good-hearted my brother Jeremy is and felt sure he would take you in. In those days I was longing to have a child and you fell into my arms, sent by God to be brought up in the solid principles of the Protestant faith and the English language."
The family servant, Mama Fresia, has a different point of view, however: "You, English? Don't get any ideas, child. You have Indian hair, like mine." And certainly Eliza's almost mystical ability to recall all the events of her life would seem to stem more from the Indian than the Protestant side.
As Eliza grows up, she becomes less tractable and when she falls in love with Joachin Andieta, a clerk in Jeremy's firm, her adoptive family is horrified. They are even more so when a now-pregnant Eliza follows her lover to California where he has gone to make his fortune in the 1849 goldrush. Along the way Eliza meets Tao Chi'en, a Chinese doctor who saves her life and becomes her closest friend. What starts out as a search for a lost love becomes, over time, the discovery of self; and by the time Eliza finally catches up with the elusive Joachin, she is no longer sure she still wants what she once wished for. Allende peoples her novel with a host of colourful secondary characters. She even takes the narrative as far afield as China, providing an intimate portrait of Tao Chi'en's past before returning to 19th-century San Francisco, where he and Eliza eventually end up. Readers with a taste for the epic, the picaresque and romance that is satisfyingly complex will find them all in Daughter of Fortune.
An orphan, Eliza Sommers is raised in the Chilean house of a Victorian spinster, Miss Rose, and her rigid brother, Jeremy. At the age of 16, Eliza falls for dirt-poor Joaquin Andieta, a clerk for her
This book was slow-going for me. The writing was good, but I would have loved to read this book in its original language. The beginning was rather dull, but did get progressively better when Eliza finally arrives in California. Each character has a detailed back-story and their own share of vices. My favorite aspect of the book, being a romantic, was the relationship between Eliza and Tao Chi'en, and I wished that was the main focus of the book. The book could become a bit tedious, at times appearing to be a documentary of California during the Gold Rush. I also felt Allende was a little preoccupied with prostitutes. She tried to account for every single hooker that set foot on California soil. But still, the only part that really pissed me off was the last page. It was just so abrupt, letting the reader, in this case me, to make their own happily ever afters. I HATE THAT. I spent this whole book waiting for the thing that Allende kept hinting at to happen, but then I get nothing. It was just so frustrating. This book got three instead of four stars because of it.
The story picks up speed when Eliza reaches California. The Chilean part takes too long to establish
The story isn't bad, albeit a bit slow at times. It's basically a romance between a headstrong young woman, Eliza, and a largely-absent young man, Joaquin. Her determination to be with him
The real appeal of this book was the portrayal of mid-19th century Chilean society, both the Spanish aristocracy and the growing British gentry, as well as the larger-than-life world of California just after its acquisition by the United States and the discovery of gold near San Francisco. I hadn't known it, but Chileans were active in exploiting that boom and Allende uses that as a vehicle to present her world to the readers. She contrasts the highly-formalized behavior and mores of one life with the "anything goes" mania of another. Along the way she touches quite firmly on the mistreatment of native populations on both American continents, some of the immigrant horror stories, the lack of rights for women even in "civilized" countries, and the events that turned a tiny village into a major California city.
Almost everything about the story is predictable, both because there's a lot of deliberate foreshadowing and because Allende makes no effort to throw any curves into the story: teenagers have a lot of unprotected sex; he heads off to make his fortune; she finds out she is pregnant after he is gone…is anyone surprised? Still, by treating the story simply as a vehicle carrying me along to the next thing the author wanted to show me in the world, I didn't find it annoying.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction but not for those looking for excitement.
Allende has created engaging and colorful characters. Eliza is memorable for her courageous, independent spirit and Chinese healer Tao Chi'en for his quiet integrity. The era is beautifully rendered with historically accurate details. This imaginative, skillfully-written story touches on such meaningful themes as racism, classism, sex trafficking, female empowerment, the spirit of adventure, greed, self-discovery, reinvention, rebellion, compassion, freedom, and the many forms of love.
