The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The House of the Spirits
Book Review: House of the Spirits
Summary: 5 Stars
Purchased book to go along with the video (video is difficult to find!). Great story set during an overthrow of gov't time.Book Review: Dark and sinister novel....
Summary: 5 Stars
Chilean writer Isabel Allende is often compared to Marquez. 'The House of the Spirits' tells the Trueba family saga up to the period after the Chilean coup in 1973, in which Allende's own uncle was assassinated. Patriarchy here is represented by the conservative Esteban Trueba, spirit and intuition by his telepathic wife Clara. Allende's perspective is staunchly feminist and deeply romantic, qualities found with darker, more sinister tones in some novels. A wonder full book that must be read.Book Review: Powerful Family Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
The Pablo Neruda quote that precedes Allende's The House of the Spirits asks, "How much does a man live, after all?/Does he live a thousand days, or only one?/ For a week, or for several centuries?" Allende goes on to write a graceful, powerful intergenerational saga focusing on the eccentric Trueba family which contemplates the workings of time and memory. A work that some would label "magical realism," The House of the Spirits includes several characters with supernatural abilities, and Allende's novel seems to purposely blend the past, present, and future in an attempt to challenge linear, logical notions of time. As Alba eloquently observes in the novel's epilogue, "I write, she wrote, that memory is fragile and the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously - as the three Mora sisters said, who could see the spirits of all eras mingled in space" (432).
Indeed, the reader of Allende's novel is instructed to be attentive to chronology throughout. Alba, the granddaughter of Esteban and Clara (the Clairvoyant) Trueba, points out that she has arranged her grandmother Clara's notebooks, which were not in chronological order, so that a reader can follow the family's story. Alba and her grandfather Esteban narrate the story in turn (though usually Alba is at the helm), and both characters, narrating from the present, have knowledge of the family's history, and the sequence of events that is just unfolding for the reader through the novel. Therefore, our narrators often give clues to events that will occur later in the story and often refer back to earlier stories or details which become important later. More blatantly, the sort of circular or nonlinear representation of time in the novel is embodied in the supernatural storylines. Clara, the matriarch of the Trueba family, is a clairvoyant who has the ability to communicate with spirits, among numerous other psychic powers. Clara can foretell events (often tragic ones), and her ability to co-exist with spirits leads to the entrance of her newly deceased sister-in-law Ferula into "the big house on the corner," as the Trueba estate is called, and Clara's own appearance to the family after her death. All of Clara's psychic powers lend a magical feel to Allende's novel and futher contribute to the idea that the time of the memory and of the spirit are fluid and indefinite.
The House of the Spirits raises many interesting questions about time, memory, and family, but it also presents those interested in gender studies much to think about. The patriarch of the Trueba family, Esteban, is a power-hungry, violent, self-righteous man who, while claiming to love his wife, angrily strikes her and regularly visits brothels. Before his marriage to Clara, Esteban makes it a habit to rape peasant girls in his hacienda Tres Marias, impregnating several of them with no concern for the children he has fathered. Despite his abominable character, he is central to the novel and even narrates parts of it. His granddaughter Alba also remains close with her grandfather at the end of the novel, and the reader is, in a sense, asked to sympathize with Esteban. On the other hand, the female characters rarely commit any serious offenses in the readers' eyes. Clara lives in another world much of the time, but all of the book's characters love her, and Blanca and Alba are extremely sympathetic characters. Blanca and Alba both devote their lives to love affairs with men who are involved in the Communist resistance (Esteban, father of Blanca and grandfather of Alba, eventually becomes a Senator and is a staunch advocate for the conservative right), and Alba is even drawn into political struggle (to the point of being arrested and tortured) because of her relationship with Miguel, a guerilla leader. Rosa, whose presence sort of haunts Esteban and the novel, but only slightly, is merely a beautiful creature. Women in the novel are given most of their power in the domestic realm (with the possible exception of Alba at some points), but are nonetheless the heart and soul of the novel and of the Trueba family. The women's stories are the ones that are, in my opinion, the most interesting to read. Also, I think it's important to note that Clara and Alba are characterized as creative spirits and writers in this novel. Although Esteban adds his own narration occasionally and gives Alba the idea to write down her family's story, the novel is primarily controlled by the stories of Clara's notebooks and Alba's narration. These female characters become the keepers and recorders of the family's history.
The spirited Alba is a particularly intriguing character, and I found that her entrance into the novel (chapters 8 and 9) peaked my interest. When I first began reading the novel, I had a little trouble getting into it and quickly grew tired of the character of Esteban. The second half of the book was a much more interesting read for me, and I felt that the Epilogue provides a fitting conclusion to this story, though I found myself wishing I could read more about the lives of Blanca, Pedro Tercero, Miguel, and Alba when I closed the novel.
Book Review: Just beautiful and very exciting
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very picky about books and won't just call any book good. This is one of the very rare books that I call exceptional. There are many aspects about the book that are top notch. Let me elaborate on different elements of the book :
storywise: The story is very exciting and drags you on. It actually spans about three generations. It has elements of mystery, romance, social relations, revenge, etc. I would say this book is something between Daphne DeMaurier's "rebecca" and Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". Mystery and suspense goes on all through the story while a beastly and savage love is the driving force. In general, the story is very boldly written and defies all rules of religion and humanity. In that aspect I will vote it as the modern "Wuthering Heights".
Literature: The book is superbly written. First of all, the redundancy in the book is minimal. The author does not get into boring and unnecessary descriptions or philosophies. Actually author is not trying to force any ideas into you. The story runs continuously with flash backs and flash forth. The author suddently throws a little paragraph that warns you of something that is coming in the future. It does not spoil the story; on the contrary, it makes it even more exciting as you wait impatiently to see how that event will relate to the flow of story. My only dissatisfaction is about the next to last chapter, where it comes out of its mystic seal and becomes more like a history book. The book in general has the footprints of Latin American authors such as Garcia Marquez and Paulo Coelho. So if you enjoy them, then you should feel the same reading this book.
Authors signature: The book is the story of the the strugle between communists and capitalists in Chile that led to the coup by Pinoche. You feel some sort of sympathy from the author towards communists, though she is not attacking capitalists for their meanness, but for their ignorance. I even doubt that one of the little girls in the story is actually a representation of the author herself (the girl turns out as a writer in the end). So you can call this book some sort of autobiography, yet in a very ambivalent and mystic atmosphere.
I totally recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a good and exciting novel.
Book Review: Derivative Chick Lit Slop
Summary: 1 Stars
I judge this smarmy mash to be a stylistic rip off of about 75% Garcia Marquez and 25% Jorge Amado.
Summary-
Man bad. Man dumb. Man favorite profession- likable but stupid father, unlikable rapist fascist father, parasite, pedophile, one dimensional campasino, crazed priest....
Woman good. Woman smart. Woman nurturing. Woman magical, deep, loving, tolerant, ....ad nauseam.
Subplot-
Capitalism evil.
Socialism good.
The only thing more depressing than contemplating the popularity of this novel is thinking about all the money Allende made from this.