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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
sad
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:
Yes
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Blurb
"In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.
To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.
As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny.
A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart."
My Thoughts
I am not going to lie...I'm so disappointed. 😭
Before I go through what I disliked about this book, I will try to be positive and share what I did like about it. First off, the cover is literally SOOO pretty! 😍 It's one of the things that drew me in. Next, the first...I'd say...30% of the book was quite interesting, and I was excited to see where it was going. Emilia's story and fearless nature were a great foundation for a captivating story.
But, honey, I read a book to be shown and not told!! This alone knocked a star off. I get it. It's supposed to be a memoir-type book, but I'd like some prose, just some...thing! Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with the author's style of writing, but I think it's safe to say that I did not like it. It felt more like a newspaper article rather than a moving novel.
Do I think Isabel Allende is a bad author? Absolutely not. I think if I read another one of her more notable books, then maybe I'll feel differently about her writing style. I don't think this book is for me.
The characters were also kinda bland. 🫣 Emilia annoyed me at times with her girl-boss attitude, the other characters felt disconnected from the story, and Eric...who even was Eric? I need character development! Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly so I can feel like I am reading about real people. The characters had flaws and trials, sure, but why did they have them? How do these attributes and circumstances contribute to the story? If there is no reason, then it is all completely unnecessary. What the characters needed was depth, and if they had it, then this book would have been a million times better!
And the romance? We don't know her. There was no reason for Emilia to fall in love because there was no evidence of it ever blossoming whenever she was with her lover. She just said she was in love. Okay. Great. When, where, how, and why? Her love for a certain someone-someone is baseless. Does Emilia even have feelings at this point?
As a history-lover, you would think that all the information and events surrounding the Chilean civil war would interest me, but it didn't. I could have watched a Crash Course video about the conflict, where I'd be at least a little bit entertained.
Do I hate this book? No. Would I recommend it to you? Yes, because your taste in books could be completely different from mine, and I honestly hope you love it. This book just wasn't for me, but I'm glad I got to read from an author I am not familiar with.
Content Warnings
death, war violence, nudity, mentions of classism, sexism, and misogyny
Thank you to Ballantine Books for providing an e-arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and statements are my own.
#MyNameisEmiliadelValle #NetGalley
"In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.
To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.
As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny.
A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart."
My Thoughts
I am not going to lie...I'm so disappointed. 😭
Before I go through what I disliked about this book, I will try to be positive and share what I did like about it. First off, the cover is literally SOOO pretty! 😍 It's one of the things that drew me in. Next, the first...I'd say...30% of the book was quite interesting, and I was excited to see where it was going. Emilia's story and fearless nature were a great foundation for a captivating story.
But, honey, I read a book to be shown and not told!! This alone knocked a star off. I get it. It's supposed to be a memoir-type book, but I'd like some prose, just some...thing! Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with the author's style of writing, but I think it's safe to say that I did not like it. It felt more like a newspaper article rather than a moving novel.
Do I think Isabel Allende is a bad author? Absolutely not. I think if I read another one of her more notable books, then maybe I'll feel differently about her writing style. I don't think this book is for me.
The characters were also kinda bland. 🫣 Emilia annoyed me at times with her girl-boss attitude, the other characters felt disconnected from the story, and Eric...who even was Eric? I need character development! Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly so I can feel like I am reading about real people. The characters had flaws and trials, sure, but why did they have them? How do these attributes and circumstances contribute to the story? If there is no reason, then it is all completely unnecessary. What the characters needed was depth, and if they had it, then this book would have been a million times better!
And the romance? We don't know her. There was no reason for Emilia to fall in love because there was no evidence of it ever blossoming whenever she was with her lover. She just said she was in love. Okay. Great. When, where, how, and why? Her love for a certain someone-someone is baseless. Does Emilia even have feelings at this point?
