n  

How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or for several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “for ever”?
———— PABLO NERUDA

n

Barrabas came to us by sea. . . And so begins The House of Spirits, the debut novel by Isabel Allende that put the world on notice that a new Latin American writer was to make her mark on the international stage of literature. This is the second time that I have read this lovely autographed book and I think, it was even more beautiful this time. Reading the author’s memoirs, I know that her family was forced to flee Chile when her cousin, Salvador Allende, was assassinated in a military coup backed by General Pinochet and assuming power in what would be deadly dictatorship. When living in Venezuela, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to visit her dying 100-year old grandfather and began writing him letters that would ultimately become the manuscript for The House of Spirits. When I first read it in 1985, I knew that I would read everything that Isabel Allende would publish over the years. I have a few yet to read but not many. Needless to say, Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors.

The House of Spirits is a sprawling family saga of three generations of the turbulent lives of the Trueba family set in an unnamed Latin American country but thought to be Chile as the family’s journey takes place against the backdrop of the volatile social and political history of their nation and the events that unfold over the span of half a century. The House of Spirits unfolding tale is narrated by Esteban who narrates parts of the story in the first person, while Alba, his granddaughter, narrates the story in retrospect from a third-person omniscient perspective. The story begins with the del Valle family and their oldest and youngest daughters, Rosa and Clara. Rosa is engaged to Esteban Trueba until her untimely death predicted by her clairvoyant sister, Clara. But the series of events stuns Clara info silence for the next nine years. Esteban leaves the mines and takes over his family’s hacienda in the countryTres Marias. He becomes a extremely successful and a feared patron. Esteban returns to the city to see his dying mother and then visits the del Valle family to inquire whether they may have a marriageable daughter. Clara had predicted his arrival, breaking her silence some time earlier declaring that she would soon marry her sister’s fiance. After their marriage, Clara and Esteban move to a grand new home that Esteban has built for her. Soon Clara becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter, Blanca and later gives birth to twin boys, Nicolas and Jamie. The tale weaves between their home in the city and the hacienda, Tres Marias. It is a beautiful multi-generational story with elements of magical realism, the underlying themes of power, love, loyalty, and the impact of historical events on the lives of individuals and families. This is a most important book and it still remains one of my favorite books.

(Book 276 from 1001 books) - La Casa De Los Espíritus = The House of The Spirits, Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits, is the debut novel of Isabel Allende. The novel was rejected by several Spanish-language publishers before being published in Buenos Aires in 1982. It became an instant best seller, was critically acclaimed, and catapulted Allende to literary stardom. The novel was named Best Novel of the Year in Chile in 1982, and Allende received the country's Panorama Literario award. The House of the Spirits has been translated into over 37 languages.

The story details the life of the Trueba family, spanning four generations, and tracing the post-colonial social and political upheavals of Chile – though the country's name, and the names of figures closely paralleling historical ones, such as "the President" or "the Poet", are never explicitly given. The story is told mainly from the perspective of two protagonists (Esteban and Alba) and incorporates elements of magical realism.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «خانه ارواح»؛ «خانه اشباح»؛ نویسنده: ایزابل آلنده؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و چهارم ماه آگوست سال2009میلادی

عنوان: خانه ارواح؛ نویسنده: ایزابل آلنده؛ مترجم: حشمت کامرانی؛ تهران، نشر قطره، سال1368، در656ص؛ شابک9643410218؛ چاپ دوم سال1377؛ چاپ سوم سال1379؛ چاپ ششم سال1385؛ شابک9789643410216؛ چاپ هفتم سال1395، در580ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان شیلی به زبان اسپانیا - سده20م؛

عنوان: خانه اشباح؛ نویسنده: ایزابل آلنده؛ مترجم: عبدالرحمن صدریه؛ تهران، نشر فردوس، سال1377؛ در515ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، دادار، شابک ایکس-964729414؛

