kikiwantstoread 's review for:

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

3.75

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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What a bizarre journey! There were some really melodramatic moments that went something like, "and little did she know that someday she would carry blood red carnations down the street at his funeral been 2 runs of machine guns." These all knowing warnings felt really dramatic, and mostly matched the heaviness of the tone at the end of the book, but I felt these were too heavy handed. I felt the warnings about Esteban Garcia in particular were overstated, but overall it's a well-woven story that centers on the strength of the women in a house dominated by an irrational patriarch with the illusion of control. The recurring characters were well done, but some of the family's eccentricities were a bit too much for, especially Nicolas, who felt like a knock off version of Uncle Marcus, and whose exit from the book felt incomplete.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Injury/Injury detail