As a history-lover, you would think that all the information and events surrounding the Chilean civil war would interest me, but it didn't. I could have watched a Crash Course video about the conflict, where I'd be at least a little bit entertained.
Do I hate this book? No. Would I recommend it to you? Yes, because your taste in books could be completely different from mine, and I honestly hope you love it. This book just wasn't for me, but I'm glad I got to read from an author I am not familiar with.
Content Warnings
death, war violence, nudity, mentions of classism, sexism, and misogyny
Thank you to Ballantine Books for providing an e-arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and statements are my own.
#MyNameisEmiliadelValle #NetGalley
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
Sometimes I’m faced with a dilemma when reviewing and rating books: It’s not that the book is bad, it’s just that the book isn’t my thing. It’s just missing something, usually an unidentifiable ingredient, that would bring it right into my orbit of interest, but the book as it exists is just right outside of what I might consider a good book. Instead it’s relegated to being just another average book.
That’s what happened with My Name is Emilia del Valle. At face value it has just about everything I love in a historical fiction novel; indeed, while reading it I just kept ruminating on what this book was missing, because Isabel Allende isn’t lacking in writing talent or research skills and her characters are strong. Could it be something was lost in translation? I don’t think I’ll ever know. I just needed something more from this book and didn’t get it.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author and the publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars and below will not appear on my social media. Thank you.
File Under: Coming of Age/Historical Fiction
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
This is my third novel by Isabel Allende and again this is a story with a strong female protagonist. We start in San Francisco in the 1860s and meet Emilia del Valle Claro. We hear the story of how her mother, an Irish nun, became pregnant by Chilean aristocrat Gonzalo Andres del Valle who deserted her. She married and Emilia’a Papo gave her the education and the imagination and the courage that would guide her through later life. Emilia longs to be a writer and with her father’s help publishes dime novels under an assumed name and then becomes a journalist. Even though in the 1880s it was unheard of for a female journalist to cover anything other than flower shows, Emilia is sent to Chile with a fellow journalist, Eric Whelan, to cover the civil war. In Chile she is deeply connected to the country and wants to find out more about her birth father and her culture. This reads very much like a memoir and is a fascinating story. With the first person narrative we meet interesting characters but we also experience the brutality of civil war and many of the events and characters are actual historical figures. Emilia is courageous and adventurous and very, very vulnerable but she has an inner strength which guides her. With the descriptions, particularly in the latter part of the book this is a love letter to Chile which is where the author was raised. And once again a novel full of beautiful prose. Emilia is a wonderful strong character. I enjoyed this
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first book I read by the author was Violeta and i had a wonderful time. Subsequently, i tried reading house of spirits but I couldn’t get into it( i will try again for bookclub as it is one of the picks this year).
This book started out very promising and i was very eager to get into it. When we got to the part where they travelled to Chile to cover the war, i think that’s where we lost the plot.
It felt like I was reading non fiction about the Chilean civil war. I would have preferred it if it was that.
Also the female narrator was not very good. Her voice was the same throughout, with little to no emotion, each character had the same voice. No passion, no energy.
It became very painful to read but I finished out of spite
If I was reading this physical I would have dnfed it.
The conclusion pissed me off so much.
In conclusion, I am really disappointed because this had the making of an excellent historical fiction but alas.
1.5 stars for teaching me about the civil war in Chile, I learnt something new.
This book started out very promising and i was very eager to get into it. When we got to the part where they travelled to Chile to cover the war, i think that’s where we lost the plot.
It felt like I was reading non fiction about the Chilean civil war. I would have preferred it if it was that.
Also the female narrator was not very good. Her voice was the same throughout, with little to no emotion, each character had the same voice. No passion, no energy.
It became very painful to read but I finished out of spite
If I was reading this physical I would have dnfed it.
The conclusion pissed me off so much.
In conclusion, I am really disappointed because this had the making of an excellent historical fiction but alas.
1.5 stars for teaching me about the civil war in Chile, I learnt something new.