ایزابل آلنده، برادرزاده‌ ی «سالوادور آلنده‌»، رئیس‌ جمهور درگذشته ی «شیلی»، در سال1942میلادی زاده شدند؛ پس از کودتای نظامی در «شیلی»، ایشان کشور را ترک کردند، و پس از یک سلسله مبارزات مردم، علیه دیکتاتوری «پینوشه»، و برکناری او، همراه بسیاری دیگر از مبارزان، و هنرمندان، به «شیلی» بازگشتند؛ «خانه ی ارواح» مهم‌ترین، و نامداررین رمان ایشانست، که یکی از آثار مهم ادبیات «آمریکای لاتین» به شمار می‌رود، و تاکنون به زبان‌های بسیاری ترجمه شده است

نقل از متن: (خانه ارواح: «نانا» همچنان برجای ایستاده بود، و دستهای چلیپا شده اش، شالش را بر سینه نگه داشته بود، «سورو» به نیمکت اشاره کرد، و «نانا» شرمگینانه جلو آمد، و کنارش نشست؛ از زمانیکه «نانا»، در خانه ی «سورو» زیسته بود، این اولین بار بود که اینهمه به اربابش نزدیک میشد؛ «سورو» برای خود و او، دو لیوان باده ریخت، و جام خویش را لاجرعه سر کشید؛ سر را میان دو دست گرفت، موهایش را چنگ میزد و با دندانهای به هم فشرده، دعایی غریب را زمزمه میکرد؛ «نانا» که شق ورق بر لبه ی نیمکت نشسته بود، وقتی گریه ی وی را دید، راحت نشست، و دست زم��ت و پر ترکش را، دراز کرد، و با همان لطفی که بچه های وی را، در طول بیست سال گذشته، تر و خشک کرده بود، با یک حرکت خود به خودی موهای «سورو» را مرتب کرد؛ «سورو» سر برداشت، و وقتی به این چهره ی جوان نما و استخوانهای گونه ی سرخ پوستی، و گیسوی گره شده، و دامان پهناورش نگریست، که همه ی زاد و رودش روی آن آروغ زده، جنبیده و به خواب رفته اند؛ احساس کرد این زن که به اندازه خود زمین، گرم و بخشایشگر است، میتواند او را تسلی دهد؛ پیشانیش را بر دامن او نهاد، و بوی خوش پیشبند آهاردارش را بویید، و چون پسرکی به هق هق افتاد، و همه ی اشکهایی را که در مقام یک مرد، در طول زندگیش نگه داشته بود، سرازیر کرد؛ «نانا» پشت وی را خاراند، و آرام تپ تپ به پشتش زد، و با زبانی که بچه های کوچک را میخواباند، با او حرف زد، و ترانه ای روستایی برایش خواند، تا آرام شد؛ همچنان در کنار هم نشسته بودند، و باده مینوشیدند و گهگاه که روزهای خوشی را، به یاد میآوردند، میگریستند؛ روزهای خوشی که «رزا» درون باغ میدوید، و پروانه ها را، از زیباییش، که تنها از ژرفای دریا میتوانست مایه گرفته باشد، میترساند؛ دکتر «کوئواس» و دستیارش در آشپزخانه، آلات و ادوات خوفناک، و کوزه های بدبو را آماده کردند؛ پیش بندهای لاستیکی پوشیدند، و آستینهایشان را بالا زدند، و پنهانیترین قسمتهای بدن «رزا» را زیرورو کردند، تا آنکه بدون کمترین تردیدی ثابت کردند، که دختر مقدار زیادی مرگ موش خورده است، دکتر ضمن شستن دستهایش در ظرفشویی، چنین نتیجه گیری کرد: ـ «قرار بوده زهر را سورو بخورد.»