DJ

Book Review from BookBrowse
Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. So begins Isabel Allende's enchanting new novel, //Daughter of Fortune//, her most ambitious work of fiction yet. As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco and northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes among whom Eliza moves--with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien--California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquín gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is. //Daughter of Fortune// is a sweeping portrait of an era, a story rich in character, history, violence, and compassion. In Eliza, Allende has created one of her most appealing heroines, an adventurous, independent-minded, and highly unconventional young woman who has the courage to reinvent herself and to create her own destiny in a new country. A marvel of storytelling, //Daughter of Fortune// confirms once again Isabel Allende's extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world's leading writers.

=This book is one of my "Important Books" because= 1. I love historic fiction..it makes me want to go back in time and live life at that times, in the shoes of the main character. 2. I love a good love story. 3. Eliza is a STRONG woman,and I love abook where a woman follows her heart instead of what society expects from her

=Book Review From GoodReads= Set during the waning days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960, this extraordinary novel tells the story the Mirabal sisters, three young wives and mothers who are assassinated after visiting their jailed husbands. From the author of //How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents// comes this tale of courage and sisterhood set in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship. A skillful blend of fact and fiction, //In the Time of the Butterflies// is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as "las mariposas," or "the butterflies," in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered. Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as "the butterflies" near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life. //In the Time of the Butterflies// is an American Library Association Notable Book and a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award nominee

=This book is one of my "Important Books" because= 1. I LOVE, trust,and depend on my 2 sisters so much...I could see the three of us being "the butterfiles". 2. Historic fiction is my thing!

=Book Review from BookChilla= When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse enclosed by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them, open. Every night they are closed tight. And that every 30 days a new boy is delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. Only the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets that are buried within his mind.

Literary Awards: YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2011), Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award YA Nominee (2011), RT Reviewers’ Choice Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Novel (2009), Kentucky Bluegrass Award for grades 9-12 (2011), Abraham Lincoln Award (2012)

This book is one of my "Important Books" because 1. the suspense is addictive 2. I love books in a series! 3. it was the first sci-fi boook I really loved.

-Jess Watts
10 pts to JW from DLJ 10/08