رواية تُطلق العنان للحواس كافة، تسبرُ أغوار أمكنة وأزمنة تجعل المرء يتساءل: هل بحوزة إيزابيل أيّيندي آلة زمن، لتخرُجَ بعمل خلّاب كهذا؟
على رأس قائمة (من أجمل ما قرأت)

كيف لي أن أكتب سيرةً عنّي إن لم أكن مثلها أو أفضل؟

القرن السادس عشر؛ تبدأ الرواية ببدايته, إنيس, الفتاة الخيّاطه, وأفضل من صنع الفطائر تُصبح ملكةً لمملكة لم تعرف بوجودها قبلاً .. لُعبة الأقدار.

وصفها يكادُ يكون مستحيلاً, أكادُ أُقسم أنني أشمُّ رائحة الدم, وطعم الجوع, وقشعريرة البرد, والخوف, والعطش والألم, يكادُ نفسي يتوقف أثناء الحروب, وأبتسمُ فرحاً بكيفية إعادة البناء للمدن, وتربية الحيوانات وزرعُ الثمار, يزدادُ قهري بالوحشية والإغتصاب, وخداعُ الحروب يدهشني, وموتُ الأبطال يتركُ بنفسي حُزناً غريباً, وإنتصاراتهم الأشدُ غرابةً تبعثُ بي أملاً عظيماً, حقاً هكذا تكونُ الروايات.

عنوانُ روايتها مُخادع, يجعلك تظن أنك ستقرأ أسخفُ رواية للحب, ولكن لن يكون هناك عنوانٌ أفضل من هذا.

إيزابيل كاتبتي المفضلة الآن.

تجربة أولى مع إيزابيل الليندي

الرواية تحكي قصة استعمار تشيلي من قبل الإسبان بعد اكتشاف العالم الجديد وتأسيس مدينة سنتياغو عاصمة تشيلي على لسان انيس سواريث عشيقة بطل الاستعمار بدرو دي بالبيا ..
الرواية كشفت بعض فظاعات الاستعمار، بشاعة الشر الانساني،وتقلب الانسان بين الثراء الفاحش والجوع الذي يجبرك أن تأكل الحشرات وخشاش الأرض ..
لا أنكر إعجابي بشخصية انيس سواريث

رواية ملحمية عظيمة..

رائعة جديدة من روائع ايزابيل الليندى..براعة واحترافية تامة فى وصف ماهية الفتوحات والقسوة والفظاعة التى تملئها،ولا تغفل ايزابيل دوما ان توجد الحب برغم قسوة الانسان فتخترعه وتحدثنا عنه،آملة ان نؤمن به فى كل وقت وتحت اى ظرف ..

I am a huge fan of historical novels well done. I also love to learn about areas and societies of which I know little or nothing. This book fills both bills. Ines Suarez was a remarkable Spanish lady who traveled to the New World in the 1530s and helped to settle Peru and Chili. The only name I recognized from history class was that of Pizzaro, so you can imagine that this was a wholly new adventure for me.

Allende impresses me by her very even-handed handling of the native Indians who already populate the territories that eventually become Peru and Chili. It is a terribly cruel and undeserved fate that await them at the hands of the Spaniards, and, while they are themselves a cruel and bloodthirsty people, they do not seem any less civilized in many ways than the conquistadors who come to conquer and enslave them.

The thread of this novel is woven through the love stories of Ines, who is the mistress of and eventually wife of two of the most important men in the Spanish contingent. She is a woman who is skilled and can hold her own with her male counterparts, and in a world that was not kind to the female gender, she achieved a kind of equality that was rare and outstanding. To see her unflinching attitude in the face of so much carnage, hard work and repeated destruction, made me wonder how long I could have endured such a life. That she was there for the Mapuche wars and still lived into her 80s is a feat unparalleled in her time. She buried all the men around her.

This is not my first Allende, and I have found that I run hot and cold with her. She is a good writer, but sometimes runs in a vein that does not captivate me. I thought this one of her better works. If I had been able to establish a deeper emotional tie to Ines, I would have given it a five. As it is, four stars is a good rating for me, and I am glad I finally sat myself down and read this. I am positive that it has enhanced my understanding and knowledge of the period and the people who settled South America.

