Book Recommendations
The House of the Spirits
By Isabel Allende
Fiction, Historical, General, Literary, Family Life, Hispanic & Latino, Magical Realism | 368 pages
1 recommendation
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.
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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Neil Rogall
"I spent a month in Chile last March and Isabel Allende’s moving, magical realist account of 20th century Chilean history made my journey richer and gave me a sharper picture of the transformation of an agrarian country dominated by The landowning class into an industrial society in which the rule of the rich is challenged like never before. The story of the three generations of the Trueba family is told through the lens of women’s oppression - through the womenfolk of the family and the malevolent patriarch who dominates them and Chilean politics as well. Written and finished during the years of Salvador Allende and the Pinochet coup Isabel Allende illuminates and fictionalises the actual events through characters based on real figures. It doesn’t take too long to work out who The Poet is for example.
Despite the pain and suffering recounted in this wonderful fictionalised account of Chilean society this is a truly joyous book that I never wanted to end. My memories of travel in Chile are now totally entwined with this amazing novel"
Despite the pain and suffering recounted in this wonderful fictionalised account of Chilean society this is a truly joyous book that I never wanted to end. My memories of travel in Chile are now totally entwined with this amazing novel"
