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.

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.

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!

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.

One of my new favorite books. Somehow in the course of Latin American Studies I never managed to have some Allende assigned, so I thought I should make up for that. Turns out all the wonderful things I've heard about her writing style are true. It's just gorgeous, and the combination of wonderful inventive storytelling plus real historical info on the conquest of Chile plus totally bad-ass female main character made for one of the best books I've read in a long time. Highly recommended.

Historical fiction about the life of Inés Suárez. Born in Spain in the early 1500s, she sails to South America with her niece to find her husband, Juan de Málaga, who has gone in search of gold. The story is told by Inés, near the end of her life, in the form of a diary she plans to give to her stepdaughter, Isabel. The narrative covers her three romantic relationships, and her participation in the expedition to conquer Chile. They establish the city of Santiago and battle the native people.

Allende is known for her female protagonists, and Inés is the prototype of a strong woman. She becomes self-sufficient as a seamstress, cook, and nurse. Allende employs magical realism here, but less so than some of her previous works. This novel is a sweeping saga covering approximately eighty years. Inés experiences many adventures, hardships, battles, and love affairs. The author does not spare the gruesome details of combat, punishments, and executions.

I enjoyed this book and looked forward to picking it up. It occasionally wanders from the primary storyline. I was not previously aware of Inés Suárez and her role in Chilean history. It inspired me to do further research.

كانت هذه الرواية نائمة في مكتبتي منذ زمن لم يخطر ببالي أن أسحب ذلك الكتاب الذي يحمل صورة الفتاة على غلافه، كنت أقول سيكون هناك متسع لقراءة قصة حب.
جاء دور "إنيس حبيبة روحي"ووقع بين يدي تصفحته شدتني الرواية فغرقت بين حروفها مباشرة، قررت أن أبدأ رحلتي مع إزابيل اللندي.
تبدأ إنيس بسرد ما بذاكرتها لأبنتها إزابيل تحدثت عنما عاصرته عن الحب والحرب والثورات، كيف أنها ولأجل الحياة هاجرت تبحث عن الحرية بعيداً عن مدينتها سينتياغو لتجد نفسها محاصرة بسنتياغو أخرى تتحدث عن تلك الفترة التي بدأت بها مملكة إسبانيا الفتوحات في القارة الأمريكية الجنوبية، جيوش أسبانيا تبيد السكان الأصليين وتتخذهم عبيداً، عن المعارك التي عاصرتها عن المجاعات التي داهمتهم، عن انتقام الهنود ممن سرق أرضهم، ويفاوضهم على أن يكونوا عبيداً , طعمت ذلك كلها بالحب كانت تتحدث عن الحب مختلطة حروفها بتبعات الحرب، في وقت ما نقترب من أن نشهق من أحداث الحروب تعود لتحدثنا عن حبها فتتبدل الشهقة لابتسامه حالمة للحب.

طبعاً التاريخ يعرف جيداً كيف أضطهد الهنود وكيف أبيدوا واغتصبت نسائهم، كل ذلك و الأسبان يدعون بأنهم يريدون نشر المسيحية لأن من واجبهم إيصال الصليب لأبعد ما يستطيعون، لإصلاح الأرض بيد أن الحاصل هي حروب ودمار شامل، في حين أنهم يتهمون الإسلام بأنه دين بربري لم ينشر إلا بحد السيف بالرغم من أن التاريخ الإسلامي لم يذكر مآسي وإبادات لشعوب كما هوا تاريخهم علامة استفهام كبيرة داخل رأسي.

أعجبت بعدل إزابيل حين تتحدث عن الهنود وعن الأسبان لم تميل كل الميل مع الأسبان ولام تغالي في الوقوف بجانب الهنود الحق بيّن لكل عاقل هي فقط تنقل الواقع هناك ( أحلام توسع وثراء )وهنا دفاع وشرف وأرض وشجاعة.

tLike everything Ms. Allende writes, this novel is filled with beautifully crafted sentences, characters and stories bordering on the mythical, and an abrupt ending. This book is historic fiction; she takes the role of Ines Suarez, one of the founders of Chile, and recounts the adventure of establishing an outpost in the New World. Great story.

3.5 Stars

This is my second book by Allende, and I can understand why people love her writing so much. She is a beautiful storyteller and her writing is so evocative and lovely and honest without being flowery or overdone. I love that quality in a writer - it's one of my favorite things about Colleen McCullough as well, especially in Tim. That book was my introduction to McCullough and it made a deep impression on me and instantly became one of my favorite books. Crap. Now I want to read it again!

