By: Isabel Allende Publisher: Rayo Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Rayo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 432 Publication Date: 2004 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: April 27, 2004
Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold is about to join his fearless grandmother on the trip of a lifetime. An International Geographic expedition is headed to the dangerous, remote wilds of South America, on a mission to document the legendary Yeti of the Amazon known as the Beast.
But there are many secrets hidden in the unexplored wilderness, as Alex and his new friend Nadia soon discover. Drawing on the strength of their spirit guides, both young people are led on a thrilling and unforgettable journey to the ultimate discovery. . . .
Poorly-Written Page Turner This book must be popular with people who enjoy Hollywood blockbusters, because the plot is entirely predictable and the characters are cardboard cutouts.
I kept reading it to see what would happen next, but was disappointed that so much of the story sounds like a grade-B horror/adventure flick from the 1950s.
The writing is sloppy, too. For example, the lead character is Alex, a 15-year-old high school boy who's been wearing glasses since he was 10. Early in the book, he steps on his glasses and smashes them to smithereens. You'd think this would hinder him somehow, but the author has him go about his business as if nothing was wrong.
Later, Alex finds himself inside a dark cave. The author writes, "Alex knew very little about minerals, but he recognized opals, topazes, agates, formations of quartz and alabaster, jade, and tourmaline." Excuse me, he knows a lot about minerals! And he's recognizing these gemstones without the aid of his glasses!
Sloppy writing! Stereotypical plot! Cardboard characters! And a cornball ending where the survivors trade lame jokes around the campfire!
Buy something else, like the original "Frankenstein" or "Dracula"!
City of The Beasts City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende in my opinion was a pretty good book. Even though there are some slow parts, most of the book is full of action and adventure. I like this book because you can't predict what will happen and it makes you want to keep reading. I would recomend this book to people who like adventure and fantasy and people over the age of 12. It can be hard to understand at some points so you would want to be a farly good reader. All in all I would say that this was a good book for some people, but truthfully not me.
worst YA novel ever This is, simply, the worst young adult novel I've ever read and I'd give it zero stars if I could. It has more plot contrivances and cliched characters than a really bad horror movie. Slasher sloths? How absurd, as real sloths are such retiring, gentle creatures. It is difficult to care even about the main character, Alex, because he is so one-dimensional and uninteresting (not to mention the other stereotyped caricatures!). Alex doesn't drive the plot, the plot drives him. Kate, his grandmother, who had the potential to be an interesting character, fades into the background once they get to the jungle. There are no reasons for why things happen, they just do (let's throw in a vampire bat!) (This couldn't be more UNLIKE JK Rowling, who so expertly tied up every loose end in the HP series. Magic and sudden insight just happen whenever they are needed. But to me, the worst offense is to write a story where an unworldly American boy (who is instantly accepted as soon as he takes his clothes off - how laughable!!) somehow has the power to save the poor, pathetically defenseless indigenous people, who are not even capable of retaining their own oral history. What an insult!
City of the Beasts The City of the Beasts was written by Isabel Allende in 2002. It is about a fifteen year-old boy named Alexander Cold. He is a smart student that likes to play the flute and go mountain climbing with his dad. His mom is very sick, and he is sent away to live with his aunt Kate, an old-school journalist for International Geographic, who has traveled everywhere and seen everything. Soon, Alexander learns his grandmother is going on a trip to the Amazon, to search for the Beast, a yeti-like animal that is said to smell so bad that people who smell it faint and are sometimes killed. When they arrive in the Amazon Alexander meets a native girl named Nadia, the daughter of the man guiding their expedition. During the expedition they learn of a plot to kill off the natives to open a mining area. As the story unfolds, more secrets are revealed, including a way that Alexander might be able to save his mother, as they continue their journey to find the Beasts. I liked this book because it was so different from what I would normally read, and was so unfamiliar. The story was very interesting and intense. I would recommend it to anyone who likes adventure stories taking place in the jungle.
bienvenidos a la selva de los clichés y del aburrimiento Leí la mitad de este libro. Isabel Allende escribe con un español fácil de comprender para un lector (como yo) que no sea hablante nativo del español. El cuento promete ser interesante: un chico acompaña a su abuela a la selva amazona a encontrar "la bestia" (o sea, "bigfoot" en inglés). Pero no te asustes, cada persona en esta novela se conforma a su papel estereotipado. Los nativos son profundamente espirituales, muy pegados a la naturaleza, y sin egoísmo ningún. El antropólogo está pintado de una forma tan exagerada que me pareció farsa: solo habla de los nativos sanguinarios (quienes no lo son), tiene miedo de su propia sombra, y es altamente sexista. Las mujeres son sensatas y los hombres insensatos, etcétera, etcétera.
Además, una vez que el grupo de exploradores se mete en la jungla, el libro se vuelve aburrido. Dos niños (incluso el protagonista) son secuestrados por unos nativos (pacíficos si no haces caso al secuestro) y Allende pasa mucho tiempo describiendo esta tribu idílica, todos compartiendo todo.
No es decir que nosotros en el oeste no podemos aprender de las culturas menos industrializadas. Seguro que sí podemos, pero el dibujo que pinta Allenda es tan blanco y negro que nada se parece a la vida real. Es una caricatura no más, pero no hace gracia.
[Es el segundo libro de Allenda que he dejado sin terminar. El otro fue Ines del alma mia, en el cual el personaje principal me pareció tan anacrónico que no lo aguanté. Algún día leo uno de sus libros clásicos, como La casa de los espíritus.]
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