Eva Luna: the first 5 chapters

It is difficult for me to find fault in Allende's Eva Luna, due, in part, to the fact that my Spanish is not advanced enough to comment on the use of language, and also, because I am enjoying the story.

So far, I haven't been able to find what about this book makes it "bad literature". First of all, the characters come across as sincere and the storyline is light and interesting. Each character is developed just enough to make them colourful, yet remain believable. The role of Eva Luna's character seems to be, for now, of the observer. She is jostled from home to home and stays only long enough to get to know the people of each place and then some crisis occurs and she is moved again to another place. Her only major actions happen at specific moments, but then she returns to her role as the narrator, who, for the most part, has no control over what happens around her. As her character is a child for the first half of the book, this seems accurate.

The plot is fluid and, though there are many changes in the setting (which keeps things interesting), the storyline is still easy to follow. Although, despite the fact that the story is never too heavy (as of yet), Allende manages to touch on political and cultural issues of the time. Perhaps one can accuse Allende of being too accessible to readers of all cultures, which may restrict her from taking the story too deep; however, this is only an assumption of what others may believe, of which I would disagree.