Scan barcode
A review by coinmanatee
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Read for Class. I actually skipped ahead. I didn't have time nor the patience nor the will to read most of the middle section. Maybe that's where it gets good? But I doubt it.
I liked this book right up until the moment Esteban Trueba opened his mouth. It's very very difficult to like a book that makes a rapist it's hero. A rapist, conservative, abusive, asshole of a man who never learns his lesson and dies without ever once realising that his actions are the reason that the rest of his family suffers such horrendous atrocities.
In any other book this man would have been the villain, and the point would have been to get away from him. In this book another man is introduced who is even more monstrous.
It's also just, really horrifically violently sexual in a lot of other ways that I got sick of very quickly. It's hard to like books that are sexual like that when you're Ace.
The one shining character in this book is Clara. I liked reading about her.
Unfortunately she was surrounded by idiots who treated her as a child, or an object, which did ruin her a bit. If you have a woman in your family who regularly performs magic, and makes prophecies, why aren't you listening to her every word? Idiots. There were tons of things that could have been prevented or at least the danger of lessened if anyone had thought "hey, maybe the earthquake the medium is predicting IS going to be horrific. We should take precautions!"
Ugh.
I liked this book right up until the moment Esteban Trueba opened his mouth. It's very very difficult to like a book that makes a rapist it's hero. A rapist, conservative, abusive, asshole of a man who never learns his lesson and dies without ever once realising that his actions are the reason that the rest of his family suffers such horrendous atrocities.
In any other book this man would have been the villain, and the point would have been to get away from him. In this book another man is introduced who is even more monstrous.
It's also just, really horrifically violently sexual in a lot of other ways that I got sick of very quickly. It's hard to like books that are sexual like that when you're Ace.
The one shining character in this book is Clara. I liked reading about her.
Unfortunately she was surrounded by idiots who treated her as a child, or an object, which did ruin her a bit. If you have a woman in your family who regularly performs magic, and makes prophecies, why aren't you listening to her every word? Idiots. There were tons of things that could have been prevented or at least the danger of lessened if anyone had thought "hey, maybe the earthquake the medium is predicting IS going to be horrific. We should take precautions!"
Ugh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death
Classism