Reviews

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

clody89's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? No

4.0

srcamacho93's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I liked the book I was just waiting for the climax of the book and I don’t think I got it. Also, this book feels that is in the same universe as The house of spirit. 

hoppma's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

is_book_loring's review against another edition

2.0

A story about a storyteller stumbled from one bizarre event to others while also telling stories of these eccentric personalities she met, came and went through her life, whom she loved or had loved her and shaped her life. Eva Luna herself, started as a rebellious orphan, full of wonder with fantastic imagination and streak of dramatic insanity that could surprise you when its infrequent but impressive occurrence. Weirdly enough, despite being supposedly such a talented inventor of fantastical stories, writing a telenovela about the story of her life was the big destiny of her existence. That and devoting her entire being waiting for her soulmate, revolving around men and falling in love with them or more like in love with her idealistic fantasy of romantic love and being disillusioned afterward. She ended up as a dull, damsel in distress who was flat, boring, loved by everyone, faultless and flawless. This very disappointing resolution mirrored the book story line, which was very interesting in the beginning with its alluring prose, sometimes beautiful moments, and odd but fascinating happenings, progressed to boring half-cooked political plot about guerrilla war and melodramatic telenovela itself. I lost interest halfway down the book and around last quarter of the book, I just wanted it to be over. It was not that bad, if one was into telenovela stuff, in this case, with stroke of perverse taste and sexual relationship in certain flavours, it just put me off from the already banal tale. The writing style was the saving grace for me, and some of the sideline characters were delightful.

magsconceicao's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

The writing in this book is incredible. I wanted to underline every page and record it in my brain.
The story is quite interesting and different from what i'm used to reading. However, there were some questionable events.

Like a relationship between 2 sisters and their cousin? INSANE. Also Eva's relationship with Riad Halabi should have just stayed as a father/daughter relationship, it was so much more beautiful and meaningfull like that. The ending was quite beautifull and hopefull even though i was expecting it to be quite tragic.

The diversity of characters and their backgrounds and stories was one of my favourite aspects of the book. 

rubybastille's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Beautiful writing, as expected, but light on both story and the magical realism the blurbs led me to expect. I enjoyed the characters, especially Mimi, a trans drag performer turned national celebrity, and Elvira, an elderly maid who looks out for Eva. CW for transphobia along Mimi’s journey and some underage sexual content (this is a book from the 80s and while its trans representation is actually decent, it still misses a few marks by modern standards).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, War, and Police brutality

zaina90's review

5.0

This story is going to stay with me for a long long time. I loved it so much, and the characters are all so memorable.

tessatea333's review

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective

4.0

cpainter7's review

3.0

Reading Isabel Allende's novels is like eating ice cream. Eva Luna was not as powerful or well-constructed as The House of the Spirits, but it is a beautiful, rich dance of life.

_ilizarbe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75