Daughter of Fortune
By Isabel
Allende
Translation
by Margaret Sayers Penden
I really
enjoyed Daughter of Fortune. Allende wove a great, romantic story that
was rich in descriptive passages. It had
all of the elements that I love in novel:
a strong female protagonist, diverse historical and cultural elements,
and a great story. The setting was
during California gold rush and the country of Chile during the mid 1800s. The plot followed a young woman’s journey to
find her lover from Chile to California.
It was an enjoyable and engaging read.
My only
criticism would be the ending. Without
giving away any spoilers, a new, unexpected element was introduced in the last
few chapters. I was somewhat shocked
that something that significant would be left to, or brought up in, the last
few chapters. It is also an ending
without a clear, definitive resolution.
The reader is left to decide what really happened. Not a bad ending, but also not entirely
satisfying. I am interested in reading
more by Allende. Kudos to the translator Margaret Says Penden. I would definitely recommend Daughter of Fortune. It was a good read.
Divergent
By Veronica
Roth
We listened
to the Audible version of Divergent on
a recent road trip and loved it. I
haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t make any comparison. The novel was clearly a young adult fiction,
and had all of the elements that you would expect: resistance to adult
authority, peer bonding and teen romance.
The science fiction and dystopia elements made the story engaging, even
for adults. We immediately went on to,
and are now listening to the next book, Insurgent.
I can see how Divergent could make a good movie. It was definitely a good listen! I highly recommend the Audible version.
Insurgent
By Veronica
Roth
After
raving about Audible versions of Divergent,
I cannot say the same about Insurgent. I’m not sure a teen or preteen would feel the
same, but as adults, it was long and tedious.
The immaturity of Tris and the never-ending, chaste, love scenes made it
almost annoying for adult listening.
The romantic scenes did nothing but slow the story down. There were far too many of the exact same
scene… over and over again. Where were the editors? Did anyone even look at this book before it was published? The three
books in this series could have been trimmed to two and made for better
listening/reading. Not a great listen…
and I doubt that reading it would have been any better.
Allegiant
By Veronica
Roth
After
listening to Insurgent, we were
ready to stop listening to the Veronica Roth series. The reviews for Allegiant were mixed, so we almost didn’t continue. I’m glad that we decided to finish the
series. From my perspective, Allegiant
was better than Insurgent and tied
everything together into a satisfactory ending.
The change in format helped. The
narration alternated between Tris and Tobias, which was refreshing, as was the
separation of the two characters.
After
listening to all three books in the Divergent
series, I have to say that it wasn’t great.
I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of exceptionally good young adult fiction. The Divergent series was average, at
best. All three books could have had
better editing. The passionate, romantic
scenes between Tris and Tobias and the word “body” could have almost all been
eliminated. There was a lot of
repetition and scenes that added nothing to the development of the story. There was also too much graphic
violence. The writing lacked depth and
maturity. Maybe they will make great
movies. However, none of the books were a great listen and I doubt that they would have been a better
read.
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