Advantages: Good story, interesting plot, good characters
Disadvantages: Very unlike usual Isabel Allende novels

...I very much enjoyed this book about a trip on the Amazon. The characters were very appealing, and the story is interesting - even gripping in places. You definitely get a feel for the places visited on the trip, and for the characters you encounter. I would say that this book is unlike any other Isabel Allende novel I have read. In my experience, Allende's novels are usually more autobiographical, with feminism and human rights high on the agenda. There is usually less of a "plot" - City of the Beasts reads more like an adventure novel in parts. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book has a lighter feel to it than others I had read, and I found myself wanting to get to the end to see what happened. In summary, this is an interesting story, with a strong plot and enthralling magical detail. It would... Read review

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Advantages: Vibrant, magical, compelling
Disadvantages: None!

...tended to concentrate on events in the male bloodline - to the female characters of her story. The book is particularly significant because Allende blends the magical elements in her prose with figures and events of historical importance, including the government of her Uncle Salvador Allende, the 1973 coup by Augusto Pinocet and the characters of the poet Pablo Neruda and the guitarist Victor Jara. Therefore this is not just a wonderfully written piece of fiction set in Chile but a historically relevant novel. The House of the Spirits is a superb introduction to the work of Isabel Allende and to Latin American literature itself. Of Allende's work as a whole I will venture to say that the House of the Spirits is one of her best, if not her best, work. For readers who have read The House of the Spirits and fallen in love with Allende's work... Read review

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Advantages: wonderfully strange
Disadvantages: a bit short

...Isabel Allende is a Chillean author. She is a member of the Allende family who were in power before Pinoche took over, and she has seen the horrors of Chillie first hand. Many of her books refelct this - some with dark realism, some with a desire for subversion. In many ways, Eva Luna is a deeply subversive text. As far as I know, Eva Luna is only available in translation, having originally been written in Sanish. Eva Luna herself, the narrator, is a strange girl to say the least. Her mother was a servant of Spanish extraction, her father was a Chillean native on what at the time appeared to be his deathbed. Her mother worked for a man who liked to preserve bodies, so Eva grew up in a world inhabitted by mummified people - perhaps leading to some of her strangeness. Eva's life is not an easy one - untimely death leaves her alone... Read review

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Advantages: Intensely passionate epic story
Disadvantages: It had to end :(

...although I never did see what was coming until it was upon me. When I finished the book I felt satisfied with the conclusion but also wanted to know more about what would happen next to the characters as I felt so drawn in. I will seek out more books by Isabel Allende after reading this. I would say this book has a wide appeal, it has some romance, spiritual sense (subtle and not over played), political awareness and social relevance about events which have happened for real in South America. £7.99 Black Swan paperback... Read review

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Advantages: likeable characters and well written
Disadvantages: incredulous plot

...This was the first book that I ever read by Isabel Allende and it has since inspired me to read many of her other books. Allende's style of writing is full of magic and mystery that makes all her novels exciting and absorbing. She mixes elements of the fantastical with history and personal experiences to create original novels. What I especially liked about this book was that it spanned a wide variety of topics from 'lily footing' in China to the Gold Rush in California. The love story, which spans the novel, explores ideas of the difficulty of mixed-race relationships and the intensity of emotions. All the characters are well developed and easy to relate to. When Eliza becomes pregnant she decides to stow away on a boat in order to find her lover who has left for Califorrnia to follow the gold rush. By the time she has reached... Read review

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Advantages: colour, passion
Disadvantages:

...... Read review

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Advantages: a fantastic book.
Disadvantages: It stops eventually.

...text are tales of other lives - Tao't tragic marriage, Eliza's adopted family and a journailst trying to repair his name. This is a fascinating bok, rich with characters and ideas. Fans of Allende's work will love it. If you have read and liked Margaret Attwood, this may well appeal. There are't many writers who compare to Allende - whose work is both exotic and familiar, often laced with magic and never predictable. This book has little of the magical relaism that typifies her other books, but her explortion of Chinese culture and medicine is amazing. Brilliant summer reading - both intellectual and enjoyable, a great combination.... Read review

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Advantages: inspiring
Disadvantages: none

...For those of you who have read other novels by Isabel Allende, 'The Infinite Plan' is going to be something of a surprise. Allende normally favours tales about young women of south American extraction. 'The Infinite plan' is about a white man growing up in America. The plot: it isn't about plot, it is instead the intertwining narratives of several people's lives, and like lie there is a mixture of weird coincidence, total randomness, things that never tie up neatly and things that never quite happen. The characters - Gregory Reeves begins life on the road, his father is preaching his vision of 'the infinite plan' and the family are nomadic. When the father falls ill, they finaly settle down, living in a barrio full of latinos. Gregory grows up a misfit, bright but unable to find his place in the world. We follow him through jobs... Read review

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Advantages: everything!
Disadvantages: it has to end

...This is such a great book that I really do not want to ruin it for you by giving away the plot! This may mean that this review is not that long but please mark it on quality not quantity. The story begins in San Francisco with the legendary bed of Paulina del Valle, bought to show up her estranged husband. Allende is skilful in the way that she can begin a novel with a minute detail that instantly involves the reader. Paulina del Valle is of Chilean origin. She has a brilliant sense for business and has made herself and her husband (Feliciano Rodriguez de Santa Cruz) very rich not through the gold rush (although it is set during this time) but through her keen intuition of demand and supply. In recent years she has become fat through eating too many of Eliza Sommers’ delicious pastries. Eliza Sommer has opened the pastry shop because... Read review

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Advantages: Playful, sensual, erotic, beautiful, delicious!
Disadvantages: Need more opportunities to test recipes!

...Chilean-born author Isabel Allende believed she would never write again after "Paula" (1996), the beautiful, moving book in which she traced in equal parts the heart-rending story of her young daughter's brief life as well as her own family's history. She would soon emerge from that dark period of grieving and sorrow, travel to South America, swim in the Amazon River (among other daring feats), and rediscover inspiration to, happily, produce this delectable work that will tickle every sensualist's bliss. "Aphrodite" (1998) departs from her previous novels, but also strays little from them in subject matter. In this "Memoir of the Senses," she writes about the two greatest physical pleasures in life: food and sex, "the sensual art of food and its effects on amorous performance" (read: aphrodisiacs). With the help of her mother, Panchita... Read review

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