I'm just going to invite you into the argument in my head as I read this:

This book is celebrating a conquistador. Why am I reading this?
Well, but she's a poor woman who just sort of winds up here.
No, she's straight-up murdering indigenous leaders herself as part of her heroic arc.
But isn't her story a valid story to tell? She actually existed.
Sure, but in choosing to tell the story only from her mind, all the indigenous people become a faceless mass of savages. Except for the endlessly helpful woman who's her -- ahem -- "best friend."
She kind of admires her opponents.
She murders them and helps others who murder them.
She's not as bad as the other conquistadors.
I'm not interested in the line between 'bad' conquistadors and 'good' ones. It looks like bad conquistadors murder rape and pillage for money, but good conquistadors murder rape and pillage for honor.

And not that any moment in history is comparable to any other moment of history, but what would happen if someone wrote an admiring book about a female Nazi who really rose through the ranks through her own bravery and intelligence, though she sometimes felt bad about some of the crueler practices in the concentration camps she oversaw.
Oh you're making a Nazi comparison now? Look, every story admiring someone who holds more privilege than others is omitting a founding violence. Colonization and genocide aren't in the past, they're happening right now, and most books don't grapple with it. Maybe it's unfair to hold this book to those standards.
Yes. Yes and ... she's a CONQUISTADOR.

Another reviewer describes this book as "an assault against my spirit." After all my mental arguments, I think I agree with that. Every paragraph contains violence toward indigenous people, recast as banal or justifiable or at worst just sort of unfortunate. I sort of think the only meaningful way to read this book is as a horrifying tragedy dictated by a villain who thinks she's the protagonist, with the kind of irony present in The Remains of the Day. But I don't have any reason to believe it was written with that intent.

A very 'Inés' kind of review:

I have been a reader for the last eleven years and am now the loyal fan of Isabel Allende , writing this review of Inés of My Soul in the year of Our Lord 2012.I am not sure whether this review will convince anyone to read this book but I am sure this is one of the best historical novels ever written and Isabel Allende is, undoubtedly, the only writer who hovers between a historian, a storyteller and a feminist.

As a result this book isn't limited to a single genre. It is a historically accurate account of a powerful sixteenth century conquistadora, a feminist novel and a work of fiction. In other words, a perfect amalgamation of fact, fiction and feminism. When you read it, you're a part of it. The imagery is so strong, you can almost feel things happening. You can see the destruction, feel the heat, smell the blood and gag at the dust. And the language is so convincing, you can never separate fact from fiction. You even tend to forget who is writing the story: Allende or Inés herself? The book is so intense, so passionate and so strong that the effect it creates is incredible! In fact, I am not even sure whether Inés of My Soul is a book because it has an identity of its own. It is almost like a living, breathing woman.

How exactly Isabel Allende managed to create such a powerful, beautiful book is impossible to say. For me, it is indubitably the best book I've read this year! It encapsulates three of my most favourite topics in the world: History, Literature and Feminism and it is so well written, I hate to let it go!

No sé per què en algun moment vaig pensar que em podria importar la vida d'una colonitzadora espanyola, la veritat.

Tot i que m'agrada la idea de relatar esdeveniments històrics d'aquesta forma més "narrada" perquè trobo que els fa més acessibles. En aquest cas, però, millor que l'esdemeniment en qüestió, no hagués passat.

.
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يمكنني القول بـ صراحة أن العمل لم يكن كما توقعت

القصة جميلة
وإيزابيل بارعة في الوصف
لكن كثرة الحديث عن الحروب .. أشعرني بـ الملل

بالنسبة لي
لم تكن بـ مستوى صورة عتيقة وابنة الحظ

Compelling and brutal account of the colonisation of Chile as told through the eyes of Inés Suárez, the Spanish widow who, as the lover of its conqueror and subsequent first royal governor, Pedro de Valdivia, contributed significantly to its early history. She later became the wife of another Chilean governor and dedicated her life to establishing many charitable endeavours. Allende once again proves herself a master-storyteller, combining detailed historical facts with vividly portrayed characters to bring to life the events of the Spanish conquests of Peru and Chile, not shying away from the sheer savagery of the battles and particularly the sadistic atrocities committed by the Spaniards against the indigenous people. As a historical character, Ines was admirable in many ways and a woman way ahead of her time, but as the heroine of this novel, she was not a character that one could warm to. Her choice to remain loyally and lovingly by the side of the brilliant but narcissistic Valdivia through his many barbarous deeds made her guilty by association. It was only her later years and her appreciation and transference of love to the more noble Rodrigo de Quiroga that her image softened.