The book gains momentum as it progresses, becoming ever more engrossing. Recommended to those interested in family sagas, perilous journeys, and historical fiction, especially of the 19th century. Includes violence to humans and animals, profanity, prostitution, and other sexual content.
So much more could have been made of this book! Here we have a girl who spends her days following an elusive trail and concealing her identity. Yet in all the book there is never a whisper of a doubt that she can pass as a man. She's good with accents, says Allende, which sounds a lot more like tripe cooked up to cover the author's ill-conceived concept than an actual character trait. Where is the fright of nearly being discovered? Where is her uneasiness or relief at shedding her identity? Where is there any discussion of her fears and hopes and regrets about miscarriage and love? Somehow they got left behind in the stereotyped descriptions of the wise and noble Chinese man who helps her and the tough and greedy gold-diggers she spends her days with -- oh, and don't forget the whore with a heart of gold. That's a necessary character in any old west novel. ...sigh...
This whole thing might have been saved if the writing were good, but I came across lines so jolting that I just couldn't believe they made it past the cutting room floor. Take this, for example, a description of the women in early San Francisco: "No namby-pambies like her mother and sisters; here Amazons like herself reigned." Good Lord! How is this not a telenovela? Sure enough, all the women are spunky and independent. Does that seem right to you?
This book was disappointing. The history and culture have glaring inaccuracies, the characters are cardboard cutouts, and the writing is simply dull. But hey, it was a quick read! Is that all readers demand these days?
EDIT: While I never found the writing captivating, I do hand it to my bookclub for showing me that this book does indeed have some depth. And I value the writer's efforts to show the goldrush from the point of view of the non-whites, of the women, of the prostitutes and merchants and all the rest who filled in a world full of gold-diggers. Allende, I may give you another chance.
this story is a sweeping saga that centers around Eliza Sommers, a Chilean girl, orphaned and
"She had grown up clad in the impenetrable armor of good manners and conventions, trained from girlhood to please and serve, bound by corset, routines, social norms, and fear."
despite the loaded cast of characters and long and irregular timeline, i found Daughter of Fortune to be vivid and engaging throughout. it is, at the core, a story of first love. Eliza’s character is stubborn and at times, immature in her obsession with her lover, but this gives her plenty of room to develop and grow, which she indeed does. on a more holistic level, this is a book about being out of ones element, facing fears and desires and chasing dreams. each of the characters is in some way affected by this and Allende approaches this without distracting from the flow of the novel at all, which was very impressive. through the various characters, we see every imaginable clash of cultures – from the English in Chile to the Chinese in America and more, crafting a tale of cultural appreciation and tolerance and ultimately, love and forgiveness.
my favorite thing about this book was the writing style – absolutely stunning, with heavy descriptive passages and emotional depth, though it may be a little too literary for some readers. Allende’s characters are well developed and they effortlessly breathe life into the story, winding and weaving their histories into a collective story that is un-put-downable. spanning several decades and multiple continents, this is a book that is far from formulaic and definitely delivers a punch. if you enjoy language that you can chew on, you will probably enjoy this, but if heavy handed writing is not your thing, you may not enjoy this so much.
i found it interesting that the book was wrought with heavy foreshadowing, which served to pull the story along. because of this, much of what happened was expected, but the ending came as a complete surprise to me. it was not a nice, tidy ending, but i don’t think a book always needs that to be considered great, and i was satisfied. it definitely left room for interpretation and speculation and it had me pondering on it long after i’d put the book down, which for me, wasn’t a bad thing.
though this was my first Allende book, it will definitely not be my last!
Publication
Description
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML: From the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabelle Allende, comes a passionate tale of one young woman's quest to save her lover set against the chaos of the 1849 California Gold Rush. Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. As Eliza embarks on her perilous journey north in the hold of a ship and arrives in the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco, she must navigate a society dominated by greedy men. But Eliza soon catches on with the help of her natural spirit and a good friend, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi'en. What began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. A marvel of storytelling, Daughter of Fortune confirms once again Isabel Allende's extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world's leading writers… (more)