Eva Luna by Isabel Allende tells many stories. It is full of eccentric characters and sparkling details. The main character, Eva Luna, also tells stories and does so throughout the book both as gifts and as barter. The characters in Eva’s life are as savory and diverse as those in her fanciful stories. Her life is set in a South American city during civil and political unrest, government propaganda, and guerrilla warfare.

It seems as though I’ve heard/read Allende’s book discussed often with mentions of mixing real life with magic. It’s true, but I think she uses less “magicky” magic than those mentions would suggest. This book is a great example of that. Nearly every character lives and thinks in a way that is outside of accepted customs, social norms, even the law. They are rich and diverse because they have that one thing in common, the freedom that comes with simply being who they are rather than what they “ought.” This theme throughout the book not only increases the humanity of these characters, it creates a sense of wonder or “magic” all the more mystical and fantastical for it’s possibility in our own world.

That’s my summary blurb for StoryGraph. Now for the rest of my thoughts if you want them..

I don’t always know what to make of Allende’s novels. The first time I thought this was at the end of her House of the Spirits, which I loved but felt I’d missed something. I felt off-kilter or unfinished leaving that book. Like I’d passed over something that would have sewn everything up into a tight, marketable bow.  I assumed it was me. I must not “get it.” 

Then I finished Eva Luna, another epic, undulating tale of characters living through political unrest in South America over decades. Characters who are each very much a character and plots made of the stuff of real life as well as more reality than we often credit life with having. Now, I think not “getting it” is actually part of a point. Maybe even the point. Her plots and people come together and part again through this novel as in others. Some lines of story don’t get tied up. Some get acknowledged but not answered. 

The imagery of weaving threads gets tossed around a lot about story writing. I picture Isabel Allende’s books being more like a woman’s long braid. It isn’t even and balanced from top to bottom like the perfectly tensioned threads in woven fabric. (Or those fabric loom potholders every 90s kid gifted their mom in childhood.) Her story lines (and characters) curve in and out, some falling away along the length of the tapering braid, till the few strong strands reach the end to be tied together.

It really is magical. As a reader, I do not feel used to that. As a living person, it’s so familiar. Allende captures in her books not just life -the way it smells, feels, and marks us – but the way it works. How we experience it. Some patterns we can see, others we can’t. Some illuminate with time and insight, or a second read, and some just don’t. 

Or perhaps I just don’t get it. Shrug. I sure get a lot out of her books anyway. I feel her stories are linear, each vignette informs later plot points but doesn’t wrap everything up in a tight circle. This is rich and true to life! I put every book of hers down feeling I’ve been wholly entertained and drawn a smidge more tightly to the world of past and present, near and far, literal and magical in which we live. 

This book did that. I praise and recommend it.

-HR

Purchase Links:

I read the digital edition for free through my library and the Libby App.
Digital Eva Luna a book by Isabel Allende – Bookshop.org US
Paperback Eva Luna a book by Isabel Allende – Bookshop.org US

(I’m not affiliated with these sites. Just a shopper.)

A note about my notes: Many book reviews include some amount of plot and summary. I prefer to go into books based on what I know of the author, their other work, and reader experiences of the book, if I know anything at all. Being introduced to premise, plot, and people by anyone other than the creator is something I just don’t enjoy. Since I skip the summary sections of book reviews, I’ll often skip summarizing within my own. I’ll be offering up the things that help me decide to read a book and leave summarizing to the talented reviewers who appreciate and, therefore, excel in that area.