؛ دستیار که از زیبایی دختر جوان بیطاقت شده بود، نمیتوانست به رها کردن دختر، در آنحالت، که مثل نیم تنه ای دوخته شده مینمود، تن در دهد، و به دکتر پیشنهاد کرد، اندکی آن را مرتب کنند؛ آن دو مرد، برای حفظ جسد از تباهی، به کار روغن زدن و مالیدن خمیر مخصوص کفن و دفن پرداختند، و تا ساعت چهار صبح کار کردند، تا آنکه دکتر «کوئواس» گفت، آنقدر خسته و غمگین است، که نمیتواند کار را ادامه دهد؛ از آشپزخانه بیرون رفت، و «رزا» زیر دست دستیار باقی ماند؛ و او لکه های خون روی پوستش را، با اسفنج پاک کرد، لباس خواب گلدوزی شده اش را، روی سینه اش گذاشت، تا بریدگی از گلوگاه، تا عضو مادینگی اش را بپوشاند، و موهایش را مرتب کرد؛ سپس به جمع و جور کردن درهم برهمیهایی، که خودش و دکتر، به وجود آورده بودند، پرداخت؛ دکتر «کوئواس» وارد اتاق نشیمن شد، و «سورو» و «نانا» را دید، که از گریه و باده نیمه مست شده اند، و گفت: «ـ حاضر است؛ تا اندازه ای مرتبش کرده ایم، طوری که مادرش میتواند برود تو و نگاهش کند.»؛ دکتر به «سورو» گفت که تردیدهایش به جا بوده است، و در معده ی دختر همان ماده ی کشنده ای را یافته است، که در عرق پیشکشی موجود بوده است؛ آنوقت بود که «سورو» به یاد پیشگویی «کلارا» افتاد، و همه ی آرامش باقیمانده اش را از دست داد، زیرا نمیتوانست فکر کند که دخترش به جای او مرده است؛ خود را بر کف اتاق افکند، و نالید، که به خاطر جاه طلبی، و لاف و گزافهایش گناهکار است، هیچکس به وی نگفته وارد سیاست شود، در مقام یک حقوقدان معمولی، و مرد خانه، وضع بسیار خوبی داشته، و از این پس کاندیداتوری شومش را رها میکند، و از حزب لیبرال و فعالیتهای اجتماعی دست میکشد، و امیدوار است هیچ یک از فرزندانش هرگز وارد سیاست نشوند، که کاری است لایق قصابان، و دزدان سرگردنه؛ تا آنکه دل دکتر «کوئواس»، به رحم آمد و لطف کرد و او را مست کرد؛ مشروب از درد و رنج و گناهش قویتر بود؛ «نانا» و دکتر او را به بالا، به اتاقش خوابش بردند و لباسهایش را کندند، و توی رختخوابش خواباندند؛ سپس به آشپزخانه برگشتند، که دستیار آخرین دستکاریها را بر جسد «رزا» انجام میداد؛ «نیوآ» و «سورو» دل واله فردا صبح دیر بیدار شدند؛ خویشاوندان نشانه های عزا به خانه آویخته بودند؛ پرده ها را کشیده، و نوارهای درشت سیاه به آن زده بودند؛ دیوارها پر شده بود از دسته گلهایی که بوی خوش بیمارکننده شان، راهروها را آکنده بود؛ در اتاق ناهارخوری، نمازخانه ی کوچکی، برای مراسم تشییع برپا کرده بودند؛ در آنجا روی میز بزرگ، که پارچه ای سیاه با حاشیه های طلایی آن را پوشانده بود، تابوت سفید «رزا» با گل میخهای نقره ای قرار داشت؛ دوازده شمع زرد در شمعدانیهای مفرغی نوری کدر بر دختر میافکند؛ لباس عروسی تنش کرده بودند، و با تاجی مومی، به شکل گل بهارنارنج، که برای روز عروسیش کنار گذاشته بودند، موهایش را آراسته بودند)؛ پایان نقل از متن کتاب