Anyway, I was talking about Allende. The first book I read of hers was The House of the Spirits, and I really enjoyed it a lot more than I thought that I would. You see, I don't really care for magical realism and generally steered clear of it whenever I could. I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that, like anything else, there's good and bad magical realism, and I'd only read astoundingly bad examples of it... or read good examples of it and didn't recognize them as MR. But it took Allende and my friend Jackie recommending her books for me to see it.

Allende's books are beautifully written, and whatever mystical or magical or ethereal otherworldliness there might be is subtle and adds a little "Did you see that?" nudge in the ribs, but doesn't overtake the story, doesn't throw the narrative into confusion like some magical realism books I've read and hated with the fires of a thousand suns. I'm not going to name titles. You know who you are. >_>

Beloved.

So, this was another Jackie choice, and again I really enjoyed it, although I feel that this one lost something in the audio version. I wish that I had read this rather than listening to it. *sigh* Blair Brown did a passable Spanish accent, but quite often it was distracting. It just seemed to lack a fluidity and smoothness that native speakers have. Quite often, she'd hesitate for just a moment before pronouncing a word. It might actually only be a half second, but to me, it was a distraction. This is the kind of story that you need and want to just climb into and live for a while - and every one of those stutters pulled me out of it. I may not pronounce the Spanish correctly in my head, but reading for myself would have been smoother, since I probably wouldn't know it was wrong.

The second reason that I wish I'd have just read the book myself was that there were a whole lot of Spanish names in this one. People names, place names, historical names and Chilean native tribe names, and honestly, it was really hard to keep track of who was who when I had no visual link to the sound of the words being spoken. It didn't help much that, being told as a memoir type story, the narrative was less than linear. Wikipedia helped a lot here, and Google for being a good guesser at what I was misspelling. For instance, I'd type "Atawapa" and it would return "Did you mean Atahualpa?" Yes. Yes I did. THANK YOU GOOGLE! (And before any of you break out the ladder to get on your high horse, it's been a while since World History class, OK?) So anyway, Wikipedia helped a lot to keep the names and places and tribes and so on straight, so that I could enjoy the story and actually know who was being referred to.

I found this story fascinating. I don't really know much about Chilean history, but I feel like I know quite a bit more now. Because I was on Wikipedia and Google so much, I feel like I actually may have learned something.

This was a story about Spanish conquests and it was appropriately brutal. There were massacres and tortures and mutilations and subjugation of the indigenous people. All of that was to be expected. But there was also a softer quality to this story, a kind of empathy and understanding that Ines lent it. She claimed to not understand the 'indians' of Chile, but her description of them, and their customs and ceremonies and beliefs said otherwise. I thought several times while listening to this that she was confusing understanding with agreement. I think she understood them just fine. They wanted to live and be free and content in their lives just as she wanted to live and be free and content in her own. She could have said to the Mapuches "We're not so different, you and I." Too bad she wouldn't have gotten the Austin Powers reference. *sigh*

I really appreciated the religious aspect of the story, both from the Catholic standpoint and the Native standpoint. Allende represented both fairly, I think. Although, it seemed that there was a bit of the mystical on the side of the Christians, at least in Ines's eyes. I love that there was a little bit of that here, but also that it's interpretable. Was it a miracle that broke the rope and saved the man from hanging, or was it simply that the rope was frayed or weak? A comet, or a sign?

One thing I particularly loved regarding the religious aspect of the story was Ines, at 70, talking about how she sometimes forgets and calls God "Ngenechen", which is the Mapuche's name for their god or sometimes prays to the Earth Mother rather than the Virgin. It's such a throwaway reference, an old woman confused and mixing things up, but to me it signifies how similar beliefs can be, and how silly it is to try to force a "right" religion on someone else. What's in a name? Isn't what you believe and how you live and act more important? I think so, and I think that Ines did too. She worked for her people all her life, striving to make sure that they were as well looked after as it was in her power to do. She founded churches and hospitals and helped feed the poor and hungry, and defended the defenseless. She was definitely an awesome, if underappreciated, person.

I enjoyed this one, and might just have to read it for myself one day. I think it is a book that definitely deserves my full attention, and I couldn't give it that with the audio. But regardless, this was very good, and I'd definitely recommend it.

I got about halfway through this book before I decided Ines of My Soul was an assault against my spirit. The book is well written and, I would assume, well researched. My first source of disillusionment came when the reader (I listened to the audio book) Blair Brown for some reason decided to read the entire book in a faux Spanish accent, mutilating most of the pronunciations. Why?? Distracting and annoying to say the least.

But that was a minor quibble compared to actual content. Written from the POV of Ines Suarez, a conquistadora, I guess I should have expected the story to be filtered through a colonial mindset. However, the novel got increasingly more difficult to listen to as Inez passed judgment on "savages", excused the brutalities she witnessed and even committed a few of her own. Throughout, Ines judges some murders, rapes and massacres as necessary or to be expected, while others were regretful.

