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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
4.5 — ⭐️
Mi libro favorito de la trilogía con diferencia. De lo que va del año, es el mejor libro que he leído.
Mi libro favorito de la trilogía con diferencia. De lo que va del año, es el mejor libro que he leído.
One of my all time favorites and one I will read over and over again.
dark
mysterious
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
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture
So many threads to this I could focus on, I hardly know where to start.
I picked up The House of the Spirits after asking for recommendations for literature that would give me some insight into the country of Chile. And boy does it. Though it starts as a hazy, bucolic work set in the countryside at the turn of the century, it eventually starts steamrolling until it slams full force into the horrors of the Pinochet dictatorship.
I've been reading a lot about the shenanigans perpetrated by the U.S. State Department and CIA in Latin America lately, so it was a little cathartic to jump into the perspective of several narrators that were able to de-Anglo the narrative for me a little bit.
There's a temptation to view what happened to a country like Chile in the 20th century as merely an extension of the Cold War, but when you see things through the perspective of the conservative land owner Esteban Trueba or the tortured revolutionary Alba, you're reminded that people pursued their politics for their own reasons and with their own convictions.
What was perhaps lacking was a look inside the head of the Esteban Garcia's of the world, who used the veil of a military coup to commit senseless atrocities, but Allende seems to focus more on forgiveness than trying to plumb the depths of human darkness.
As for the writing itself, I felt like it was eminently readable. The reviews I've read here and elsewhere seemed to stress that this was a book in the magical realism tradition that focused almost exclusively on the perspective of the female characters, but I didn't actually find this to be the case.
The magical realism, such as it exists, is quite a bit softer than in the novel's oft-cited cousin One Hundred Years of Solitude. There's certainly a belief in magic that colors the perspective and reality of the narrators, but it seemed to me that Allende was careful not to include anything that the modern reader couldn't smirk off as superstitious.
And while the female characters are the spine (or pillars, as I believe Allende refers to a side character towards the end), Esteban Trueba is arguably the main character. I didn't feel like this a female-dominated book at all.
In any case, this was a terrific read that gave me enough of a flight of fancy, but still kept it grounded enough in reality that I feel like I actually learned something. That's a strong recommendation in my book.
I picked up The House of the Spirits after asking for recommendations for literature that would give me some insight into the country of Chile. And boy does it. Though it starts as a hazy, bucolic work set in the countryside at the turn of the century, it eventually starts steamrolling until it slams full force into the horrors of the Pinochet dictatorship.
I've been reading a lot about the shenanigans perpetrated by the U.S. State Department and CIA in Latin America lately, so it was a little cathartic to jump into the perspective of several narrators that were able to de-Anglo the narrative for me a little bit.
There's a temptation to view what happened to a country like Chile in the 20th century as merely an extension of the Cold War, but when you see things through the perspective of the conservative land owner Esteban Trueba or the tortured revolutionary Alba, you're reminded that people pursued their politics for their own reasons and with their own convictions.
What was perhaps lacking was a look inside the head of the Esteban Garcia's of the world, who used the veil of a military coup to commit senseless atrocities, but Allende seems to focus more on forgiveness than trying to plumb the depths of human darkness.
As for the writing itself, I felt like it was eminently readable. The reviews I've read here and elsewhere seemed to stress that this was a book in the magical realism tradition that focused almost exclusively on the perspective of the female characters, but I didn't actually find this to be the case.
The magical realism, such as it exists, is quite a bit softer than in the novel's oft-cited cousin One Hundred Years of Solitude. There's certainly a belief in magic that colors the perspective and reality of the narrators, but it seemed to me that Allende was careful not to include anything that the modern reader couldn't smirk off as superstitious.
And while the female characters are the spine (or pillars, as I believe Allende refers to a side character towards the end), Esteban Trueba is arguably the main character. I didn't feel like this a female-dominated book at all.
In any case, this was a terrific read that gave me enough of a flight of fancy, but still kept it grounded enough in reality that I feel like I actually learned something. That's a strong recommendation in my book.
This book was not my favorite, I think I enjoyed the earlier characters the most so as we went through the generations I somewhat lost interest until the revolution at the end. I still enjoyed the story I just felt that it was long winded.
feeling insane feeling crazy feeling sick in the head…this is one of the best books ever written, I think— should be considered a modern classic. what a fucking stunning story of healing, hope, love, anger, ignorance…Allende, queen you made Gabriel Garcia Marquez look like an amateur. this woman is a gift to the human race. holy shit.
I have resisted reviewing this book since I finished it nearly a week ago. It is too big, too comprehensive, too poignantly political and personal in the same breath. It sweeps across histories: of a family, of a nation, of evolving economic and social realities, and a of a nation of real people eventually torn apart by every warring political faction. It is a story of real people, beautiful and ferocious individuals, and the ways in which the stories they believe lead to every kind of relationship fracture and social dischord.
