Audiobook Review: Maya's Notebook

Maya's Notebook

Author: Isabel Allende
Narrator: Maria Cabezas
Duration: 14 hrs 40 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Read: May 10-18, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Neglected by her parents, 19-year-old Maya Nidal has grown up in Berkeley with her grandparents. Her grandmother Nini is a force of nature, a woman whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973. Popo, Maya's grandfather, is a gentle man whose solid, comforting presence helps calm the turbulence of Maya's adolescence.

When Popo dies of cancer, Maya goes completely off the rails, turning to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime in a downward spiral that eventually bottoms out in Las Vegas. Lost in a dangerous underworld, she is caught in the cross­hairs of warring forces. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. Here Maya tries to make sense of the past, unravels mysterious truths about life and about her family, and embarks on her greatest adventure: The journey into her own soul.

Review:

Wow, so this was my first experience with Isabel Allende and it was not what I was expecting at all. I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, just that it wasn't this. Also, just fyi, let's just put a big ol' trigger warning all over this book for pretty much every trigger ever.

Why Did I Read This Book?
I'd run out of audiobooks for review and selecting them on my own takes forever, and this showed up in a newsletter. I've been curious about Allende for a while, thus why I own several of her books (*side-eyes*), and this seemed as good a place to start as any. Plus, I've discovered that I generally love books about dark subject matter and this did sure sound dark.

What's the Story Here?
Nineteen year old Maya Nidal has been sent by her grandma to a small Chilean island to escape some tragic past and possibly pursuers. The story follows two timelines, Maya's past and her present, until the past catches up to where the book started. What unravels is a tale of how Maya made pretty much every wrong decision it was possible to make. Seriously, she does drugs, is an alcoholic, gets raped (this isn't a decision, but getting into a truck with a sketchy trucker after escaping from rehab may not have been the wisest course), joins the underworld and sells drugs so she can earn drugs, pisses off people in the underworld, and then, living on the street, prostitutes herself to obtain money for drugs. The point of the book is that the Chilean island, the name of which I don't know how to spell because audio, opens her up and lets her live again.

What Did I Think Was Missing?
Maya's emotional arc didn't really work for me. We're spared most of her struggle of recovery from addiction. There's some mention of it, but not enough. Recovering from addictions to crack and alcohol is a painful process and she doesn't seem to suffer all that much. In Chile, people regularly drink in front of her and it seems hardly to tempt her, though she does know better than to drink anything herself. From what I've heard, most alcoholics can't handle that. Seeing that she will be dealing with those unhealthy urges forever would have been a more powerful statement, I think. She just seemed to get over it all way too easily.

How are the Characters?
Mostly, they're all terrible people. The rest, like Maya, her grandmother, and Manuel, who Maya stays with in Chile, are on the border between likable and unlikable. I will say that Allende does give them all distinct personalities and they do feel like real people, so points for characterization. However, they're just not people I particularly want to get to know. This was sort of like listening to a radio drama of some super dark soap opera or something. On the one hand, you can't stop listening because you want to know what happens next, but it was also melodramatic like whoa.

And the Romance?
Lol, okay, so this part I did like. Maya's this girl who's been through pretty much everything life has to offer. She's seen and done a lot. Anyway, this guy, Daniel, comes to the island and she sees him and hearts pop out of her eyes like in an anime. The moment she sees him she's like "this is the man I'm going to marry," because her feelings on seeing him reminded of the story of how her grandma met her beloved grandpa. She instaloves all over Daniel, which would be irritating, except that it totally pans out like most actual teen instalove would: a big, huge, awkward dumping. After it happens, Maya's all "this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," and I was all "trololol." This was basically the comic relief of the piece.

How was the Narration?
Maria Cabezas definitely makes a convincing Maya. She reads with just the slightest accent, like her time in Chile has rubbed off on her. Her voice conveys both Maya's gruffness and youth, and she was just really well-suited to the character. I'm glad I tried this on audio, because I would have DNFed the print really quickly.

Sum It Up with a GIF:

Rating: 2.5/5