Yes, Ines would have regarded her compatriots as heroic but they were really nothing more than barbarians raping, pillaging, murdering, enslaving and torturing their way through the continent. Yes, this is plain in the book. I just got tired of reading about how Ines strove to justify, rationalize and admire a great deal of it. The scale of the slaughter is so beyond imagination I found it hard to care whether Ines ever found her missing hubby or took up with Valdivia or made it to Chile. I had no sympathy or identification with Ines. To me she was just a White woman who took the not so rare as you'd think opportunity to pillage someone else's lands and enrich herself in the process. I would rather have gotten to know the Indigenous peoples that were dying by the millions around her.

Ines' supposed "best friend" is her indigenous servant girl, loyal, devoted and lacking agency - a common trope among White historical fic authors who like to portray us folks of colour as content with (even enjoying) our roles as servants, whores and house slaves in their self-involved sagas.

What rankles me most is that too many people today all over the americas believe that colonialism is a thing of the past. But land and resource thefts continue across our lands. Racism and white superiority are as entrenched today as they were in the years the conquistadors. I'm not interested in exploring their lives or humanizing them or searching for some semblance of nobility and honour in their actions. I'd rather know about the price we've all paid for their greed.

4/5 estrellas.
Isabel Allende nunca nos defrauda con sus historias. Aunque esta es una Historia con mayúsculas.
Es la Historia de la conquista de Chile, que emprendió Pedro de Valdivia en 1540, abandonando el Perú, inestable y peligroso, permanentemente envuelto en intrigas y contiendas civiles entre los Pizarro y los partidarios de Diego de Almagro, que había intentado la conquista de Chile y había fracasado.
Es la Historia de la mujer que acompaño a Valdivia en esta conquista, Inés de Suárez, extremeña, mujer de carácter fuerte y decidido, pilar clave en la conquista y fundación de Santiago de Chile, soporte y sustento en la retaguardia de los pocos españoles que se lanzaron a la locura de conquistar un reino, siendo poco más de 100 y unos pocos miles de indios quechuas, renuentes y mal dispuestos.
La historia nos la narra la propia Inés, una de las primeras mujeres españolas que viajó a América con un permiso oficial y que era la pareja de Valdivia, que no su mujer. Nos la cuenta en los años finales de su vida, cuando ya son pocos los que quedan de los durísimos años de la fundación, de la eterna guerra sin fin que los españoles entablaron contra una de las tribus de indios mas orgullosa, indomable, valiente y organizada que se encontraron en el Nuevo Mundo: los Mapuche y sus jefes Lautaro y Caupolicán. Guerra que sólo podía concluir con la muerte de uno de los dos contendientes, porque los mapuche nunca iban a renunciar a su libertad. Guerra que se llevó por delante al propio Valdivia en 1553 cuando se adentró demasiado al sur del Bío Bío y fue exterminado.
Es la historia de aventuras increíbles en la que un puñado de soldados españoles se enfrentaban a miles de indios, mal armados, desorganizados, pero eran miles!!. ¿Cómo podían, de donde sacaban el valor, de donde sacaban el orgullo, de donde sacaban los hu.....s? La Historia de la conquista de américa está llena de estos episodios que parecen increíbles, pero que fueron reales.
También es la historia, y la autora no escatima en detalle, de uno de los instrumentos que los conquistadores, supuestos civilizadores, utilizaron para conseguir sus fines: el miedo, la crueldad sin límites, la exterminación, la violencia indiscriminada.
Aventura, hazañas inimaginables, penuria, sufrimiento, hambre, con un único fin: no civilizar, ni cristianizar, sino conquistar y enriquecerse. ¿Fue esto legítimo?, esa es la disyuntiva en la que nos ponemos cuando leemos los episodios históricos que sucedieron durante la conquista de América: Heroísmo o violencia injustificada? Y pensaremos: todas las conquistas son iguales, el contexto era distinto, eran otros tiempos, el fin justifica los medios, la guerra es la guerra, el Imperio y el poder era lo primero: ya, pero fuimos nosotros.................
La visión femenina de la Historia enriquece el conjunto, ya que aprendemos sobre las costumbres de la época, la vida en las nuevas colonias, la situación de las mujeres que quedaban en Castilla, cuando los hombres emigraban a América...y nunca volvían. La situación de los indios, amigos, sometidos o enemigos.
En definitiva, un gran libro. Totalmente recomendable......

