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A review by slawler
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
3.0
Allende is a very talented writer and a brave female-role model, but this book is just not for me.
The characters were all described very beautifully and lyrically, but a lot of telling instead of showing for character development left me feeling estranged from the characters. There was very little dialogue, so the relationships were explained rather than witnessed.
The entire novel gets darker and more tragic as it goes on. The last part is entirely about rape and torture during the Penichot Era of Chilean politics. I understand that this is a story that needs to be told, but the end didn't finalize this for me. It just ended.
In the final pages of the book Alba claims that she understands the cruelties of her father and the bastard cousin that raped and tortured her as necessary actions in a predestined fate that had to be played out. She goes on to speculate that her future grandchild might rape her rapists grandchild in a never ending cycle of violence. Perhaps the telling of the tale will break the cycle of violence, but it seems a small concession to end such a long and tragic story.
The characters were all described very beautifully and lyrically, but a lot of telling instead of showing for character development left me feeling estranged from the characters. There was very little dialogue, so the relationships were explained rather than witnessed.
The entire novel gets darker and more tragic as it goes on. The last part is entirely about rape and torture during the Penichot Era of Chilean politics. I understand that this is a story that needs to be told, but the end didn't finalize this for me. It just ended.
In the final pages of the book Alba claims that she understands the cruelties of her father and the bastard cousin that raped and tortured her as necessary actions in a predestined fate that had to be played out. She goes on to speculate that her future grandchild might rape her rapists grandchild in a never ending cycle of violence. Perhaps the telling of the tale will break the cycle of violence, but it seems a small concession to end such a long and tragic story.