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 30/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

The house of Spirits by Isabel Allende, is a sweeping and epic story which chronicles the lives, fortunes, torment and rise and fall of three generations of the Trueba-del Valle family, in Latin America.

The early part of the book focuses on Rosa the beautiful and Clara the clairvoyant and their lives in a simple but stable home. In parallel, the story of Esteban Trueba begins, the central male character, whose brutality and cruelty are brought into sharp focus through his treatment of his land tenants. Esteban is a man who lacks principles has conquered a lot of women and fathered several children through force but sets himself up as the perfect landlord who has rebuilt the local community and provided stability for its people.

After predicting the death of her sister Rosa, Clare remains silent for 9 years, only speaking again to announce her marriage to Esteban Trueba. Despite giving birth to a daughter Blanca and twin sons Jaime and Nicolas, Clara too suffers at the hands of this fierce and brutish man. However, it is only after a violent confrontation with Blanca’s lover, Pedro Tercero, that the relationship with Esteban breaks down and Clara leaves vowing to not speak with him again. Whilst they are together the relationship never recovers.

The family relocate to the city and move into the Trueba's 'House on the Corner' but the conflict within the family continues with Esteban's arrogance taking him into conservative politics and Alba following the path of the revolutionaries and Miguel, the leader. The story of this family echoes the change in ideologies and turbulence that shaped Latin America, but tragedy is never far away and this is where the story comes to a climax and ends. “…The sins of the father are passed to the children” an underlying theme that plays brilliantly in this book.

Favourite quotes

“This is to assuage our conscience, darling" she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor. They don't need charity; they need justice”

“But why give a man something that is so hard to earn? In that respect women are really thick. They are daughters of rigidity…. They forgive him everything because he is a man”

“You can find someone who doesn’t want to be found”.

Review and Comments

The House of Spirits is the ultimate story of good versus evil, where aberration meets normality, cruelty is overshadowed by inner strength and resolve, and where brutality, pride, self love and egotism in many of the men is contrasted to the resilience, courage and endurance of many of the women in this very patriarchal society.

There is an array of powerful characters, multiple plots and stories, a mix of tragedy, love, conflict, and survival that grabs at the readers heart and is written by a superb author making this a true 20th Century classic for me.

A very unapologetic feminist story which is daring for the extent to which the author is prepared to shine a light on the oppression of women. Superb for the themes, the timeframe over three decades which is difficult to accomplish, the writing is stunning and the messaging from the book which for me is highly’spirited’.

I love this authors work and this among many of her other books are for everyone who just enjoys a fabulous story.

Epic!!!

Τα τελευταια κεφαλαια ηταν γροθια στο στομαχι...Καταπληκτικη η γραφη της Αλιεντε!

και μετα απο αυτο το βιβλιο, τι;;;

2.5 stars, actually. (Still waiting for Goodreads to give me that half-star option.) Let's be honest, Isabel Allende is chick lit that you're not embarrassed to read on the Metro. It's got just enough faux-Garcia-Marquez, magical-realism-lite charm to fool people into thinking it's moderately intellectual. I don't have a big problem with that (as long as people realize what's going on) because Allende is a fine storyteller. This novel, her first and most famous, is a fairly traditional family saga following three generations of an upper-class Chilean family from the early 20th century to the Pinochet era. The writing is lovely throughout, with vivid descriptions particularly of places and characters' physical surroundings.

The book's weak spot, however, is characterization. For a genre that depends so much on having the reader care deeply about the characters, Allende does a pretty poor job accomplishing that. I think her main problem is that she hadn't quite yet mastered the "show, don't tell" rule of writing. Instead of revealing Esteban Trueba's stubbornness and pride through his actions, she'd just tell us, "Esteban Trueba was stubborn and proud." It was mostly unconvincing and made many of the characters seem flat and two-dimensional, and you never really got that important sense of who they were as people.

Other problems: Allende has always been an author who writes about strong women, but the women in this book, not so much. I mean, when one male character beats his wife until her teeth fall out, her response (depicted as brave by the narrator) is to not talk to him for a couple years. Silence is the author's idea of female empowerment and resistance - huh? Anyway, on top of that, the only sections of first-person narration in the novel are from the point of view of the patriarch. So, yeah, problematic on that level. And just a nitpick, but she way overuses foreshadowing. Dramatically hinting at what's going to happen a few chapters on is effective once or twice, but not over and over.

Well, I realize it sounds like I hated the book, but as a story it was pretty enjoyable. At least the first half. The second half, which tracks Chilean politics and real-life events through Salvador Allende's election and Pinochet's military coup, is uninteresting and unsurprising to anyone who knows anything about 20th century Chilean history. But the first half, which is more of a romantic love story, is pretty good. I'm keeping this at 3 stars for the soft spot I have for Allende's later books, which tell stories that are (I think) more unique and compelling.