تحذير:- هذه المراجعة تكشف بعض مما جاء في الرواية
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n  {سأميت هذا اللعين شر ميتة...
شر ميتة، هناك ميتات كثير من هذه في مملكتنا، تُثقل على ضميرنا إلى الأبد}
n

يبدو أن قيام حضارة على وجه هذه الأرض يستلزم أولاً وأخيراً ثمناً باهظاً أحمر اللون لزج يروي به بني البشر الأرض أولاً قبل أن يُشمروا عن سواعدهم لبنائها. هذا النوع من الروايات أعيش معها لحظات لا توصف فبالإضافة لكونها رواية لكنها تكشف النقاب عن حقائق وأماكن لم أضع في الحسبان أبداً أني في يوم من الأيام سأتعرف على بعض خبايا "عنوانها"، لأنها أماكن لا تحتل أهمية في قائمة ما أود أن أعرفه ولذلك أعترف أن عالم القراءة كشف لي أكثر مرة كم أن الكثير الكثير قد فاتني. ولكن برغم روعتها فإنها في نفس الوقت مؤلمة جداً لتأكيدها لحقيقة نذالة وخسة بني البشر، هذا النوع من الروايات يثير ذلك السؤال المُلِّح أثناء وبعد قراءتها، لماذا ......... ؟ ثم لماذا؟

***** **** *** ** * ** *** **** *****

تدور أحداث هذه الرواية بين سنة 1500 و1553 ميلادي على لسان إنيس سوراريث، وكعادتها إيزابيل الليندي تؤرخ أحداث فترة التاريخية بأسلوب روائي أعترف أنني من عشاقه

عن جمهورية تشيلي هذه الرواية تتحدث، وسنتتبع أصل الحكاية من إسبانيا عن بدايات إنيس سواريث و بيدرو دي بالديبا اللذان ستتقاطع خُطاهم ويكون الملتقى في البيرو حيث يبتدئ الشغف وتبدأ الحكاية، حكاية بلد اسمه تشيلي وقصة غرامها وانفصالهما



بيدرو دي بالديبا من خلاله حديثه مع السجين ديغو دي الماغرو في البيرو قبل إعدامه يسمع عن تلك الأرض البكر الخصبة التي فشل السجين في فتحها فتتحول لحلم وشغف يسعى لتحقيقه بعيداً عن حمى الذهب في البيرو وفوضى الحكم فيها، فيبدأ المشوار بقافلة خجولة من الأسبان والسكان الأصليين وامرأة إسبانية واحدة هي إنيس سواريث عشيقة هذا الحالم، لماذا عشيقة؟ لأن هذا الحالم متزوج من امرأة تركها خلفه في إسبانيا

هذا العسكري طيب القلب حقق حلمه وفتح تشيلي وحكمها بمساعدة يده اليمنى إنيس، ولكن طيبة قلبه لم تشفع له جرائمه فهو رجل عسكري سيتبع وسائل تبرر غايته تكون نتيجتها مجازر وقتل يقشعر له البدن في حق السكان الأصليين، ويحقق شرط بناء دولته بأن يروي تلك الأرض "تشيلي" دماً وجثثاً

قراءة هذا النوع من الروايات سيكون "السيد قووقل" مصاحب لها، رغم مرور دهر على تاريخ هذه الأحداث لكن دائماً هنالك فضول للبحث عن صور لتلك الشخصيات المذكورة في محاولة لمقارنتها بالصورة التي تكونت في مخيلتي، بالطبع دائماً لا توجد علاقة بين هذه الصور والصور التي أجدها، حاولت البحث عن صورة لإنيس سواريث ولكن أكثر صورة وجدتها لها تكررت بعدة طرق تُصوِّر ما قامت به من عمل حاسم في المعركة الدموية التي أدت لتدمير سانتياغو للمرة الأولى بعد إنشائها (ستُدمر أكثر من مرة)، أما ما فعلته فسأكتفي بالصورة



حكاية أو أسطورة إنيس سواريث وشخصيتها أبدعت الليندي في رسمها، تلك المرأة الذكية الحالمة العنيدة والمقاتلة والخارجة عن المألوف بالنسبة لنساء عصرها. الرواية على لسانها؛ كيف لا والليندي مما قرأته لها سابقاً هذه هي طريقتها، هذه ثالث رواية أقرأها لها وجميعها تتكلم عن حدث تاريخي غيَّر الخارطة بلسان امرأة غير عادية تُصوِّر تلك الفترة وتسلط الضوء على هموم النساء في ذلك الوقت

ثالث رواية أقرأها لإيزابيل الليندي ولم أكتفي بعد، فما تكتبه هذه المرأة في قمة الروعة

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مابين {....} مقتبس من الرواية