City of the Beasts
Encyclopedia
City of the Beasts is the first young adult
novel by Chile
an-American
writer Isabel Allende
, whose uncle is Salvador Allende
, a former president of Chile. Published in 2002, the story is set in the Amazon rainforest
. The novel was translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
from Spanish to English
. Walden Media
is said to be producing a movie.
to stay with his eccentric grandmother Kate Cold,a reporter for International Geographic Magazine. His sisters, however are sent to live with their Grandmother Carla. Meanwhile, Kate announces that she will be taking Alex with her to the Amazon rainforest during his visit. Once Alex arrives in New York City, and finds out that his grandmother had no intentions of collecting him at the airport and is forced to walk to her apartment, several blocks away. In the process he meets a girl named Morgana who is a very eccentric and attention getting girl in her mid-20s. She steals his back pack that contained his clothes, his money and his flute. He is greatly saddened by the loss of his precious flute, but Kate gives him the flute belonging to his grandfather, Joseph Cold .
Dr. Omayra Torres, who is coming along to vaccinate natives, and Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide
. Alex soon befriends Nadia, a girl several years younger than him, who is the daughter of Cesar Santos. The entrepreneur, Mauro Carias, is the man responsible for drawing the magazine's interest to the mysterious Beasts.
. Later, Joel Gonzalez, the photographer's assistant, is attacked and nearly killed by an anaconda. After another soldier's death, this time at the hands of a Beast, they decide to send several people back with the wounded Joel Gonzalez - and they are given the task to send help back to the expedition.
When they are left alone, Alex plays his grandfather's flute to relieve the tedium. The music attracts the mysterious People of the Mist, who kidnap the two children. They travel farther into the forest and arrive at a waterfall which they must climb to reach the World's Eye. Due to Alex's skills in rock climbing, this isn't much of a problem for him; however, Nadia is afraid of heights. After they reach the top, Alex is sent back down again to rescue their chief, Mokarita, who had fallen and been mortally wounded. When everyone arrives at the top, they set off for the home of the People of the Mist.
. Alex, being fifteen, is put through a rite of passage
into manhood; during the ceremony, unusual things happen. Firstly, he turns into a jaguar, his totem; secondly, he receives a vision of his mom in the game is on her hospital bed and talking briefly with her. After the ceremonies, the Shaman takes them to visit the Beasts, who live in a city deep within the forest. These Beasts are considered gods by the People of the Mist. Jaguar correctly assumes their city to be the famous El Dorado
which is really made from fool's gold, and he embarks on a journey
to visit this place and its inhabitants with Walimai; the mystic's spirit
wife, who will guide the group; and Nadia. The city is located inside of an inactive volcano; the only entrance is through a confusing labyrinth of lava tunnels and caves. They all decide what to do and how to do it.
s, function as the living memory of the tribe by remembering long epic poems recited by Walimai and his predecessors. Fearing the capture of these ancient creatures by western scientists, they warn them to be careful of foreigners (such as the expedition group they both belonged to). In exchange for protecting them, the two children ask for gifts: Nadia the "crystal eggs" and Alex the water of life to save his mother. They both manage to get them, but only by giving up that which was really important to them. Nadia gives up the protective necklace given to her by Walimai, and Alex gives up the flute given to him.
Upon returning to the village, they discover that it has been taken over by the Expedition, Carias, and Ariosto. After Nadia convinces the Indians to receive vaccinations, the children realize that the vaccines are actually deadly doses of the measles virus, part of Carias's plan to destroy the Amazonian Indians. Karakawe, an expedition member, is revealed to be an officer of the Department for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples; he is shot by Ariosto. The Indians flee into the woods as a full-fledged gunfight breaks out. Luckily, it ends quickly. Ariosto and his soldiers take captive all of the members of the expedition, while Carias (who was given a serious head wound during the fighting) is airlifted to a hospital. The two children manage to escape; the rest of the men are knocked unconscious by the smell of one of the Beasts. Ariosto is knocked out by the stench and then killed by the Beast. After the People of the Mist reach an agreement with the remaining members of the expedition (they will protect that area with all the power, influence, and money they can muster), they leave.
novels of 2002
Book Magazine Best of 2002 list for Young Adults
", and a third book in this series, "Forest of the Pygmies
."
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
novel by Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
, whose uncle is Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
, a former president of Chile. Published in 2002, the story is set in the Amazon rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
. The novel was translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
Margaret Sayers Peden
Margaret Sayers Peden is an American translator and Professor, being a Missouri native and born in about 1920.-Career and Achievements:She returned to college to obtain her graduate degrees in later life...
from Spanish to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Walden Media
Walden Media
Walden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
is said to be producing a movie.
Beginning
City of the Beasts begins with the story of Alexander Cold, who is 15 years old and going through a family crisis. While his parents leave for Texas to try to treat his mother's cancer, Alex and his sisters are sent to live with their grandmothers. Despite his desperate pleading, Alex is sent off to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to stay with his eccentric grandmother Kate Cold,a reporter for International Geographic Magazine. His sisters, however are sent to live with their Grandmother Carla. Meanwhile, Kate announces that she will be taking Alex with her to the Amazon rainforest during his visit. Once Alex arrives in New York City, and finds out that his grandmother had no intentions of collecting him at the airport and is forced to walk to her apartment, several blocks away. In the process he meets a girl named Morgana who is a very eccentric and attention getting girl in her mid-20s. She steals his back pack that contained his clothes, his money and his flute. He is greatly saddened by the loss of his precious flute, but Kate gives him the flute belonging to his grandfather, Joseph Cold .
