Jess
I love Allende, but there was much in this work that missed the mark for me. There is so much potential in the premise, setting, and even the character of Emilia, but I was disappointed. Though I am glad that I kept going and finished the book, it was a sluggish journey until about halfway through part 3. There the story picks up but many of the things that I didn't like about the beginning continued. I felt as if there were many pieces to the story that were brushed over for the sake of setting the plot for the later portions of the book. Emilia's life is a series of incredibly lucky turns of events, but that luck isn't sat with in a meaningful way. Her career into dime novels and journalism both sort of just happen to her, a woman in 1890s. Though we get the first person account of Emilia through the entire story, I experienced no real character development. When I got to the point where she was to be executed I started to re-evaluate my understanding of her character (and here is where I started enjoying the book truly) because I thought we readers were being given a chance to reflect on this luck and whiteness and hubris. But no... she continues to stumble through survival (and continuing into perilous situations because she is "so brave" and everything will continue to work out for her ad infinitum).
That being said, as a work of historical fiction I did feel I learned more about this time and place and that was meaningful to me. The pieces toward the end of the book that touched on indigeneity in Chile and the supernatural beauty of un-colonized land were my favorite. I would have loved if we got a more in-depth look at those parts (especially the epilogue... really glossed over the fact that Emilia was able to form these life-sustaining relationships yet we don't really get to experience any of that as a reader).
I love Allende, but there was much in this work that missed the mark for me. There is so much potential in the premise, setting, and even the character of Emilia, but I was disappointed. Though I am glad that I kept going and finished the book, it was a sluggish journey until about halfway through part 3. There the story picks up but many of the things that I didn't like about the beginning continued. I felt as if there were many pieces to the story that were brushed over for the sake of setting the plot for the later portions of the book. Emilia's life is a series of incredibly lucky turns of events, but that luck isn't sat with in a meaningful way. Her career into dime novels and journalism both sort of just happen to her, a woman in 1890s. Though we get the first person account of Emilia through the entire story, I experienced no real character development. When I got to the point where she was to be executed I started to re-evaluate my understanding of her character (and here is where I started enjoying the book truly) because I thought we readers were being given a chance to reflect on this luck and whiteness and hubris. But no... she continues to stumble through survival (and continuing into perilous situations because she is "so brave" and everything will continue to work out for her ad infinitum).
That being said, as a work of historical fiction I did feel I learned more about this time and place and that was meaningful to me. The pieces toward the end of the book that touched on indigeneity in Chile and the supernatural beauty of un-colonized land were my favorite. I would have loved if we got a more in-depth look at those parts (especially the epilogue... really glossed over the fact that Emilia was able to form these life-sustaining relationships yet we don't really get to experience any of that as a reader).