P.S. Sorry for the long review, but I spent a full month reading this book in Spanish so I feel like I've got to get my money's worth, so to speak.

n  "In almost every family there’s a fool or a crazy person."n
—Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits is set in the capital of an unnamed Latin American country during the twentieth century, and that is where I first met the del Valles.

Patriarch, Severo del Valle, has lofty political aspirations, but his magical, out-of-control family doesn’t quite conform to his ideals, leading to conflicts that are both laughable and tragic. Unworldly Rosa del Valle, the oldest daughter, is graced with a splendor unmatched by any other, setting one young man on a quest to make her his own. Esteban Trueba is an unlikely beau for Rosa the Beautiful, and their coming together is a stone thrown into the glassy surface of a mystical pond, whose ripples will radiate through generations.

"I don’t generally spend my time thinking about women," mused Trueba, "but only a fool could have failed to spot that apparition, who caused a stir wherever she went, and tied up traffic, with her incredible green hair, which framed her face like a fantastic hat, her fairy-tale manner, and her special way of moving as if she were flying."

Soon, the hopeful paramour finds the path to love is hard-won, and when heaven proves to be too far away, Trueba turns his eye toward more-earthly acquisitions.
In his quest for riches, he paves a six-lane highway straight to the gates of Hades. Hearts in turmoil are invariably a bloody affair, whether this represents the heart of a country on the cusp of a Coup d'état or a love that can never be realized.

"She felt that everything was made of glass, as fragile as a sigh, and that the machine-gun fire and bombs of that unforgettable Tuesday had destroyed most of what she knew, and that all the rest had been smashed to pieces and spattered with blood."

Though the story is awash with strong women having to survive misogyny and adversity, Allende has a gift of tempering tragedy with just enough comedy to keep the storyline electrifying. Emotional, raw, and spirited, this magical realism book was just my cup of tea.

Thank you, Kevin! Your fabulous review convinced me to read this marvelous tale.

The House of the Spirits has a lot of aspects I normally wouldn't even consider reading about, and I only started reading this book because it is a famous classic that's been recommended to me several times before. I usually don't like historical fiction set in a modern period, and I am very skeptical towards the concept of a 'family saga', which is the major theme here. Nevertheless, rating this anything lower than five stars would be a great injustice to one of the absolute best books ever written.

The book tells the story of two families in Chile in the middle of the twentieth century. The del Valle family, whose patriarch Severo is a politician for the Liberal party, and most importantly the Trueba family. Esteban Trueba marries the daughter of Severo del Valle, and the story of The House of the Spirits is the story of those two and their descendants, playing out over seventy years. This book manages to weave together the threads of the Trueba family and the modern history of Chile, and in a remarkable way captures the very identity and culture of the Chilean nation within the space of four hundred pages.

Esteban Trueba is in my eyes one of the most fascinating (and in many ways the most despicable) characters in fictional literature, ever. He's a self-made man, going from labouring long days in the mines of the north to becoming a wealthy landowner with tremendous economic and political power. The reader can follow Esteban as his political views become increasingly conservative for each passing year, and he starts on a personal crusade against communists, atheists and everyone else he considers to be a threat to the state of things. Esteban gradually turns into a bitter old man who has few friends, who despises the world and is despised by it in return, whose relations with his wife and children become colder and colder, and whose only solace is a rebellious, radical granddaughter who loves him as much as he loves her.

The House of the Spirits is an excellent novel. The writing is flawless, the characters are interesting and realistic, the story is absolutely captivating and the ending is simply beautiful (and the best part of the entire book). It is not until you reach the end and look back on the journey you've been a part of that you realise just how amazing it has been. This is one of those books everyone should read, and one I would recommend to all the book lovers out there!

ثلاثية مدهشة.. تصل ايزابيل الليندي في ختامها إلى سبعينيات القرن العشرين
تفاصيل حياة أجيال تحكي من خلالها تاريخ تشيلي السياسي والاجتماعي والفكري
ثلاث روايات يجمع بينهم الإبداع في الرؤية والسرد

Tal vez temía que ese grandioso amor, que había resistido tantas pruebas, no pudiera sobrevivir a la más terrible de todas: la convivencia.

