Synopsis
During the California Gold Rush, Eliza Sommers, raised as an adopted daughter in a wealthy Chilean family, follows her flamboyant lover to California--partly as a way of beginning her life over again. Allende's historical adventure novel touches on feminist themes such as the repressed upbringing of girls in Chile, the disgraceful treatment of Chinese prostitutes in America, and the rough life of frontier women.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2000-09-01 |
| Size | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 12.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
Eliza Sommers es una joven chilena que vive en Valpara?so en 1849, el a?o en que se descubre oro en California. Su amante, Joaqu?n Andieta, parte hacia el norte decidido a encontrar fortuna, y ella decide seguirlo. El viaje infernal, escondida en la cala de un velero, y la b?squeda de su amante en una tierra de hombres solos y prostitutas atra?dos por la fiebre del oro, transforman a la joven inocente en una mujer fuera de lo com?n. Eliza recibe ayuda y afecto de Tao Chi'en, un m?dico chino, quien la conducir? de la mano en un itinerario memorable por los misterios y contradicci?nes de la condici?n humana.hija de la fortuna es un retrato palpitante de una ?poca marcada por la violencia y la codicia en la cual los protagonistas rescatan el amor, la amistad, la compasi?n y el valor.
Industry Reviews
"[A]n extravagant tale by a gifted storyteller whose spell brings to life the 19th century world....DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE, while entertaining and well paced, is frustratingly one-dimensional....Though Allende offers pictures of this darker world, they come across as mere snapshots, dwarfed by the sweeping historical panorama she's trying to paint...."
Curwen
"[R]eads like a bodice-ripper romance crossed with Judith Krantz, with plenty of feminist and multicultural seasoning thrown in to update the mix....Ms. Allende does little to dramatize her feminist sentiments--she simply hammers her points home with dogmatic asides, and starkly lighted tableaux of women being abused and taken advantage by men. Her people are equally simplistic and trite: evil outlaws, greedy opportunists and whores with hearts of gold. Eliza...never becomes more than a paper-doll figure...."
Kakutani
""[B]ecause Allende details her plot and settings more richly than her characters' inner lives, this derring-do saga feels somewhat spiritless."
Harlan
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
