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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Mijn naam is Emilia del Valle. Door: Isabel Allende.
Een nieuwe Allende is altijd een feestje. Zeker als er personages uit vorige boeken een bijrol krijgen. In dit geval Paulina del Valle en haar man Frederick Williams.
In Mijn naam is Emilia del Valle lezen we het verhaal van Emilia, zoals de titel al doet vermoeden. Net als alle vrouwen in de boeken van Allende is zij ook een geweldig tof personage: stoer, slim, feministisch, moedig én grappig.
Ze droomt ervan om schrijfster te worden en ziet haar kans om als journalist door te breken wanneer er een burgeroorlog in Chili uitbreekt. We volgen haar op haar pad; voelen de kanonschoten, ruiken de kruitdampen, horen het gekerm van gewonden en de stilte van de overledenen. Over de spannende plot wil ik liever niet te veel vertellen, laat je verrassen.
Allende heeft de gave om je alles te laten zien, horen en ruiken door haar woorden op papier. Ze is een geboren verteller die je op een meeslepende manier meeneemt doorheen stukjes geschiedenis die voor ons vaak onbekend zijn. En dat allemaal in een vlot leesbare roman. Ik hou daar van en hoop dat ze nog lang mag blijven schrijven.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My Name is Emilia del Valle feels like a return to form for Isabel Allende. The House of the Spirits is one of my favorite books and I've enjoyed many of Allende's earlier works especially Of Love and Shadows but had struggled for a while to get invested in her more recent books in the 2010s. I'd been meaning to try her newer books as I'd heard good things about Violeta when I saw she was releasing a new book this year.
We're once again learning about another del Valle woman's life in one of Allende's books with Emilia del Valle offering an interesting glimpse into a period of Chilean history that you don't often find in Anglo-Western books. The beginning of this novel was a slow start for me and didn't quite hook me until about a quarter of the way through but by then it was a pretty quick read as I was sucked into her story once Emilia reached Chile. We follow Emilia, a strong willed woman trying to thrive in spaces reserved for men, as she's grows up to be a penny drama novelist and later a journalist, working hard to be taken seriously as a writer in a time period when typically only men were established as serious authors. The relationships she forms with the vast cast of characters she interacts with makes for a very compelling story as the world is fleshed out both as the civil war unfolds and during its aftermath. Many of the secondary characters became people I wanted to know more about and the way information about them is revealed, while still maintaining Emilia as the main focus of the novel, works really well. The final storyline that wraps up in the epilogue left me a bit underwhelmed after the scope of the rest of the book - the novel felt a bit unfinished but at the same time, I understand how that fit into Emilia's recounting of her life within the story.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eArc for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
We're once again learning about another del Valle woman's life in one of Allende's books with Emilia del Valle offering an interesting glimpse into a period of Chilean history that you don't often find in Anglo-Western books. The beginning of this novel was a slow start for me and didn't quite hook me until about a quarter of the way through but by then it was a pretty quick read as I was sucked into her story once Emilia reached Chile. We follow Emilia, a strong willed woman trying to thrive in spaces reserved for men, as she's grows up to be a penny drama novelist and later a journalist, working hard to be taken seriously as a writer in a time period when typically only men were established as serious authors. The relationships she forms with the vast cast of characters she interacts with makes for a very compelling story as the world is fleshed out both as the civil war unfolds and during its aftermath. Many of the secondary characters became people I wanted to know more about and the way information about them is revealed, while still maintaining Emilia as the main focus of the novel, works really well. The final storyline that wraps up in the epilogue left me a bit underwhelmed after the scope of the rest of the book - the novel felt a bit unfinished but at the same time, I understand how that fit into Emilia's recounting of her life within the story.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eArc for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture, Death of parent
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Honestly, I liked it until the first part of the war is done and she met Erick and it turned into a romance. I was enthralled by how beautiful the first and second part of the book, her upbringing, her mom’s past, her dad (not her sperm donor), her passion in being a journalist. To wrapped it with a romance…. just meh. I also pretty much skipped the last part because of how boring it is suddenly, to turned into her calling to go to a deeper part of Chile. The whole idea of suddenly she forgave her bio dad. The manipulative behavior of going no contact with her family so Erick would go see her. Ruined it for me lol. Sorry.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love Isabel Allende but prefer her other books which are more plot driven. This was similar to Violeta—the detailed story of a life but without a mystery or something to keep me turning the pages. It’s always beautiful writing though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No