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mightyoscura's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
lorenag5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
baileyamanono's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Rape, Excrement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
notyourhana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Car accident
emmagiverny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Rape, Torture, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
smuds2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
karydiazc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is the first book I've read of Isabel Allende and I think these words will stay with me for a long time.
The book starts comically, with fun stories about the family, with sad and almos cruel things woven in between. To be honest I had a really hard time reading the book because those first chapters seemed to go really slow and nothing seemed to be really happening, however things started to move ahead and it started to get interesting.
I must say I loved almos every character (with obvious exceptions) and found the family history and generations to be quite interesting.
I've never really been interested in politics so when that part of the books started I wasn't sure what to expect, but characters such as Clara, Blanca and Alba made it worth reading along.
Now, the last few chapters were so hard to read. Not because they were boring or anything like that, but because of how crude and realistic they were. It's so hard to think that Latin America has been going through that for many many years and along several countries. Even now, it feels kind of close, even though nothing like that is happening apenly in my country (and hopefully won't happen, at least any time soon)
As I said on the beginning, this book was wonderful to read despite everything, however I would recommend anyone who wants to get into it to first read the trigger warnings, since there are a lot and some are very graphic, specially towards those final chapters.
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Excrement, Car accident, Abortion, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy
fa_108's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Overall my biggest takeaway is seeing the patterns in history repeating themselves and just the ups and downs through a family’s time and throughout a person’s life. There’s some really raw, cruel and honestly intense parts, I wouldn’t say it’s always enjoyable because that’s not the point and that makes me enjoy it. Not gonna lie, left me a little nervous in terms of relating some of the things that happen in the book (specially in later chapters) with real life events. It’s definitely and emotional ride.
It’s also so beautifully written, and I absolutely loved the ending callback.
Giving it a 4.25 because I sometimes found it jarring the switch perspectives, not in a “I don’t understand what’s going on” way, more in a “huh” way, it fits the book, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not a huge fan of it, but I dont hate it. Plus some personal bias ( I don’t tend to like the use of local idioms, I like the feeling of atemporality). I took a long time to read the book (since January) because of course life got in the way, but sometimes it does feel long. But by the last chapters you really can’t put it down.
Overall, really good book, must read for people interested in literature and world events and things like that, but I wouldn’t say a must read for everyone. I liked it a lot, but it’s not a book that really sticks hard with me as some others have.
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence
Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
So basically, Isabel Allende wrote this in the context of civil war in South America. You’ll see a lot of what you can imagine going from a capitalist “democratic, good for all” system, to a marxist communist one, to a dictatorship regime. Not pretty.