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halkid2 's review for:
My Name Is Emilia del Valle
by Isabel Allende
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
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:
No
If you asked me to describe MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE in three words, I might pick adventure, violence, with a bit of romance. But these words don’t really do justice to this novel. Reading this book gave me a chance to meet a determined woman who flaunts the rules and winds up living through exceptional experiences, both good and bad.
Written in the style of an autobiography, MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE is Emilia’s first person account of her life through her mid twenties. (Might there be a sequel?) In Chile in the early 1890s she is a fiercely independent woman, bucking all the social conventions at a time when the only acceptable roles for women in this deeply Catholic society were marriage and motherhood.
But after an intellectually rigorous upbringing, courtesy of a loving stepfather, Emilia aspires to earn her own living as a writer — unheard of for a woman at this time. After finding success writing 10-cent novels using a male pseudonym, Emilia becomes a journalist, where she hopes to be able to report using her own name. One of her early assignments is to cover the feature side of Chile’s increasing political tension, partnered with a more experienced journalist who will cover the news side.
Aside from Emilia’s ambition and commitment to lead a non-traditional life, the novel tells a second story of the South American country of Chile itself. It’s a story of European Colonialism and the Chilean Civil War of 1891 -- a fight for power between the President of Chile, José Manuel Balmaceda and the country's legislative congress. Wealthy European settlers generally support Balmaceda while impoverished and indigenous people side with Congress. Like the American Civil War, this was a savage conflict.
As with all her books, Isabel Allende’s language is beautiful. (Credit certainly also goes to translator Frances Riddle.) The passages describing battles that Emilia witnesses are so vivid that they are painful to read and I occasionally found the need to take a break. Likewise, descriptions of wild and remote areas in the Andes Mountains are equally powerful and you will long to visit what must have been a true paradise.
The only reason I did not award five stars to MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE is because I found the start of the book dragged a bit. But by midway, I was frantically turning pages, both eager and nervous to find out what would happen next. Highly recommended.
Written in the style of an autobiography, MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE is Emilia’s first person account of her life through her mid twenties. (Might there be a sequel?) In Chile in the early 1890s she is a fiercely independent woman, bucking all the social conventions at a time when the only acceptable roles for women in this deeply Catholic society were marriage and motherhood.
But after an intellectually rigorous upbringing, courtesy of a loving stepfather, Emilia aspires to earn her own living as a writer — unheard of for a woman at this time. After finding success writing 10-cent novels using a male pseudonym, Emilia becomes a journalist, where she hopes to be able to report using her own name. One of her early assignments is to cover the feature side of Chile’s increasing political tension, partnered with a more experienced journalist who will cover the news side.
Aside from Emilia’s ambition and commitment to lead a non-traditional life, the novel tells a second story of the South American country of Chile itself. It’s a story of European Colonialism and the Chilean Civil War of 1891 -- a fight for power between the President of Chile, José Manuel Balmaceda and the country's legislative congress. Wealthy European settlers generally support Balmaceda while impoverished and indigenous people side with Congress. Like the American Civil War, this was a savage conflict.
As with all her books, Isabel Allende’s language is beautiful. (Credit certainly also goes to translator Frances Riddle.) The passages describing battles that Emilia witnesses are so vivid that they are painful to read and I occasionally found the need to take a break. Likewise, descriptions of wild and remote areas in the Andes Mountains are equally powerful and you will long to visit what must have been a true paradise.
The only reason I did not award five stars to MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE is because I found the start of the book dragged a bit. But by midway, I was frantically turning pages, both eager and nervous to find out what would happen next. Highly recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence