Scan barcode
ka_cam's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
following a Spanish family as they flee the Spanish civil war to Chile, the Chile to Venezuela, then back to Chile. Slower moving plot and I thought more could have been done with the politics and reflections of the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and War
deenmachine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.25
An incredibly well-researched historical fiction that follows the characters through their lifetime. I have read other critiques that say the book is too much telling, not enough showing, and I agree that the language can be a bit rote at times, like "this happened. She felt this way." I forgave it because there's so much that happens in this book that it's almost necessary, and the characters are compelling enough to keep you drawn in. The last couple pages had one of the more thoughtful and touching portraits of grief I've read in a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and War
Moderate: Torture, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death and Grief
bridgetkay's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Allende handled the historical context well, deftly placing her protagonists as Catalan refugees from the Spanish civil war who establish a new home in Chile, only for that to result in a dictatorship also. However, the setting is not the focus of the novel, with relationships being what anchors this novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Genocide, Xenophobia, Child death, Miscarriage, Violence, Sexual violence, Cancer, Police brutality, Rape, and Pregnancy
lindsayreads_theworld's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Death
Minor: Torture, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual violence
bluejupiter1818's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence
alyssancoon's review
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I think this book was fine, it wasn't for me. I thought the writing style was very dry and didn't really get invested in the characters until the 2nd half of the book. It was about a group of persecuted people trying to get through war and concentration camps, so I thought it would be more like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but I didn't think that it was like that at all. I listened to the audiobook and felt like I was listening to a textbook.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and War
mysterymom40's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Dementia, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Classism, Cancer, and Colonisation
katymat18's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Pregnancy, Death, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, Infidelity, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Classism, and Body shaming
Minor: Child death
neptunereign's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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
2.75
The end was really the most interesting part. A handful of paragraphs were beautifully written but I felt it was mostly just rattling off historical information. It dragged on between that and laying out the life story of a few (indeed likable) characters, mainly because it was in sort of an extremely sterile writing style. There was little emotion conveyed through the writing, what little emotions I felt while reading this book solely came from feeling for the characters as they went through something.
I liked the way the author inserted bits of information that foreshadowed later events but didn't give away too much until the time was right.
All in all it was hard to keep motivated to finish this book, but it's informative when it comes to the history of Chile and Catalonia.
I liked the way the author inserted bits of information that foreshadowed later events but didn't give away too much until the time was right.
All in all it was hard to keep motivated to finish this book, but it's informative when it comes to the history of Chile and Catalonia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and War
davidbythebay's review
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was my first Isabel Allende book. It was good. I find fault in the scope of the book, though. It feels too packed with characters that it gets a bit muddled. It’s like there were too many thoughts and not enough editing. I also too a long time (about 25% of the novel) to feel like something was happening. It was rather bland and slow until then. And then periodically got slow.
The summary on the book doesn’t fully encompass what this is about. Yes, there is a romance that forms. But this reads more like a political critique that comes across more like a propaganda tool to talk up a regime that was - I’ll word this mildly because my knowledge of Chilean history is not great - troubled as a brilliant rule the populace squandered and dismantled. Also, the political discussions are rather one note and brief. It seemed like it would be better as an inquiry into the nature of government and role of politics and the people. But this didn’t happen. It was slanted, like a certain spin on history. In fact the story sits in the 1930s-1940s then have a huge chapter long jump to the 1970s. So much happened and yet it was a lot of side characters and plots that just seemed to go nowhere but end.
I think I’ll give this author another chance, but I was not impressed with this piece (one of her latest novels). Unfortunately, the story didn’t grip me too much and I have to rate this 3 stars.
The summary on the book doesn’t fully encompass what this is about. Yes, there is a romance that forms. But this reads more like a political critique that comes across more like a propaganda tool to talk up a regime that was - I’ll word this mildly because my knowledge of Chilean history is not great - troubled as a brilliant rule the populace squandered and dismantled. Also, the political discussions are rather one note and brief. It seemed like it would be better as an inquiry into the nature of government and role of politics and the people. But this didn’t happen. It was slanted, like a certain spin on history. In fact the story sits in the 1930s-1940s then have a huge chapter long jump to the 1970s. So much happened and yet it was a lot of side characters and plots that just seemed to go nowhere but end.
I think I’ll give this author another chance, but I was not impressed with this piece (one of her latest novels). Unfortunately, the story didn’t grip me too much and I have to rate this 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness