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A review by wdantzler
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
5.0
An incredible journey that spans much of the 20th century in Chile, Allende's House of the Spirits is a magical generational adventure exploring the human experience. The characters grow and the story darkens considerably but the author still finds a way to redeem and forgive even the most dislikable of characters. People fall in love, out of love, are idealists, then humbled, become villains, then great heroes - all while sprinkled with the mysticism one finds in the magical realism genre. You'll find parts of yourself in every character. Some of the passages strike with such profound truth, you'll find yourself reading them over and over again. The message too of the story, in its closing, that life's events are all interconnected and the values of each are relative to the person ring so true in this thing we call life. This was one of the best and most complete books I've yet read.
"The old man was paralyzed with bewilderment, recognizing how worn out he was, when he tried to summon up his fury and his hatred and was unable to find them. He thought of the peasant who had shared his daughter’s love for half a century and was unable to find a single reason for detesting him, not the even his poncho, his socialist beard, his tenacity, or his damned fox-chasing hens."
"The old man was paralyzed with bewilderment, recognizing how worn out he was, when he tried to summon up his fury and his hatred and was unable to find them. He thought of the peasant who had shared his daughter’s love for half a century and was unable to find a single reason for detesting him, not the even his poncho, his socialist beard, his tenacity, or his damned fox-chasing hens."