Listening to this was quite difficult to start with. The many unfamiliar Spanish names got me all muddled up and it took me a while to work out who's who. This was through no fault of the narrator, who did a splendid job.

"غريب هذا الإحساس بأن الجسد ينتهي بينما الذهن مازال يخترع مشاريع جديدة".

تتناول الرواية من خلال قصة الحب التي جمعت بين إنيس وبالديبا، جزءًا هامًا ومفصليًا من التاريخ الأوروبي والإسباني تحديدًا، حيث تتناول إيزابيل حقائق تاريخية تتضمنها الحملات الإسبانية على القارة الأمريكية ومحاربة السكان الأصليين لهذه القارة، واتخاذهم عبيدًا وغيرها العديد من الممارسات اللاأخلاقية، والتي استطاعت إنيس روايتها لنا وكأنها قصة لا تعنيها، حيث حدثتنا عن عمليات التعذيب والتنكيل وكأنها لم تكن جزءًا بتسببها، وقد تبدو محاولة منها القول بأنها لم تكن راضية عن ذلك كل الرضا، وقد تكون فعلته بدافع الحب والاستلاب الكبير بحبيبها الحاكم، وذلك ما يظهر في بعض المواطن لروايتها للقصة لابنتها.

تأخذ الرواية طابع المذكرات، حيث وبالضرورة ستستعمل إيزابيل تقنيات "الفلاش باك" على لسان البطلة الرئيسية في العمل، وبرزت ملامح ذكاء الكاتبة في العديد من المواطن وأبرزها وأذكاها بالنسبة لي كانت في بعض المقاطع حيث عمدت إيزابيل على تكرار المشاهد أكثر من مرة على اعتبار أن الراوية مُسنة ومعتذرةً بذلك لابنتها مرارًا مبررةً بأنها ضريبة العُمر والعيش الطويل.

لا بد أن إينيس كانت قاسية في الكثير من أجزاء الرواية حيث اتخذت دور المحاربة، ولكن تكنّفت سطوة هذا الظهور بين الحين والآخر مشاعرًا فاضت للكثير من رجالات عصرها، وأكدّت بأنها شريك يعتمد عليه؛ شريك يرمي ذاته في الجحيم لأجل من يحب، متحملًا القرارات الشخصية التي قد ينتج عنها انقلابات ذاك الحبيب مهما بلغت سوءًا.

ولا شك بأن الرواية تؤكد على العبثية الإنسانية، حيث تشعر بأنه حتى لو انتفت الحاجة البشرية للحروب، سيختلق ويفتعل الإنسان حاجة لها، ويتمثل هذا في الحملات الأوروبية الهمجية على أوطان الهنود في أمريكا حاليًا وذلك تحت الاسم الكنيسة ونشر الفضيلة والحكمة الإلهية.

Quickly summed up, Isabel Allende's novel: Ines of My Soul, is a "true" account about Dona Ines Saurez who left Spain in the 1500's to go to the Americas and ended up helping conquering parts of Chile. I find it sad that it took over 400 years for her part in history to be recognized.

I have never read a book by Isabel Allende. This was recommended to me by a friend. So I cannot compare this to any of her other works.

I do not know much about Chilean or Peruvian history, so I found this novel to be somewhat fascinating in that regard. The historical facts that Allende weaved into the story was great. I felt like I learned some new things while reading this book.

Ines Saurez was a very interesting and complex woman. She said she found it horrific how the Spaniards treated the natives, yet she was very willing to have her "hired help" with her. She was very head-strong and knew how to cook, clean, sew, nurse the men back to health and even helped save one of the battles with the natives. She was spiritual and open to new ideas taught to her by her maid/friend, yet, was very Spanish. I feel she definitely came across as being slightly superior over others.

There are some rough patches in the book -- it took me about 15-20 pages in to really get hooked. But once there, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I'm also not sure how I felt about how the novel was set up: Ines dictating to her daughter, Isabelle. At first I thought she was talking about the author, Isabel Allende. It was confusing. After it was cleared up that it was her daughter, it made a lot more sense.

All in all, though, I would definitely recommend this book.