La casa de los espíritus es el libro debut de Isabel Allende, quien es, sin duda alguna, mi escritora favorita. Este fue uno de los primeros libros que leí en mi adolescencia, después de un hiatus lector. Esta obra ocupa un lugar sumamente especial en mi corazón.

Allende narra varias generaciones de la familia Del Valle y, posteriormente la familia Trueba. Todo inicia cuando Esteban Trueba, trabajador de una mina que desde hace dos años aspira hacer fortuna para poder salir de la pobreza y llevar a su novia Rosa al altar, se entera de su repentina muerte y se lamenta los años de ausencia al lado de su amada. Años más tarde, Esteban se convierte en un temido terrateniente, despótico, agresivo y patriarca. Desposa a Clara, hermana de la difunta Rosa y juntos inician un matrimonio muy particular, donde Esteban se disputa el amor de Clara y ella, un ser humano inalcanzable, n  vive en una constante comunicación con seres de otra dimensión y se encuentra por encima de los fastidios terrenales.n

Sus vidas se desplazan entre la Gran casa de la esquina y el fundo Las Tres Marías, donde su hija Blanca se cría junto a Pedro Tercero García, hijo de un campesino y trabajador del lugar. Esto da inicio a un romance prohibido que durará toda la vida, creando un fruto: Alba, quien hereda la rebeldía de su madre y convicciones muy contrarias a la de su abuelo Esteban, por lo que pagará un alto precio por amor.

Es una historia dulce, fuerte y, para algunos personajes, cruel. Es un retrato real de la sociedad, de las costumbres, de las creencias y tradiciones de aquellos tiempos. Lo más hermoso de esta obra es la adaptabilidad con la que les lectores observamos el transcurso de 50 años de una familia no convencional; tres generaciones muy diferentes.

100 Years of Solitude except not boring, is what Isabel Allende's 1982 landmark of magical realism is. Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's epic, it follows several cyclic generations of a family through the history of a country. But it has an immediacy that 100 Years, with its frustrating mist, lacks; the story is better. It's a better book; it's the best book in the magical realism genre I've read.

South American literature is different from the rest - no, seriously, it is, I know that's a huge generalization and some South American books are just like other books, but when you read the big towering classics from South America they feel different, and the difference is magic. (Also violence, but that's a trait all colonized literature shares.)

We talk about magical realism a lot; that's a patronizing term meaning that it's just like real literature except with magic. It's patronizing to fantasy books, not to South Americans, although to be fair most fantasy is pretty lame. The defining magical realism book is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude (Colombia, 1967), which is - did I mention this? - boring.

The magic starts way farther back than that, though, in a metafictional world of dark wizards that's even more compelling for me. This is the world of the mighty Borges (Argentina, 1940s or so), Julio Cortazar (Argentina, 1960s), dazzling Clarice Lispector (Brazil, 1960s), and the grandfather of it all is sly Machado De Assis (Brazil, late 1800s), who once wrote a chapter called "Let us proceed to the chapter."

Then Roberto Bolano's 2666 blew everything up, but that's a different story. In the meantime we have House of the Spirits (Chile, 1982), which is the best magical realist novel ever written, and believe me because I've read, like...four or so of them.

The story follows three generations of women in the Trueba family: clairvoyant Clara, who marries anger-afflicted Esteban Trueba; their daughter Blanca, who carries on a secret affair with Pedro Terces Garcia, the son of Trueba's foreman; their daughter Alba, another mystic of sorts. They have a tendency to create fantastic creatures, out of cloth or clay or anything. Other characters include Clara and Esteban's twins Jaime the socialist doctor and Nicolas the guru; Trueba's bastard by rape Esteban Garcia; Pablo Neruda, himself; and one of the best dogs in literature, Barrabas. There are even more, but you will have no trouble keeping everyone straight, because Allende is a fantastic writer.

Along the way Allende tells the story of Chile and its fight for socialism. All the characters are affected by the turmoil; each is forced to pick a side. This heats up around the three quarter mark, and if you thought the book was engaging before, which you did, you'll be riveted for the last part. It's tough going - I've already mentioned rape and there's no shortage of it, along with some child molestation and some torture. (And, if you're curious, even a hot consensual adult sex scene or three.) Again, the other ongoing theme of South American novels is violence, which is always present and gets increasingly horrifying as we go.

