Reviews with content warning for Confinement - La casa de los espíritus

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La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

29 reviews

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I cannot say bad things about Isabel Allende's writing style but I had to trudge a bit to get through the book. Personally, it was hard for me to feel much connected to the characters and also to digest some of the crudest passages.

I have to say that it's been a long time since I've despised a character as much as Esteban Trueba and I cannot emphasise enough how much I disliked the sections with him as a narrator. I listened to the audiobook and I think that I managed to finish the book only because I really liked the voice actress, otherwise I would have given up after the umpteenth of his capitalist rants or descriptions of his male prowess and insatiable desires, they made me want to scream.

I liked much better the final chapters that focused more on the social and political commentary and also the epilogue with Alba as narrator (honestly I would have preferred her as the main point of view).

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minxtte's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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floofymoose's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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wannieh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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kmaller's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Through the framework of a single family's story, Allende connects a thread directly from imperialism, patriarchal violence, and capitalism to fascism, culminating in the coup d'etat of Chile in 1973. It was neat to realize that The Poet was indeed Pablo Neruda, that The Candidate was Salvador Allende (with his final speech before his death written verbatim into the narrative), that the dictator has an "august mustache."
Throughout the text, Allende presentsaa canny understanding of the corruption of the capitalist class and of the ways in which legitimately elected socialist governments are undermined (creating false scarcity, etc). The question of non-violent resistance is repeatedly raised, with varied answers which I respect.
I was surprised by the seeming nihilism of the epilogue compared to the tone of the rest of the book, but it also seems to reinforce one of the underlying threads of the book, that individual rage is ineffective without collective action.

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