[In the following positive review of The Stories of Eva Luna, Allgood maintains that “although Allende's stories can be read on various levels, enjoyment can be attained on a visceral level, Allende is an incredible storyteller.”]

Finding time to sneak off and read a captivating novel is, for most English teachers, a pleasure rarely enjoyed unless it is during one of those summer months we long for all year. As a college senior a couple years ago at the University of Georgia, I had the pleasure of being forced to read novels from countries all over the world in my Contemporary World Literature class. Many of the books were dry accounts of political stories from other countries; however, one novel caught my attention. The book was divided into short stories that were easy to read and could be completed within twenty minutes each. Fascinating tales about people whose personalities and situations seemed magical to me filled the pages of this novel.

I recently fetched this novel out of the depths of my closet because I wanted to read all the stories I never had a chance to read. Lately, I have spent my evenings crawling into bed, curling up under the warm blanket to catch an intriguing tale before I go to sleep. I recommend The Stories of Eva Luna to all English teachers who simply don't have time to read an entire novel between taking care of families, helping students, grading papers, preparing lessons, reading textbooks, attending meetings, driving carpools, and fixing dinner. Instantly, Allende's storytelling ability captures your attention. In addition, the stories contain the same aspects as soap operas—sexuality, relationships, murders, secrets, and exaggeration.

Allende was born in Peru; however, she identifies herself as Chilean. The House of the Spirits, Allende's first novel (written in 1981), achieved worldwide notoriety as well as a spot on the New York Times Best-seller List. This book evolved out of Allende's personal experiences in revolutionary Chile and was followed in 1984 by Of Love and Shadows and in 1987 by Eva Luna. Eva Luna concludes with the title character's lover, Rolfe, requesting her to “tell me a story you have never told anyone before. Make it up for me” (5). The Stories of Eva Luna is the collection of stories Eva invents to entertain her lover, enchanting portraits of fictitious characters Allende brings to brilliant life. Ultimately, these stories are fantasies that take us away to “Another World” (pardon the pun).

The short stories in the collection exhibit magical realism: The stories seem real until the storyteller exaggerates without the slightest acknowledgement of such exaggeration. “Two Words” exemplifies this notion by stating, “Belisa Crepusculario had been born into a family so poor they did not even have names to give their children” (10). The unbelievability of this statement is compounded by the way the story continues in a serious fashion as if this statement were realistic.

Almost all of the stories contain some aspect of love. For instance, “Ester Lucero” involves love that is forbidden or taboo in most cultures: the love of a middle-aged man for a pre-pubescent girl. The love is never consummated or even openly expressed in the story, but the man has a distanced affection for the young girl. The story opens with the narrator's description of the first time the older man, Angel Sanchez, saw Ester: “he had been in love with her from the first day he saw her. Then she was still a little girl playing with dolls … Angel Sanchez divined the beauty that was secretly germinating within her” (153). After seeing her at her home one day, Angel Sanchez “confined himself to desiring Ester Lucero in silence, shamed by his unseemly passion for a child who still had not reached puberty” (155). Finally, Sanchez becomes a doctor and saves Ester's life in a strange, but interesting way. She eventually marries and moves away, but he still keeps himself company with images of Ester that visit him at siesta. Sanchez spent his life tormented by sexual fantasies of Ester, and “he would imagine the girl, naked and moist, summoning him with lewd gestures from the shadows of the room” (156). “Ester Lucero” is a great example of the eroticism found in The Stories of Eva Luna.

Allende has a way of capturing the reader's attention in the first few lines of each story, and one of the most notable examples is from “Clarisa” which begins:

Clarisa was born before the city had electricity, she lived to see the television coverage of the first astronaut levitating on the moon, and she dies of amazement when the Pope came for a visit and was met in the street by homosexuals dressed up as nuns … by the time I met her she was already a rather bizarre old woman with shoulders rounded into two gentle humps and with white hair coiled around a sebaceous cyst the size of a pigeon egg crowning her noble head. She had a profound, shrewd gaze that could penetrate the most hidden evil and return unscathed. Over the course of a long lifetime she had come to be considered a saint.

(41)

Throughout the story Clarisa's character is revealed through the many trials she faces: Clarisa gives birth to a retarded child, has an affair, takes care of herself in light of a husband who won't speak to her let alone help her raise their family, helps everyone in town, and finally, at the age of approximately 80, sees the Pope.

After forty years of not speaking to her husband, she knocks on his door one day. He asks her how many times has he told her not to bother him. She apologizes for the intrusion and then tells him she is going to die. He simply asks, “When?,” and she says, “Friday.” He replies, “Very well,” and never opens the door to look at her. By the end of the story, I know Clarisa. As a reader, I ended up justifying her mistakes and calling her a saint as the other characters in the story did.

Allende provides us with a cultural experience as we applaud her characters when they do something good and cry when they hurt. Although Allende's stories can be read on various levels, enjoyment can be attained on a visceral level; Allende is an incredible storyteller. This book is well worth ＄6.99, and is perfect for the teacher who must read in those precious few moments of solitude before bedtime.