Book review: Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune

I just finished reading Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune, a novel first published in 1998, and it is pure perfection.

Okay, maybe not quite.

There was a spot somewhere in the final third of the book where I wondered why Allende was going into so much detail about something that didn’t move the story along or enhance character development. But I can’t find that spot now, and it was the only place where I was pulled out of the story.

I was swept away by this book, and I had that aha! feeling as the story drew to its conclusion and all the threads of the tale came together seamlessly.

This novel enabled me to vicariously experience the California Gold Rush through eyes that are not European American, and I feel enriched and somehow empowered by that. Every main character is so well depicted and unique that I cared about all in the end. And the minor characters were distinct and memorable. The language, the ideas, the dance among the characters, and especially phenomenal was the main character Eliza’s transformation from living a constrained life of privilege in Chile to weathering hardship and embracing adventure as she pursued the man she loved in California.

So, basically, this is a masterpiece, and Isabel Allende walks on water. Well, the walking on water is a bit much, but she is high on my list of favorite authors, and this is now a treasured book I will not part with next time I do clutter clearing. Allende’s writing is so accessible, so inclusive, so beautifully rendered. She is a Chilean author who speaks to us all, tapping into universal human qualities we all share.

If you haven’t read this book yet, grab it and enter the rich and wild world she created. It will expand your view of America, the Gold Rush and womanhood.