Reviews with content warning for Torture - Das Geisterhaus

The point was not to die, since death came anyways, but to survive, which would be a miracle

And that fox escaped with his tail between his legs, with all the hens chasing him

4/5⭐

This is my second Isabel Allende book, after "Violeta" and I've always wanted to read this book before reading any of her other books, but I'm glad to have found some time to read this book finally. I love reading stories that details a family's history through multiple generations, highlighting each family member's eccentricities in a country that's on a path towards a military coup.

I didn't enjoy the the frequent shifts in perspective throughout the book and sometimes within a chapter, which made it difficult for me to follow the story at times. Even though Clara's idea of arranging the story based on events instead of chronological order sounded good as an idea, it was frustrating at times to read some chapters without having any clear idea on when a particular event happened, especially in this story, where there are so many interesting characters, who are all related to each other. Also, I felt the story lost some of its charm once Clara was out of the picture.

The magical realism in the book added a layer of wonder, which blended with Allende's elegant prose drew me and made reading this book an absolute joy.

Content Warnings

eve_kadou's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

anxietyberry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

flowerwineandbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I expected and wanted to enjoy this more than I did... It's a family saga, and I can't tell what it did that makes it so widely beloved? It's made me question if I just don't like family sagas or it it was simply this book..

People praise the poetic descriptions in this novel, and maybe it's the fault of translation but I didn't find the prose all the beautiful. There were a few stunning lines, but these were more from Nivea, Clara, and Alba about the importance of justice and resilience of women.
<blockquote> "this is to assuage our conscience, darling," she would explain to Blanca. "but it doesn't help the poor. They don't need charity, they need justice." </blockquote>
<blockquote> It was then I understood that the days of [character name] and all those like him are numbered, because they have not been able to destroy the spirit of these women. </blockquote>
This book has virtually no plot, it's all characters. And that would be fine, except most of the characters were not ones I was able to root for very easily. Additionally, I HATED HATED HATED reading from Esteban's point of view. I think this is the sole reason it took me so long to finish this book. If one of the themes of the novel is the spirit of women, I don't think this writing choice was the best... I understand that he was necessary as the patriarch to counterbalance the narrative being told about the spirits of the women throughout the family, but I feel like just seeing his actions would have been enough for the same to have been accomplished.

The historical context in the last few chapters of the book I found to be the most intriguing! Since the passing of Clara, I struggled to maintain interest in the story with no more characters I really cared for. The wider story of Chilean politics was fascinating to me, and I came to care more for some of the younger characters FINALLY at this point. However, the big reveal/twist wasn't as shocking as I would have liked because of the overused and blatant amount of foreshadowing throughout the ENTIRETY of the novel from the first chapters. (Which I know is not a translation issue, because I've read some reviews from those who read it in Spanish and said similar things here)

Content Warnings

lief_'s review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.25

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cvdoever's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad

3.5

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taracloudclark's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The House of the Spirits is a family saga following Clara, a unique woman who, at an early age, reveals a mystical inclination, and her family through the Chilean tumult in mid-20th century.

This is a long book. At times I had difficulty maintaining attention, but I think overall it was worth it. It was definitely outside my personal or familiar experience, and I feel I’m better for reading it.

Narrators were excellent.

This was part of the StoryGraph read around the world challenge.

Content Warnings

apple_cider's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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