Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

This beautifully written book tells the story of a girl raised in Chile by English merchants. She grows up learning all the ways of being a lady but finds the strong emotions of her mind beckoning her elsewhere. After the acquisition of California by the USA, people all around her including her first "true love" scramble to get on the boats to California inspired by the gold rush. Eliza finding herself heart broken decides to follow her heart - all the way to California.

One of the things that impressed me most about this book was the descriptive nature in which it was told. Every character had a background that remained essential to the plot, and to why they did certain things or did not do others. Interestingly, the man who ends up tending to Eliza when she is a stowaway on a boat (Tao) and Eliza herself both journey to where the gold rush is taking place but neither of them are there for gold. Eliza striving for the love she has lost and Tao not wishing to become rich without the work he believes in - a sort of healing practice. One of the things I took away from this book was the love Eliza held for years of a perceived gentleman, when what she doesn't realise is how much a person can keep hidden even when the depths of intimacy have been reached.

The ending of this book seemed in one way complete and perfect but in another way annoyed me a hell of a lot. Ends were tied up but not shown to the author although earlier references in the book let you know what happened when looking back on it. Would recommend this author and this book to anyone, I enjoyed this story immensely (far more than The Infinite Plan).

The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende

This is the first book I have read by Allende. One of my sisters is a huge fan of her work and I thought I would give it a try. This book was interesting, I think maybe she hasn't quite got the male perspective she was writing from down to a tee. The book weaves the tale of a family, the father leads the family on travels preaching what seems like some sort of new age spirituality. They eventually settle in a poor Mexican barrio after he falls ill.

The book is told in two perspectives, firstly a third person detailing events and secondly from the thoughts of the main character, Gregory. There is a very clear patterns of him chasing money and becoming an 'evil' person and then chasing love and becoming a 'good' person, I found this comparison slightly stereotypical, especially because he worked as a lawyer in the chasing of the money learning the tricks of the trade in a corporate law firm. The whole thing just didn't quite ring true for me, well that facet of the plot anyway.

There's also a strong element of how past experience can affect a person over time. Gregory who has grown up poor finds himself wanting to be rich, and in a turnaround finding how much he wastes money on things which get him nothing. His sister, plagued by memories of sexual abuse by her father in childhood coats herself in layers of food and dedicates her life to caring for children.

All in all it was a good book, and I'd be interested to read more by Allende. The characters were the least believable for me, the storyline was good, kept me interested in reading the book.