The house itself is not the Trueba ranch in the country, Tres Marias, but their house in town that Trueba builds and then is knocked down by an earthquake and then is rebuilt again, and each time is slowly transformed by the Trueba women into a labyrinth, for various reasons - Clara responds to spirits, Alba is hiding political refugees, but it is always described as a labyrinth, which I imagine is a nod to Borges.

And like a labyrinth, the entire intricate structure fits together perfectly in ways you couldn't have imagined. There are twists and turns and sometimes you find yourself in a passage you swear you've been in before, and sometimes you think all is lost, and suddenly you're out, bewildered but exhilarated. What kind of architect dreamed this thing up? What just happened? Who knows, but it was magic.

« Ogni tanto ho la sensazione che questo l’ho già vissuto e che ho già scritto queste stesse parole, ma capisco che non sono io, bensì un’altra donna, che aveva preso appunti sui quaderni affinché io me ne servissi. Scrivo, lei ha scritto, che la memoria è fragile e il corso di una vita è molto breve e tutto avviene così in fretta, che non riusciamo a vedere il rapporto tra gli eventi, non possiamo misurare le conseguenze delle azioni, crediamo nella finzione del tempo, nel presente, nel passato, nel futuro, ma può anche darsi che tutto succeda simultaneamente, come dicevano le tre sorelle Mora, che erano capaci di vedere nello spazio gli spiriti di ogni epoca. »

Ho raccolto questo romanzo con un – pur lieve – pregiudizio. È un pregiudizio che mi accompagna ogniqualvolta incontro uno scrittore donna e non perché (lungi da me pensarlo) ritengo che le donne siano limitate e settoriali. Il vero problema è che molti scrittori donna sono considerati tali. E il pregiudizio scatta con la domanda: «potrò consigliare questo romanzo a un lettore maschio senza a)essere accusata di leggere roba sentimentale; b) sentire commenti sgradevoli sulla parzialità della scrittura femminile vs l’universalità della scrittura maschile?».
Ecco, è questo che a volte mi frena, che a volte mi frega. È questo che trasforma ogni mia recensione di scrittori donna in tremende apologie.
“La casa degli spiriti”, per fortuna, si difende da solo, bello dritto (e bello contorto) contro le accuse. È un romanzo che trovo difficile non farsi piacere, talmente vi si intrecciano storie e temi per tutti i palati. Clara non è di vostro gradimento? Ecco servita Blanca. Neanche Blanca va bene? Alba allora. E Rosa e Nivea e Esteban e Miguel e Pedro Terzo e Jaime e lo zio Marcos… ci sarà un personaggio, anche uno solo, capace di far breccia nel vostro cuore. Ci sarà una sfumatura di sentimento che trovate congeniale. Una scena. Un rintocco. Talmente vasto è l’intrico della grande casa dell’angolo, talmente ricco il tessuto della narrazione che è impossibile non affezionarsi. E ci si affeziona a tutti, anche ai peggiori, perché di tutti si conoscono i segreti lati di brutalità e di tenerezza. Niente è nascosto, specialmente il peggio.
Se cercate una scrittura fiocchi-e-confetti, questo libro non fa per voi. Quelli che cercano soltanto storie d’amore se ne tengano alla larga. C’è molto – tutto – di più. C’è sporco, sudore, merda, tortura, putrefazione, corruzione, violenza, morte. E ci sono amori, amicizie, riconoscenza, perdono, comprensione. L’alto e il basso dell’esistenza vi si trovano in parti uguali, tessuti insieme e mescolati l’uno all’altro in una scrittura viscerale. Viscerale: non c’è altro aggettivo. Una scrittura che mette a nudo la pancia della vita in tutto il suo fascino e la sua ripugnanza. Ed è questo che lo rende un romanzo completo, un romanzo di cui non si potrebbe cambiare una virgola e che si può consigliare a tutti sapendo di far bella figura.

