Reviews tagging 'Death'

La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

124 reviews

clarabooksit's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Antisemitism and Abandonment

veronicachp's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I appreciate the author's dedication and talent and will probably try some of her other works, but this one was just not really for me. I skimmed the last 3 or 4 chapters, but didn't really properly read them because I figured if I wasn't engaged with and invested in the characters by the climax of the story I never would be. I haven't read much magical realism, but turns out I prefer my books more on the magical side, less on the realism. I definitely can see where she was inspired by Marquez' A Hundred Years of Solitude, but I found the family in this book harder to read about. 

The male lead, Esteban, is revealed to be a /bad/ man within the first 100 pages and a shallow summary of this book is him doing /bad/ things for almost 500 pages while everyone else just kind of shrugs and lets him get away with it. And I understand that it's meant to be a broad overarching story about him digging his own grave, but even in the climax, it's not Esteban who truly faces the consequences of his actions, but his poor granddaughter, Alba. His taking what happens to her so personally is just another way he assumes ownership of every single other character in the novel, particularly the female ones. They're reduced to hollow, often infantilized shells of people who float along seemingly indifferent to all the bad things he's done, silently bearing whatever punishment he chooses to award. I struggle to real stories where people could leave their abusive relatives and decaying homes but choose not to for reasons that are never really explained, and this story falls pretty solidly into those margins. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Vomit

wannieh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Police brutality, Abortion, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident

tinana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Murder

kmaller's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Through the framework of a single family's story, Allende connects a thread directly from imperialism, patriarchal violence, and capitalism to fascism, culminating in the coup d'etat of Chile in 1973. It was neat to realize that The Poet was indeed Pablo Neruda, that The Candidate was Salvador Allende (with his final speech before his death written verbatim into the narrative), that the dictator has an "august mustache." 
Throughout the text, Allende presentsaa canny understanding of the corruption of the capitalist class and of the ways in which legitimately elected socialist governments are undermined (creating false scarcity, etc). The question of non-violent resistance is repeatedly raised, with varied answers which I respect. 
I was surprised by the seeming nihilism of the epilogue compared to the tone of the rest of the book, but it also seems to reinforce one of the underlying threads of the book, that individual rage is ineffective without collective action.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, and Murder

emilyclairem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Torture

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, and Abortion

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

joneva's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

kimberlybetweenstanzas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

brooke_burns's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

For someone as frustrated with Chilean fiction as I often am, I find that this book gives an essential scale and perspective to both love and suffering. Allende’s classic is just that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse