The House of the Spirits: A Novel
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This “spectacular…absorbing and distinguished work…is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America” (The New York Times Book Review).
The House of the Spirits, which introduced Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.
One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.
This “spectacular…absorbing and distinguished work…is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America” (The New York Times Book Review).
The House of the Spirits, which introduced Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.
One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.
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Community Reviews
I would easily give this book 10, I love the depths of characters, and also mystical events and attributes to characters made me travel to fantasy world of writer and brought back with harsh reality of political circumstances of the country they were in..
In “The House of Spirits” Isabel Allende explores three generations of a family pulled through every imaginable situation and emotion. This is a heavy book with lots of dark topics and scenes. Don’t go looking for happy endings, but you will find lots of philosophical affirmations on the realities of life. Key events include political upheaval, finding love, heartbreak, death and rebirth. Circumstances, as portrayed in this book, that form a vicious cycle that leaves nothing but ashes in its wake.
Isabel Allende demonstrates a mastery of her craft with every chapter. She uses all her powers to deliver something wholly brilliant in its own right. Her writing and plot development made this tome read faster and more fluidly than its near 500 pages would indicate. She has made a name for herself in the Magical Realism genre on par with Marquez and his timeless “100 Years of Solitude.” For all the dark moments, Allende still manages to infuse the pages with a carnival of impressive characters. Along with moments that induce a deep belly laugh and joy.
That’s perhaps why I like this genre so much. It offers beautifully endearing madness at every corner. That crazy portrayal of life is also a medium to discuss various perspectives on religion, mysticism, politics, and class struggles. Explorations that almost always lead to the ideological dissolution of beliefs held too dear and not critiqued objectively. I highly recommend this book for those who love this genre. However, here is a helpful trigger warning if sexual and political violence are too painful to bear reading.
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