Arrival at the Amazon
When Alex and his Grandmother Kate reach the jungle, they join the rest of the expedition group: Timothy Bruce (photographer); and his assistant Joel Gonzalez. Accompanying them is the famous anthropologist, Ludovic Leblanc, the beautiful Venezuelan physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Dr. Omayra Torres, who is coming along to vaccinate natives, and Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide
Guide
A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places .-Guide - meanings related to travel and recreational pursuits:There are many variants of...
. Alex soon befriends Nadia, a girl several years younger than him, who is the daughter of Cesar Santos. The entrepreneur, Mauro Carias, is the man responsible for drawing the magazine's interest to the mysterious Beasts.
The Expedition
The group leaves by boat, traveling upriver toward their destination in the World's Eye. Everyone in the group feels uncomfortable, as if someone were watching them constantly. One of the soldiers who is with them dies when he is shot by a poisoned dartDart (missile)
Darts are missile weapons, designed to fly such that a sharp, often weighted point will strike first. They can be distinguished from javelins by fletching and a shaft that is shorter and/or more flexible, and from arrows by the fact that they are not of the right length to use with a normal...
. Later, Joel Gonzalez, the photographer's assistant, is attacked and nearly killed by an anaconda. After another soldier's death, this time at the hands of a Beast, they decide to send several people back with the wounded Joel Gonzalez - and they are given the task to send help back to the expedition.
When they are left alone, Alex plays his grandfather's flute to relieve the tedium. The music attracts the mysterious People of the Mist, who kidnap the two children. They travel farther into the forest and arrive at a waterfall which they must climb to reach the World's Eye. Due to Alex's skills in rock climbing, this isn't much of a problem for him; however, Nadia is afraid of heights. After they reach the top, Alex is sent back down again to rescue their chief, Mokarita, who had fallen and been mortally wounded. When everyone arrives at the top, they set off for the home of the People of the Mist.
The People of the Mist
When they reach the village, they are welcomed by the Indians - but their happiness is tempered by the death of Mokarita, which follows shortly after. He is given a traditional funeral, which unfortunately sends up a great amount of smoke from the pyre. During the funeral, everyone is given a drug which reveals to Nadia her totem of the eagle. Jaguar and Eagle are initiated into the clanClan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
. Alex, being fifteen, is put through a rite of passage
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
into manhood; during the ceremony, unusual things happen. Firstly, he turns into a jaguar, his totem; secondly, he receives a vision of his mom in the game is on her hospital bed and talking briefly with her. After the ceremonies, the Shaman takes them to visit the Beasts, who live in a city deep within the forest. These Beasts are considered gods by the People of the Mist. Jaguar correctly assumes their city to be the famous El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
which is really made from fool's gold, and he embarks on a journey
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
to visit this place and its inhabitants with Walimai; the mystic's spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
wife, who will guide the group; and Nadia. The city is located inside of an inactive volcano; the only entrance is through a confusing labyrinth of lava tunnels and caves. They all decide what to do and how to do it.
The Beasts of the Amazon
Upon arrival, Alex and Nadia meet with the “Beasts”. The creatures, which look something like giant slothSloth
Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South...
s, function as the living memory of the tribe by remembering long epic poems recited by Walimai and his predecessors. Fearing the capture of these ancient creatures by western scientists, they warn them to be careful of foreigners (such as the expedition group they both belonged to). In exchange for protecting them, the two children ask for gifts: Nadia the "crystal eggs" and Alex the water of life to save his mother. They both manage to get them, but only by giving up that which was really important to them. Nadia gives up the protective necklace given to her by Walimai, and Alex gives up the flute given to him.
Upon returning to the village, they discover that it has been taken over by the Expedition, Carias, and Ariosto. After Nadia convinces the Indians to receive vaccinations, the children realize that the vaccines are actually deadly doses of the measles virus, part of Carias's plan to destroy the Amazonian Indians. Karakawe, an expedition member, is revealed to be an officer of the Department for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples; he is shot by Ariosto. The Indians flee into the woods as a full-fledged gunfight breaks out. Luckily, it ends quickly. Ariosto and his soldiers take captive all of the members of the expedition, while Carias (who was given a serious head wound during the fighting) is airlifted to a hospital. The two children manage to escape; the rest of the men are knocked unconscious by the smell of one of the Beasts. Ariosto is knocked out by the stench and then killed by the Beast. After the People of the Mist reach an agreement with the remaining members of the expedition (they will protect that area with all the power, influence, and money they can muster), they leave.
Ending
In the end, Eagle and Jaguar must part. She gives Alex the three "crystal eggs", which turn out to be giant diamonds. With the money gained from their sale, it was hoped that they would be able to fund a foundation to keep the World's Eye safe. Alex tells her that the best thing about the trip was meeting her, and they agree that they will be best friends forever.Literary significance and reception
Initial reception was split between harsh criticism and approval. Some critics regarded the novel as an engaging read and a good first try at a children's book , while others note its slow start and somewhat unconvincing speech in translation.Awards and nominations
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review for Nov. 17th 2002: one of the best Young Adult Science FictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels of 2002
Book Magazine Best of 2002 list for Young Adults
Sequels
Eagle and Jaguar meet again in the sequel to this book, "Kingdom of the Golden DragonKingdom of the Golden Dragon
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is a book published in 2004 by Isabel Allende. Part two of a trilogy, it is the sequel to City of the Beasts...
", and a third book in this series, "Forest of the Pygmies
Forest of the Pygmies
Forest of the Pygmies is a novel written by Chilean novelist Isabel Allende. The Spanish original was published in 2004, while the English version was released in the following year. The book is the last part of a trilogy that furthermore comprises the two preceding volumes City of the Beasts and...
."