Allende, Isabel. City of the beasts.ALLENDE, Isabel Allende, Isabel, 1942–, Chilean novelist. Since the 1973 coup that deposed her uncle, President Salvador Allende Gossens, Isabel Allende, who is among the most notable contemporary Chilean writers, has lived abroad, for many of those years in California. Her fiction is distinguished by its fusion of traditional realism with political (including feminist) concerns. Her first and best-known novel, The House of Spirits (1982, tr.. City of the beasts. HarperTrophy. 453p. c2002. 0-06-077645-5. $7.99. J To quote the review of the audiobook in KLIATT, March 2003: Fifteen-year-old Alex is sent to stay with his grandmother while his mother gets intensive cancer treatments. His grandmother is a writer for International Geographic and takes Alex along on a trip to the Amazon to track down "beasts" that have been spotted by a few explorers. The expedition includes soldiers, famous explorers, photographers and a local guide and his 12-year-old daughter, Nadia, who has some strange abilities and an understanding beyond her years. As the trip progresses, Alex discovers he too has some innate talents he didn't know he had. It becomes up to the two young people to save the expedition and to receive some gifts; they grow to be worthy of these. The story is filled with magic and mysticism mysticism (mĭs`tĭsĭzəm) [Gr.,=the practice of those who are initiated into the mysteries], the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or any unifying principle of life. Mysticism is inseparably linked with religion. but is told in a matter-of-fact way. Allende has written a wonderful novel for young YAs. Nola Nola (nô`lä), town (1991 pop. 32,613), in Campania, S Italy. It is an agricultural center with food-processing industries. An Etruscan stronghold as early as 500 B.C., Nola flourished after passing (c.316 B.C.) to Rome and was an important center of early Christianity. Theiss, Sanibel, FL J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion