Isabel Allende

La casa de los espíritus

The house of the spirits

winter ☆ 

all time favorite, thank you señora allende

Cindy Lieberman

A sweeping, multi-generations novel with magical realism and the backdrop of changing politics in an unnamed Latin American country. (Other more knowledgeable reviewers suggest is is based on Chile and the rise of Pinochet).

La casa de los espíritus narra la saga familiar de los Trueba, desde principios del siglo XX hasta nuestra época. Magistralmente ambientada en algún lugar de América Latina, la novela sigue paso a paso el dramático y extravagante destino de unos personajes atrapados en un entorno sorprendente y exótico. Una novela de impecable pulso estilístico y aguda lucidez histórica y social.

Aylén Abril Costantini 

Increíble ! Tiene absolutamente de todo, es lindo, es cruel, te hace reír y te hace llorar. De mis favoritos.

 the narration got a bit tedious sometimes, but overall, this book had some good moments in it, and it also gave a deeper understanding of how things worked in Chile during the dictatorship the country went through

Josefina

Caroline Mao

hmmmmm

3.75 stars

dragged on a bit but tbh I’m just a shitty reader with a bad attention span so who knows. started this months ago too but have had trouble digesting longer works. :( if I was in a better frame of mind I could have appreciated this more, and it was still a really good book. also I love Clara the most she is bae

Risa C

We've progressed past the need for stories of women suffering for the sake of a man's redemption arc.

Una saga familiare del nostro secolo in cui si rispecchiano la storia e il destino di tutto un popolo, quello cileno, nei racconti delle donne di una importante e stravagante famiglia. Un grande affresco che per fascino ed emozione può ricordare al lettore, nell&'ambito della narrativa sudamericana, soltanto &"Cent&'anni di solitudine&" di García Márquez.

La casa degli spiriti

Chiara Malaspina di Orezzoli

Certi libri vanno riletti per capire quanto possono suonare diversi, nel tempo.

«Per la prima volta nella sua vita, Alba sentì il bisogno di essere bella e rimpianse che nessuna delle splendide donne della sua famiglia le avesse lasciato in eredità i suoi attributi [...]. Quando Miguel indovinò la sua inquietudine, la portò per mano fino al grande specchio veneziano che ornava un angolo della camera segreta; tolse la polvere dal vetro incrinato e poi accese tutte le candele che aveva e gliele mise intorno. Lei si rimirò nei mille frammenti dello specchio. La sua pelle, illuminata dalle candele, aveva il colore irreale delle figure di cera. Miguel cominciò ad accarezzarla e lei vide trasformarsi il suo volto nel caleidoscopio dello specchio e convenne infine che lei era la più bella dell'universo, perché aveva potuto vedersi con gli occhi con cui la vedeva Miguel»

Tia Pickering 

Corey White

Someone I worked with at a bookstore once told me how great Allende was, and this story in particular was her favorite. This was over a decade ago, and pretty soon after she mentioned it I read it, and then through a couple more years I would read Eva Luna and maybe one other. At the time I would have sworn that I loved Allende, I use to name her as one of my favorite authors, but as I picked up this book again after finding a paperback copy at a library bookstore, I came to realize I did not remember much of the story at all. 
This time I read with less haste, humbled by how I had thrown out her name to those asking, as if I could say what actually happened in any of her books. When I thought myself more well read than I was. 
The story is far deeper than I remembered. Intricate, hard to swallow at times, beautiful in others. I stopped reading it and went on to other books a few times, but it haunted me in my shelf demanding I finish it before the year was over. And so I did. Today I read the last 1/6th give or take, and it brought the whole story together so well. 
Allende writes stories that take time. She writes characters that are so easy to hate but are so loved by their families. 

As much as I just wanted to finish this one and be done, I’ll probably pick up and reread Eva Luna in the new year, there is so much I have forgotten.

Maribel González

La casa de los espíritus es un recorrido por cuatro generaciones, con personajes femeninos fuertes, sucesos durísimos y dolorosos. En varios momentos se me ha hecho cuesta arriba, pero ha sido una gran lectura y he aprendido mucho de ella.

La casa de los espr̕itus

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Hacía más de un año que este libro iba y venía de mis manos y nunca podía empezarlo.
La primera vez que lo vi fue cuando tenía mi tienda de libros usados y había llegado una versión bastante vieja, con una tapa poco llamativa y una fuente de impresión bastante diferente. Ya era consciente de la reputación de Allende en el mundo literario. Sabía que la brecha era muy estricta entre la gente que la amaba o la detestaba, había leído muy pocas críticas que estuvieran en el medio, y eso a su vez me generaba más curiosidad todavía, si era posible. Y también sabía que ésta era su primera novela y que fue el gran boom literario latinoamericano, debajo de Cien años de soledad. Todo ese hype en plan "clásicos de culto" me generan un poco de miedito y siempre dejo ese tipo de libros para leerlos en el momento en que no tenga nada empezado, cuando estoy más tranquilo, con más tiempo, con más animo, etc. y éste era un libro bastante largo, con una prosa no tan sencilla y con un argumento muy amplio entonces siempre lo tenía allá lejos, pero sin perderle de vista, siempre repitiéndole "el próximo serás vos, el próximo serás vos..." Por supuesto, eventualmente el libro se vendió y perdí la oportunidad de leerlo nuevamente, y no me apetecía leer semejante libro en electrónico. En fin, pasaron los meses, y como si el universo lo hubiera planeado todo, me encontraba en un bache (de lector y de escritor), y me puse a ordenar y tirar cosas de un par de muebles cuando encuentro bien escondido en un rincón, una pila de tres o cuatro libros de bolsillos que habían quedado apartados de las tantas veces que compré lotes de libros para la tienda, y arriba de todos estaba esta novela. De más está decir que solté todo lo que estaba haciendo y me tiré en la cama a leerla.
Esta novela es un viaje de ida. Sumergirte en las historias de esta familia es una experiencia increíble, te succiona desde el momento en que te das cuenta de que ésta no es la típica saga familiar. 
Al principio me costó seguirle el hilo. No porque no me enganchara la historia, sino porque me llevó varias páginas acostumbrarme a la prosa de esta autora que consiste en oraciones larguísimas, utiliza pocas metáforas y carece de diálogos. Una vez que te acostumbrás a esto, despegás y no parás más.
No quiero hablar mucho sobre el argumento porque no quiero entrar en spoilers y también porque quiero que vayan descubriendo por ustedes mismos todas las idas y venidas, desgracias, fortunas, injusticias, amor y lucha por ideales que están representados en esta novela.
Puedo sí afirmar que es una novela cruda, que muestra con muchísima realidad hechos crueles e injustos, así como también detalla con mucha simpleza momentos enternecedores, no cae en el pesimismo, irradia esperanza y, como si no pudiera ser mejor, está escrito desde una perspectiva feminista. Los toques de realismo mágico están tan bien incorporados que ni siquiera te das cuenta, simplemente te dejás llevar...
Dudo muchísimo que olvide a estos personajes, los cuales he acompañado por cientos de páginas a lo largo de su vida, y que entre mis favoritos están Clara y Férula. Sus personajes fueron muy, muy, muy bien desarrollados, creados, ejecutados y ubicados. Y bueno, tampoco puedo dejarlo afuera Esteban Trueba, que pese a ser todo lo que está mal en el mundo, la perfección con la que está construído su personaje no entra en palabras.
Lo único negativo que puedo destacar fue que el ritmo se pierde un poco llegando a la tercera parte del libro cuando comienza el Golpe de Estado y hay páginas y páginas y páginas de contexto que me costó mucho seguir por una cuestión de poco entendimiento de la situación o del dialecto que se empezó a utilizar. Una vez superado eso, la historia sigue normalmente.
El epílogo me fascinó. Es más, lo leí dos veces una vez que lo terminé, quizás fue un modo de no animarme a soltarlo, pero sí, fue hermoso. El cierre de las historias fueron perfectos, algunos enternecedores, otros te desgarraban el alma, pero no sin dejar ese atisbo de esperanza, de que todo pasó por algo, que todo encajó.
En resúmen, fue una novela hermosa, una experiencia como pocas, y me sirvió para conocer a esta autora latinoamericana de la que tanto me hablaron y siempre esquivé. Ahora quiero ponerme al día con sus demás trabajos. Recomendadísimo.


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De amor y de sombra

Reseña en el canal: https://youtu.be/NoY6uS7FjiM

Si bien esta historia pretende tener como protagonistas a Irene y Francisco y su historia de amor llena de conflictos e ideales políticos, la verdadera protagonista de esta novela es la dictadura y todo lo que dejó: desaparecidos, fusilamientos, terror en los ciudadanos, censura, y mucho más. Sigue la historia de las familias de ambos protagonistas y la familia de los Ranquileo, a quienes les van a hacer un reportaje porque se creía que su hija menor otorgaba milagros. Con un toque muy leve de realismo mágico y la crudez de la prosa hermosa de Allende esta historia nos retrata El amor en tiempos de la dictadura, como para hacer una analogía pintoresca. Muy, muy, recomendado.

Christine Joelle Valisno Manaloto

Sofia Diaz

Anna Pinto

El primer libro que leí todo en español. Allende, como siempre, me encantó con sus personajes y su narrativa.

Une grande saga familiale dans une contrée qui ressemble à s'y méprendre au Chili. Entre les différentes générations, entre la branche des maîtres et celle des bâtards, entre le patriarche, les femmes de la maison, les domestiques, les paysans du domaine, se nouent et se dénouent des relations marquées par l'absolu de l'amour, la familiarité de la mort, la folie douce ou bestiale des uns et des autres, qui reflètent et résument les vicissitudes d'un pays passé en quelques décennies des rythmes et traditions rurales aux affrontements fratricides et à la férocité des tyrannies modernes. Isabel Allende a quitté le Chili après le coup d'Etat militaire. La Maison aux esprits, son premier roman, tantôt enchanteur, tantôt mordant, est à inscrire parmi les révélations de la littérature latino-américaine d'aujourd'hui. Il est traduit dans une dizaine de pays et a obtenu le prix du Grand Roman d'Evasion 1984. Une formidable saga. Drôle et tragique, féerique et cauchemardesque, extravagante et d'un cruel réalisme. Pierre Boncenne, Lire.

La Maison aux esprits

Laurie Abrial

In this little compact version of a world, the novel discusses politics, economics, social classes, education, feminism, illness, getting old, death, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. Allende painted a dark, dense and twisted vision of 20th-century Chili and of the struggles of the country to get free from the hands of the Past.
Find my full review here: https://auxmotsinsatiables.wordpress....

De Amor Y De Sombra

Silvia Verano

"La nostalgia desgasta y aniquila; es el vicio de los desterrados"

Jeni Enjaian

This is a masterful, extremely sad and depressing book.

Isabel Allende is a master at the craft of the Spanish novel. The hint of the mystical permeates her book as is typical of most Spanish language novels. The work would be almost cliché if she had spent more time on Clara's abilities than she did. As it was, the understated nature of Allende's claims for Clara served to make Clara's abilities real and believable, as if people can really tell the future. 

While I admit that this book is very near a masterpiece, I have to also admit that it is not for me. I enjoyed it because it is a tremendous piece of literature. Beyond that, I derived very little enjoyment from this book. It's overall depressing nature contributed significantly to that. It is simply not my cup of tea.

Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget. Esteban -- The patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess. Clara -- The matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas. Blanca -- Their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father's foreman fuels Esteban's everlasting contempt... even as it produces the grandchild he adores. Alba -- The fruit of Blanca's forbidden love, a luminous bearty, a fiery and willful woman... the family's break with the past and link to the future. "From the Paperback edition."

The House of the Spirits

Jessica Smith

For the first three-quarters of this book, the impression that I couldn't get away from was that it was basically a less painful version of "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Both books essentially detail the fortunes of a particular family over the generations - but at least in the case of "House of the Spirits", it's over a few less generations, and Allende also knows a greater variety of names.

At any rate, the first three-quarters of the book are very slow, and they're okay but honestly not very memorable. Every time I put the book down for a few days, I'd struggle to remember who all the characters were or what had happened to them when I picked it up again. By the time I finally got three quarters of the way through the book, my memory for it had improved a little... which was good, as the last quarter of the book is where it picks up a lot.

Basically, as this book is partly a portrait of Chile over the twentieth century as well as one of this family, the last quarter of the book is where Salvador Allende's government comes to power, and then there is the coup, and then the dictatorship. The impact this has on the family made me feel like those 300 pages of establishing all these characters in laborious and painstaking detail were almost worthwhile.

Overall, I did enjoy this book - I really did - but the first three quarters were just so slow and it got a bit tiresome. It's the kind of book that is probably much better the faster you read it, so you don't forget who the characters are between reading sessions - and maybe it'd seem less slow if I'd done that, too.

Un libro poderoso de dictadura y resistencia. Me gustó inmensamente, pero todavía tengo el sospecho que me habría gustado más en inglés. Había tantos personajes que tenía dificultad distinguirlos al empezar, y por esta y otras razones estoy segura que me perdí muchos detalles. Algún día me gustaría leer una edición inglesa, y obtener una mayor comprensión del libro.