Follow four generations of the del Valle-Trueba families, from the days in which the maternal grandparents del Valle raised an eclectic clan of children in the age of the original automobile, through the marriage of their youngest daughter Clara, who's intense mystical spiritualism keeps her aloof from even those drawn closest to her. Her marriage to the violent young suitor with a passion for pulling himself up from a decrepit middle class childhood proves to be a fractious union that carries sorrow and hope forward in the lives of their children and grandchildren, the impoverished and affluent surrounding them, and even the national identity as a whole. While Clara carries a clairvoyance that keeps her mind in another world and uses her time to host artists and feed the poor, her husband Esteban becomes more and more rich, more and more political, and more and more sure that his abuses toward everyone else are legitimate because he keeps coming out on top. In the end, everything falls apart, and those few who remain are forced to recognize that there is no amount of wealth that brings happiness, no amount of idealogical certitude that brings peace, and no amount of willpower that brings comfort to a lonely man in his old age.
This book has the epic sweep of a Les Mis or Count Of Monte Cristo or Tale Of Two Cities, but with the voice of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I don't know if it is the translation, the sense of mystical spirituality in what feels like a memoir, or the sweeping saga of decades of South American transformation, but this felt so similar to Love In A Time Of Cholera, but with about a hundred more main characters and what I felt were a lot more deep and impactful themes. While I say that it reminds me of those classic European works, I didn't find it as emotionally compelling. It was well crafted and organized, but something continually felt lacking in the narrative style and perhaps in the narrators interjections. I think I would have felt more engaged and swept away if I weren't constantly reminded that this was all in the past and gathered together from letters and notes. It is the kind of story that should be told as if you are living in the moment with the characters, but then it would have become a tome twice the length and harder to entice readers to engage.
Overall, this is the well-told story of a staunch wealthy politician who helps bring his country crumbling down upon its own ears, deposing socially liberal elected leaders in favor of an accidental military coup d'etat. It is fascinating to read a story of decades of social reform devolving into sudden government collapse where democracy, communism, and socialism are all discussed and championed by characters without any obvious conclusions being drawn. I couldn't read without imaging the real families torn apart by nationalism v. social justice by The Third Reich and so many other wildly anti-human political upheavals that have happened in every country throughout history. These epic events factor heavily into the lives (and deaths) of the Trueba family and their associates, but they are really only a footnote at the end of many decades of long, personal struggle in a family where each member chooses to either squash the poor or devote their lives to them, to either abuse the weak or die on their behalf, and to either live toward a transcendent forgiveness or to put up a deadly fight.
Here is the rare political story where the political are in the background, casting light on the many facets by which a human being can relate to abuse another. Here is the rare political novel that is light on judgements and heavily-laden with forgiveness and redemption.
Follow four generations of the del Valle-Trueba families, from the days in which the maternal grandparents del Valle raised an eclectic clan of children in the age of the original automobile, through the marriage of their youngest daughter Clara, who's intense mystical spiritualism keeps her aloof from even those drawn closest to her. Her marriage to the violent young suitor with a passion for pulling himself up from a decrepit middle class childhood proves to be a fractious union that carries sorrow and hope forward in the lives of their children and grandchildren, the impoverished and affluent surrounding them, and even the national identity as a whole. While Clara carries a clairvoyance that keeps her mind in another world and uses her time to host artists and feed the poor, her husband Esteban becomes more and more rich, more and more political, and more and more sure that his abuses toward everyone else are legitimate because he keeps coming out on top. In the end, everything falls apart, and those few who remain are forced to recognize that there is no amount of wealth that brings happiness, no amount of idealogical certitude that brings peace, and no amount of willpower that brings comfort to a lonely man in his old age.
This book has the epic sweep of a Les Mis or Count Of Monte Cristo or Tale Of Two Cities, but with the voice of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I don't know if it is the translation, the sense of mystical spirituality in what feels like a memoir, or the sweeping saga of decades of South American transformation, but this felt so similar to Love In A Time Of Cholera, but with about a hundred more main characters and what I felt were a lot more deep and impactful themes. While I say that it reminds me of those classic European works, I didn't find it as emotionally compelling. It was well crafted and organized, but something continually felt lacking in the narrative style and perhaps in the narrators interjections. I think I would have felt more engaged and swept away if I weren't constantly reminded that this was all in the past and gathered together from letters and notes. It is the kind of story that should be told as if you are living in the moment with the characters, but then it would have become a tome twice the length and harder to entice readers to engage.
Overall, this is the well-told story of a staunch wealthy politician who helps bring his country crumbling down upon its own ears, deposing socially liberal elected leaders in favor of an accidental military coup d'etat. It is fascinating to read a story of decades of social reform devolving into sudden government collapse where democracy, communism, and socialism are all discussed and championed by characters without any obvious conclusions being drawn. I couldn't read without imaging the real families torn apart by nationalism v. social justice by The Third Reich and so many other wildly anti-human political upheavals that have happened in every country throughout history. These epic events factor heavily into the lives (and deaths) of the Trueba family and their associates, but they are really only a footnote at the end of many decades of long, personal struggle in a family where each member chooses to either squash the poor or devote their lives to them, to either abuse the weak or die on their behalf, and to either live toward a transcendent forgiveness or to put up a deadly fight.
Here is the rare political story where the political are in the background, casting light on the many facets by which a human being can relate to abuse another. Here is the rare political novel that is light on judgements and heavily-laden with forgiveness and redemption.