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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
Maravillosamente perfecto. A veces duro para seguir, otras demasiado intenso para parar... Enamorada de Clara, Alba y Blanca, cada una con sus cosas pero tan suyas y bonitas
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
me 🤝 a historical intergenerational family saga with morally grey characters and complicated relationships
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow, this was an epic. This is the first Isabel Allende novel I've read and, as it turns out, the first one she wrote. It is a super far-reaching family epic, spanning multiple generations with plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of twists and turns and absurdity.
There's clairvoyance, supernaturally beautiful women, a head stored in a basement, spirits moving tables, love, passion, and prophecies galore. That's not even mentioning the personalities, which cover a huge range. Everything and everyone is MORE and the things they do for love, for fear, for hate, and for money are stupendous and appalling.
I must admit, it did get a bit tedious at times, but I gave this one four stars because of the threads that run all the way through the book. The author managed to tie everything to everything else in a way that was absolutely seamless and satisfying and right. An impressive achievement in this long of a story.
Recommended for fans of sweeping family historical fiction, books like Birds Without Wings, and the Chilean revolution.
There's clairvoyance, supernaturally beautiful women, a head stored in a basement, spirits moving tables, love, passion, and prophecies galore. That's not even mentioning the personalities, which cover a huge range. Everything and everyone is MORE and the things they do for love, for fear, for hate, and for money are stupendous and appalling.
I must admit, it did get a bit tedious at times, but I gave this one four stars because of the threads that run all the way through the book. The author managed to tie everything to everything else in a way that was absolutely seamless and satisfying and right. An impressive achievement in this long of a story.
Recommended for fans of sweeping family historical fiction, books like Birds Without Wings, and the Chilean revolution.
I chose this book primarily because I wanted to do a book review instead of a research paper for my Latin America geography class. I have to say it works well for that particular purpose - I have to relate the story back to Latin America itself in my review which the book does well in history/culture/generations - but as for leisure reading it was a little tedious for me.
There were so many paragraphs, whether because of translation or simply because they were written that way, that took up an entire page or more and it felt like it took too long just to get through them let alone a single chapter. Some of them contained a lot of unnecessary details that did not make them any easier to get through. The characters didn't stand out much outside of Esteban and Clara. It felt like Esteban and Clara were definitely given more time to be explored as characters than say Alba and Blanca who felt almost identical in some parts. A combination of the huge hunks of descriptions, little dialogue, and very little time spent on certain characters made it hard for the book to hold my interest.
Overall I'm neutral about this book. I don't love it but I don't hate it either hence the 3 stars. I haven't read an inter-generational story before so it was interesting to see how it unfolded even if the jumps in time didn't allow the characters to grow as much as Esteban and Clara. It's an honest book which I appreciate rather than trying to gloss over what happened and it's made me interested in reading more about Chilean history. While I don't regret reading I can only say it didn't leave much of an impact.
There were so many paragraphs, whether because of translation or simply because they were written that way, that took up an entire page or more and it felt like it took too long just to get through them let alone a single chapter. Some of them contained a lot of unnecessary details that did not make them any easier to get through. The characters didn't stand out much outside of Esteban and Clara. It felt like Esteban and Clara were definitely given more time to be explored as characters than say Alba and Blanca who felt almost identical in some parts. A combination of the huge hunks of descriptions, little dialogue, and very little time spent on certain characters made it hard for the book to hold my interest.
Overall I'm neutral about this book. I don't love it but I don't hate it either hence the 3 stars. I haven't read an inter-generational story before so it was interesting to see how it unfolded even if the jumps in time didn't allow the characters to grow as much as Esteban and Clara. It's an honest book which I appreciate rather than trying to gloss over what happened and it's made me interested in reading more about Chilean history. While I don't regret reading I can only say it didn't leave much of an impact.