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envy4's review against another edition
4.0
Great story of youthful adventure and the discovery of a place lost in time! Will definitely read more from this author!
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
Audiobook performed by Maria Cabezas
On a remote island off the southern coast of Chile 19-year-old Maya Vidal uses the notebook given to her by her grandmother – Nini – to record her impressions of this simple life, reflect on her past mistakes and try to come to grips with the turns her life has taken. Through her writings we learn that as an infant she was left with her paternal grandmother and step-grandfather in Berkeley, and raised by them with considerable freedom and lots of love. The death of Popo deeply affects both Nini and Maya, and the 13-year-old spins out of control, drinking, taking drugs, and engaging in petty crimes. Eventually she gets embroiled in the seedy underworld of Las Vegas.
This is a contemporary coming-of-age novel and a significant departure for Allende who has mostly written historical fiction. Maya is frustratingly immature and so many of her decisions are so obviously wrong that the reader cannot help but anticipate the horrible outcome. Yet, we always know that she is “clean, sober and safe” because she is narrating her troubled past from a place of safety and security. This structure made me curious as to how she would get out of the various situations (and there are many including kidnapping, rape, drug overdose, etc) but also lessened the suspense. Some of the writing seemed a little mature for Maya, but on the whole I felt Allende gave her a believable voice.
The novel is peopled with a wide array of characters – colorful, bland, loyal, conniving, young, old, wise, or foolish. There are times when Maya is exploring historical elements that disrupt the flow of the main plot – her grandmother’s flight from Chile as a young widow with her young son, how her grandparents met, Manuel’s incarceration and torture, and background stories of other characters important to her story. The novel includes a few elements of magical realism – ghosts appear regularly, Maya is introduced to a coven of witches – but these are relatively minor.
Maria Cabezas does a fine job narrating this first-person tale. She has good pacing and correctly pronounces the Spanish. Her “young” voice for Maya seemed spot on. Allende is a good story-teller and Cabezas performed the work well. I was interested and engaged from beginning to end.
On a remote island off the southern coast of Chile 19-year-old Maya Vidal uses the notebook given to her by her grandmother – Nini – to record her impressions of this simple life, reflect on her past mistakes and try to come to grips with the turns her life has taken. Through her writings we learn that as an infant she was left with her paternal grandmother and step-grandfather in Berkeley, and raised by them with considerable freedom and lots of love. The death of Popo deeply affects both Nini and Maya, and the 13-year-old spins out of control, drinking, taking drugs, and engaging in petty crimes. Eventually she gets embroiled in the seedy underworld of Las Vegas.
This is a contemporary coming-of-age novel and a significant departure for Allende who has mostly written historical fiction. Maya is frustratingly immature and so many of her decisions are so obviously wrong that the reader cannot help but anticipate the horrible outcome. Yet, we always know that she is “clean, sober and safe” because she is narrating her troubled past from a place of safety and security. This structure made me curious as to how she would get out of the various situations (and there are many including kidnapping, rape, drug overdose, etc) but also lessened the suspense. Some of the writing seemed a little mature for Maya, but on the whole I felt Allende gave her a believable voice.
The novel is peopled with a wide array of characters – colorful, bland, loyal, conniving, young, old, wise, or foolish. There are times when Maya is exploring historical elements that disrupt the flow of the main plot – her grandmother’s flight from Chile as a young widow with her young son, how her grandparents met, Manuel’s incarceration and torture, and background stories of other characters important to her story. The novel includes a few elements of magical realism – ghosts appear regularly, Maya is introduced to a coven of witches – but these are relatively minor.
Maria Cabezas does a fine job narrating this first-person tale. She has good pacing and correctly pronounces the Spanish. Her “young” voice for Maya seemed spot on. Allende is a good story-teller and Cabezas performed the work well. I was interested and engaged from beginning to end.
berecca_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Maya Vidal manages to be a personally-opposite chaos point that shows the reader the way for personal reflection. If you finish the book without seeing yourself in the way she responded deaths in her family, complicated parental relationships, and vices, then odds are, you just haven’t lived long enough. Maya, and the reader, will be healed with time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Cancer, Grief, Self harm, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, and Trafficking
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
Maya vivió una vida protegida hasta que perdió a su abuelo, Popo, y se volvió drogadicta y terminó refugiándose en Chiloé.
saramar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
4.0
nklimczak's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.0
catforister's review against another edition
4.0
All in all, I loved this book. Allende is so talented and obviously very intelligent ; the way she ties in the politics and culture of the places she writes about is very unusual and smart.
That being said, there were a couple sections where I thought the timing was weird in regards to the rest of the story, and a few others I might have taken out altogether, but that’s really the only (very small) complaint I have.
All things considered, this book was beautiful and heartbreaking and incredibly well written; I highly recommend.
That being said, there were a couple sections where I thought the timing was weird in regards to the rest of the story, and a few others I might have taken out altogether, but that’s really the only (very small) complaint I have.
All things considered, this book was beautiful and heartbreaking and incredibly well written; I highly recommend.
jenniferdeguzman's review against another edition
3.0
I was never quite convinced by Maya's voice. She's supposed to be a teenager from Berkeley, the kind of girl I encounter every day, as I work a block from Berkeley High School (where Maya goes). Some of it may be in the translation; it was done by a Canadian translator who lives in England, not exactly someone in touch with young Americans. There were a few instances that stood out to me as not being off, like the phrase "sewer punks" (it should be "gutter punks") or Maya calling a bathroom a "washroom." The first-person narration seems to try to explain its own idiosyncrasies; Maya stresses several times that she picked up her "huge vocabulary" from her grandmother making her learn new words.
The plot itself feels a bit incidental, with a few points feeling like they resolve simply because they have to.
The plot itself feels a bit incidental, with a few points feeling like they resolve simply because they have to.
carlapastor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
Soy una de las mayores haters de libros que me mandan leer en clase pero sorprendentemente este me ha gustado bastante. Soy incapaz de decir cómo de realista es porque habla de muchos temas que nunca he experimentado y espero no experimentar, pero por lo que sé Isabel Allende tenía familiares que han sufrido en la adicción a las drogas, así que asumo que será real.
Me gustan los personajes, me gusta la historia y me gusta esta narración alternada aunque en algunos momentos se sentía un poco como si fuese relleno, pero no era la mayoría del libro.
Adoro con todo mi alma que pudiese terminar sin un hombre y no pasase nada, aunque no me queda muy claro si al final pretende volver con él. Por favor, no. No es necesario.
En fin, me parece bastante buen libro. Sorprendentemente.
Me gustan los personajes, me gusta la historia y me gusta esta narración alternada aunque en algunos momentos se sentía un poco como si fuese relleno, pero no era la mayoría del libro.
En fin, me parece bastante buen libro. Sorprendentemente.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Gun violence