A pesar de eso, por obvio lo disfruté. Es más realista que algunos otros de Allende, más como 
  La isla bajo del mar
 que 
  La casa de los espíritus
. Combina una historia de resistencia contra un régimen opresivo con una historia del amor (aunque probablemente se podía adivinar esto por el título), y es una lectura compulsiva. En partes puede ser lento, y como he mencionado lo encontré tan difícil al comenzar. Pero esto podría ser una falta de mi castellano, no del libro (tendría que ver después de leerlo en inglés). Hasta aquí, creo que es una de las mejores obras de Isabel Allende (¡pero tengo que leer muchas más!).

Shreerag Plakazhi

On occasions when I feel stuck with a book, where it is seemingly going nowhere and the passages are happening for the sake of happening, I think to myself - why do we read? Reading is nowhere near an essential part of living the way eating and breathing are to the populace. I know plenty who go their entire lives having read zero or one book. What is the source of this fatal attraction to words on a piece of paper then? Even when we read, why is it that you feel far more attracted to the stories created in the minds of an individual than facts of life. Is it based on escapism, humanity's need to flee from reality that is far too uncomfortable? Is it based on spirituality, humanity's need to be part of something beyond even its vast world-building imagination?

I found within The House of Spirits answers to these questions, presented in the most subliminal fashion. I didn't think of these questions while reading the book. No, while I was reading it, I was too busy falling in love with the intricate characters Allende creates through her story of stories of the passage of time in a family. Spanish literature that comes out of South America has this quality of dilution, in the most positive way possible. Dilution of places, people, even time into this fascinating disruption of reality that is simply hard to replicate in the style accomplished by Allende. It's the same quality that you will find in 100 Years of Solitude, and in For Whom The Bell Tolls (which is written as if its a translation from Spanish), it must be something in the Spanish the language. When duplicated poorly it leaves us in shambles, frustrated and bored with the prose that is going nowhere. When done correctly, however, it is a revelation. It conveys the message better than most other ways, so much so that you cannot even imagine it being done in another way.

I would like to stop here, as I feel this book is more about emotional spoilers than about factual ones. I would love to delve in to discussions on the moral, philosophical and political arguments The House of Spirits dives into, but it will have to be on another post. Let me finish with this - Allende reminded me that we don't read for any of the above reasons I speculated about. We read because we want to understand humanity. We read to be one with another soul, and in the process be one with every soul. Yes, it isn't as essential as eating or breathing, but to those of us who dare to be part of the movement, life would be pointless without. In the memorable words of The Beach Boys, "The world would show nothing to me, what good would living do me?"

**The moving novel from the multi-million-bestselling author of The House of the Spirits and The Japanese Lover** Irene Beltrán is a force to be reckoned with. As a magazine journalist – an unusual profession for a woman with her privileged upbringing – she is constantly challenging the oppressive regime. Her investigative partner is photographer Francisco Leal, the son of impoverished Spanish Marxist émigrés. They are an inseparable team, and – despite Irene’s engagement to an army captain – form a passionate connection. When an assignment leads them to uncover an unspeakable crime, they are determined to reveal the truth in a national overrun by terror and violence. Together they will risk everything for justice – and ultimately to embrace the passion that binds them. Praise for Isabel Allende's Of Love and Shadows: ‘[Allende] can just as deftly depict loving tenderness as convey the high fire of eroticism. And when you’ve successfully mingled sex and politics with a noble cause, how can you go wrong? New York Times Book Review ‘Allende is a born storyteller’ Chicago Tribune ‘The people in Of Love and Shadows are real, their triumphs and defeats are so faithful to the truth of human existence, that we see the world in miniature. This is precisely what fiction should do’ Washington Post ‘We are by turns enchanted and entertained . . . Allende has married the world of magic and political evil most credibly’ LA Times Book Review

Of Love and Shadows

Janet Doré

Isabel Allende is a magical storyteller, a good witch for sure, and one of the only writers who can have me reading two page paragraphs without cussing like a sailor. 😜 I highly recommend this politically charged love story set in Chile. That it nabbed a spot on my all-time favorites shelf is a testament to Isabel’s gift as I abhor all things political. There was just no way I could give this book only 4 stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Green hair. Magical women. Passion. Rage. Family. Idealism. Love. Coups. Charity. Torture. Hope. 

What an incredibly beautiful story. I totally get why it made the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die list.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors. She is the mistress of character development and a weaver of magical stories that become a part of you forever. She's also one of a few authors who can make me read paragraphs that last for pages without griping (too much).

The depth and strength of her female characters are why I come back to her books again and again. Clara, Férula, Blanca and Alba are among the very best. 

On a practical and captivating level, this story will enlighten you on the political dynamics of many Latin American countries, particularly the evolution of a military coup.

La casa de los espíritus

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