The Stories of Eva Luna

The Stories of Eva Luna

  • by Isabel Allende
  • Narrated by Elizabeth Pena
  • 2 hrs and 44 mins
  • Abridged Audiobook
3.8 (71
Ratings.
)

Publisher's Summary

Immerse yourself in a world of love, vengeance, compassion, and irony with the evocative stories of Eva Luna. Author Isabel Allende introduced this well-loved character to audiences in her earlier novel, Eva Luna, which describes the adventurous life of a poor Latin-American woman who finds happiness and success through her masterful storytelling skills. Now Eva returns, this time in a treasure trove of opulent and stirring stories that speak to every emotion.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

Better some Allende than no Allende

I live in Canada, and am consequently cursed to a poverty of Allende's work in audio form, perhaps because the Audible powers-that-be assume that our comparative lack of Latin American listeners means a lack of interest in Latin American works. Worse yet, the Stories of Eva Luna, one of my favourite works by Allende, is this abridged version. Lamentable as these situations may be I decided that some Allende was better than no Allende, and was only mildly disappointed at the odd choices the audiobook producers made when selecting which short stories to include. Of the 24 original stories, only 8 are found here. I was struck most by the absence of "And of Clay Are We Created," widely considered Allende's best work of short fiction, and "The Judge's Wife," which has been anthologized a number of times. Nevertheless, the stories found here are still a delight to revisit, especially when read by Elizabeth Pena, who is very easy on the ears, and reads the stories with the requisite sultry tone Allende's work demands. That said, I had to listen at speeds between 1.5 and 3 times the recorded speed, as Pena takes some extremely pregnant pauses.

Allende's prose is poetic and her stories are filled with meaningful magic, where miracles are beautiful or terrible epiphanies. The stories range from whimsically touching to heartbreakingly tragic. I'll definitely revisit this audiobook, despite most of my favourite stories being left out.

I was unable to find a table of contents for this audiobook, and one of my motivations in purchasing and listening to it was to provide one to other prospective listeners. Here are the story titles with their relative starting times, since, as noted below, the chapter breaks are haphazard:

1. Prologue
2. Two Words 5:36
3. Wicked Girl 28:50
4. Our Secret 1:02:55
5. The Little Heidelberg 1:15:37
6. The Proper Respect 1:34:48
7. Interminable Life 1:52:14
8. Revenge 2:22:24
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- Perschon

Great Book, TERRIBLE VERSION

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This is good for anyone who doesn't give a crap about knowing when a story starts or ends, and doesn't ever want to easily find any short story, because there's NO TABLE OF CONTENTS AND THE STORIES ARE NOT THE CHAPTERS.


What was one of the most memorable moments of The Stories of Eva Luna?

The writing and performance are incredible, but whomever prepared these digital chapters should be fired, then shot and killed.


Which scene was your favorite?

Two Words. Amazingly cool story.


If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Stories of Eva Luna?

None of them. I just would've given them a GOOD TABLE OF CONTENTS.


Any additional comments?

Seriously, there's like 25 stories in this book. How hard would it be to tell people what stories are IN the book and make the 'chapters' each a single story, named for the listener's convenience?

Savages.

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- Tanner

Book Details

  • Release Date: 12-16-1999
  • Publisher: Phoenix Books
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