La massima intuizione dell’opera è, a mio avviso, il fitto intreccio di fiction e storia. All’inizio non ci si bada più di tanto: si seguono le vicende di una famiglia e questo sembra tutto. Ma, mano a mano che si dispiegano le generazioni, il tempo della storia si dispiega con loro. Un tempo tragico per un paese che ha vissuto una tragedia, il Cile, mai nominato ma sempre presente, sempre protagonista. E non nominati ma così presenti sono anche il suo Presidente, Salvador Allende, e il suo Poeta, Pablo Neruda. Pagine vere, commoventi sono dedicate alla morte dei due; pagine di una brutalità agghiacciante al golpe militare. E questo è un contributo alla memoria per il quale non si può che ringraziare Isabel.
Ci sono molti passaggi che varrebbe la pena citare. Ne ho scelti alcuni, certamente insufficienti:

« Con un colpo di spugna, i militari cambiarono la storia universale, cancellando gli episodi, le ideologie e i personaggi che il regime disapprovava. Risistemarono le carte geografiche, perché non c’era alcun motivo per mettere il Nord sopra, così lontano dalla benemerita patria, se si poteva metterlo in basso… La censura, che dapprima aveva controllato solo i mezzi di comunicazione, si estese in fretta ai testi scolastici, alle parole delle canzoni, ai soggetti dei film e alle conversazioni private. C’erano parole proibite per bando militare, come la parola “compagno”, e altre che non si dicevano per precauzione, anche se nessun bando le aveva eliminate dal dizionario, come libertà, giustizia, sindacato. »

« Era una di quelle donne stoiche e pratiche del nostro paese, che con qualunque uomo che passa nella loro vita hanno un figlio e inoltre accolgono in casa i bambini che gli altri abbandonano, i parenti più poveri e chiunque abbia bisogno di una madre, una sorella, una zia… Mi sembrò uguale a tante altre che avevo conosciuto nelle mense popolari, nell’ospedale di mio zio Jaime, al Vicariato dove andavano a indagare i loro scomparsi, all’obitorio, dove andavano a cercare i loro morti. Le dissi che aveva corso un bel rischio ad aiutarmi e lei sorrise. Allora capii che il colonnello García e altri come lui hanno i giorni contati, perché non hanno potuto distruggere lo spirito di quelle donne. »

C’è molto altro, molto di più da dire. Specialmente su queste donne cilene, quelle che hanno un nome e quelle che non ce l’hanno. Isabel Allende racconta l’essere donna – e in questo senso sì, è parziale, parziale perché parla un linguaggio di sangue che nessun uomo può capire – in tutte le sue declinazioni. Nascita, pubertà, sviluppo, maturità, vecchiaia. Le nostre complicazioni, il nostro orgoglio, le nostre fragilità e le nostre forze sono in queste pagine.
Lo chiamano “realismo magico”. E so che il lato magico non consiste in questo… ma se intrappolare un mondo in un romanzo non è magia, cos’altro lo è?

"No se puede encontrar a quien no quiere ser encontrado"

Es el libro primer libro de la autora chilena, y a mi juicio el más icónico, que todos deberían leer. Representa un clásico de la literatura latinoamericana, tanto como “Cien Años de Soledad” de Gabriel García Márquez.

La historia relata la vida de la familia Trueba a lo largo de cuatro generaciones y sigue los movimientos sociales y políticos del período poscolonial de Chile. Narrada desde la perspectiva de dos de sus protagonistas, los acontecimientos retratados en ella tratan sobre el amor, la familia, la muerte, los fantasmas, las clases sociales, la revolución, la política y los ideales.

Los personajes son fuertes y están muy bien desarrollados dentro de una historia que refleja el poder de una familia y su patriarca, la problemática de la revolución por los derechos laborales y la lucha de clases. Es un relato que te atrapa, con la narrativa impecable de Allende.

“La casa de los espíritus”, es un mundo complicado donde se mezclan elementos mágicos y surrealistas con una situación política que se va agravando a lo largo de la historia hasta conducirnos a un trágico final.

100% recomendado

"Igual que en el momento de venir al mundo, al morir tenemos miedo de lo desconocido. Pero el miedo es algo interior que no tiene nada que ver con la realidad. Morir es como nacer: sólo un cambio".