I wish that I had liked this book more. I am still trying to figure out where exactly it went wrong for me. For at least the first third of the book, I couldn't get the story to stick. I'd open up the book to the next chapter having already forgotten the details of my previous reading. I just couldn't connect with it. There were so many characters where we were given long back stories, but only a few that went on to become major players in the plot. 
 The last third of the book was probably the best. There are some very interesting stories here - the beginning of the gold rush, how people capitalized on it and the relationships between all of the various nationalities living in close proximity. Perhaps the most compelling and heart wrenching story was the plight to save those young girls sold into the sex-trade. These were all provided as a backdrop of sorts to Eliza's search for her lost love and her budding friendship with a Chinese doctor who helps her escape her adopted family in Chile. 
 Allende does provide connections throughout each of these stories, so that wasn't the problem, but I still felt like there were so many pieces of the book that didn't flow together and some story threads that were left hanging. What should have been a fascinating read that transported me ended up being a handful of gold dust, pretty for a moment and then blown away on the wind.