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A review by jcburcham
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
5.0
I recently came across an old reading journal of mine, where I summarized the plot of this book. I didn't capture in words my reaction to finishing the book, but I have held in my memory a great fascination and love for this book (and the author). Re-reading the plot summary, it doesn't sound like a book I would normally pick up, but I haven't forgotten my love for the characters and the writing.
From my old reading journal...
Esteban Trueba is engaged to be married to Rosa the Beautiful. She dies unexpectedly, and her younger sister Clara decides to stop talking for the next 9 years. She speaks with spirits and can see future events. She and Esteban Trueba later marry and have three children: Blanca, and Jaimie and Nicholas (twins). During summers, they visit Esteban's hacienda, Tres Maria's, where Blanca falls in love with a peasant boy, Pedro Tercero Garcia. Pedro tries to spread communist ideas among the peasants by singing and speaking. Because of this and Pedro's love for Blanca, Esteban tries to kill him. Blanca has a daughter by Pedro, Alba, but is forced to marry the count Jean de Satigny. She leaves him and raises her daughter at home. Blanca's brothers are twins, but very different. Jaimie becomes a doctor and Nicolas is very eccentric. Alba falls in love with Miguel, who becomes a guerilla. She is tortured almost to death by Esteban Garcia (the bastard child of Pancha Garcia by Esteban Trueba) to find the whereabouts of Miguel, but she is ultimately rescued, thanks to an old friend of Esteban's, Transito Soto (a former prostitute). Their country is gripped by war and chaos, but in his old age, Esteban can no longer be as angry as he once was. Alba, too, cannot find the hatred she once felt and finally feels at peace as she decides to write this book.
From my old reading journal...
Esteban Trueba is engaged to be married to Rosa the Beautiful. She dies unexpectedly, and her younger sister Clara decides to stop talking for the next 9 years. She speaks with spirits and can see future events. She and Esteban Trueba later marry and have three children: Blanca, and Jaimie and Nicholas (twins). During summers, they visit Esteban's hacienda, Tres Maria's, where Blanca falls in love with a peasant boy, Pedro Tercero Garcia. Pedro tries to spread communist ideas among the peasants by singing and speaking. Because of this and Pedro's love for Blanca, Esteban tries to kill him. Blanca has a daughter by Pedro, Alba, but is forced to marry the count Jean de Satigny. She leaves him and raises her daughter at home. Blanca's brothers are twins, but very different. Jaimie becomes a doctor and Nicolas is very eccentric. Alba falls in love with Miguel, who becomes a guerilla. She is tortured almost to death by Esteban Garcia (the bastard child of Pancha Garcia by Esteban Trueba) to find the whereabouts of Miguel, but she is ultimately rescued, thanks to an old friend of Esteban's, Transito Soto (a former prostitute). Their country is gripped by war and chaos, but in his old age, Esteban can no longer be as angry as he once was. Alba, too, cannot find the hatred she once felt and finally feels at peace as she decides to write this book.