Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits (Knopf, 1985)

The House of the Spirits has set a new record at Goat Central. I have been trying to read this book for three years. Three solid years (well, just shy. Another two weeks and I would have made the anniversary). Why did I keep trying? Because when I'm actually reading it, it's not half bad. But every time I put it down, there is nothing, not a single thing, about it that makes me want to pick it up again. So I'll end up going six to eight months between chapters, then feel guilty, resolve I'm going to finish it this time (no, really), pick it up, and read another chapter. At which point I'll need to set it down again to take a break, for Allende is second only to Doris Lessing when it comes to writing long, drawn-out chapters where nothing at all occurs. And another six to eight months will pass...

So I'm breaking the cycle. I tried again tonight, and I realized that this whole time, I haven't cared about a single character in this book. Sure, they're all relatively well-written, but it's not enough to be well-written if they never actually get around to doing anything except pontificating. And that, well, they do a lot of that. I'm assuming this book doesn't have a plot; if you haven't started your plot a third of the way into the book, you need to go back and do a few more writing workshops.

I have had many people, when I have mentioned in the past that I was trying to get through this dog, positively gush at me about how wonderful a book it is and how much they learned from it. I assume what they learned was the patience of the grave. I, unfortunately, failed that lesson. There are far too many other books in the world for me to waste any more time on this one. (zero)

La casa de los espíritus es una novela fascinante, compleja e irresistiblemente evocadora en la que Isabel Allende, por medio de un pulso narrativo implacable y un despliegue creativo dotado de inconmensurable humanidad, nos conduce a lo largo de tres generaciones de la familia Trueba explorando las pasiones, andanzas y desventuras de sus integrantes mientras logra, como telón de fondo pero también como motor causal, un retrato de la sociedad y política chilena del siglo XX.

La historia inicia con Esteban Trueba, un hombre autoritario, conservador y abusivo que se alza como el patriarca de su familia y el patrón de una ascienda a la que comanda con pasión por el rigor y desprecio por los peones a los que considera de orden irrevocablemente inferior. A su lado, la matriarca y el personaje fundamental de esta historia: Clara. Una descendiente de la familia del Valle, dotada de una sensibilidad inaudita para moverse por este mundo y otros permaneciendo casi ajena al ímpetu obsesivo con que su marido intenta perpetuamente poseerla.

A estos personajes se les unen muchos otros que irán voluntaria o involuntariamente sellando los destinos mutuos y creando una crónica de las múltiples formas del espíritu humano y las emociones que lo rigen o corrompen. Además de Clara, Allende parece hacer especial énfasis en el retrato de la hija y nieta de ésta, Blanca y Alba, quienes constituyen fuerzas independientes, diferentes entre que sí, pero que desafían a su manera el rol impuesto a las mujeres de la época tanto en el seno familiar como en la vorágine política y social.

Rica en matices, conflictos interpersonales y la construcción de un rompecabezas que va vinculando a sus personajes de formas a veces impredecibles, la novela funciona además como un espléndido diagrama de la sociedad chilena del siglo XX y su historia, desde el autoritarismo de la clase privilegiada y la impunidad del hombre para ejercer la violencia o incluso el abuso sexual sobre la mujer hasta el surgimiento de voces revolucionarias que proponían una política más justa y la consecuente lucha civil por el control de un país que acaba azorado por una dictadura innegablemente brutal. La autora consigue que atestigüemos el surgimiento de un movimiento y la resistencia de otros, que convivamos con la tradición, el patriarcado, la injusticia, los ideales, el amor y la pérdida y que lo hagamos de la mano de personajes que lejos de ser unidimensionales están dotados de una asombrosa humanidad que nos permite amarlos o aborrecerlos pero sintiéndolos siempre profundamente auténticos.

Há quem diga que é o parente mais próximo de Cem Anos de Solidão. O parentesco confirmou-se, A Casa dos Espíritos é um livro inesquecível.
Falar da história do livro e da família Trueba, é falar da história do Chile. Do conservadorismo dos governos, dos movimentos revolucionários do proletariado, da ditadura, da tortura e da morte de milhares às garras do regime. No entanto, embora seja evidente para o leitor, não há identificação de carrascos ou de heróis. Assim como Neruda é mencionado simplesmente como o Poeta, Pinochet é o Ditador e Salvador Allende o Presidente deposto. Na incógnita das personagens desenha-se a história de um país e de um povo.
A magia de Isabel Allende é misturar tão bem a realidade com o folclore e misticismo sul-americanos sem nunca nos parecer cair em exagero. As personagens são a ponte entre os dois mundos, mas tão credíveis nos seus contornos reais e fantásticos que reforçam e unem os dois universos.
À semelhança de Cem Anos de Solidão, também aqui se sente a presença constante do universo feminino. Num espaço de machismo e brutalidade masculina, o domínio dos homens é por vezes ilusório, são as mulheres o símbolo da resistência, são elas que congeminam e concretizam as grandes ideias, que amam desmesuradamente, que sofrem e sacrificam-se pelos seus homens, e tecem uma teia labiríntica de entreajuda que corrige as falhas do poder masculino.

Não foi a primeira leitura que fiz de Isabel Allende, mas foi a mais arrebatadora. A que mais me fez sentir a presença das personagens como gente de carne e osso; gente que me fez rir e chorar, sofrer com uns e enfurecer-me com outros, enquanto todos vão deambulando por entre espíritos e sussurros de fantasmas, numa existência de inevitável fatalidade.

This took me some time to read as I wanted to savour it for as long as possible and not have it end. This is my first Allende novel which depicts an epic story of a Latin American family that spans 3 generations. Weaved throughout are hints of mysticism, history, political unrest, cultural richness along with vivid descriptions of a cast of characters in which some evoke ethereal auras and others violent furies.

Allende’s masterful style of writing is lavish with foreshadowing and thematic contrasts and brings as much satisfaction as a warm toasty fire on a cold winter day. 5 ★

الرواية التي لا تستطيع تحديد من من شخصياتها هو الأحب لقلبك هي رواية رائعة بالتأكيد.

É TÃO bom regressar aos livros que nos aquecem e nos arrebatam!!!

NOTA - 10/10

#outubrohispanoamericano

Opinião completa no meu cantinho:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5pNb...

4.5/5

Esteban, Trueba,
how does your childhood grow?
With fear and guilt and such hard work
and a love that leaves you low.
In thoughts of grief and thoughts of rage,
and a slump of of broken land,
you will rape your heart out, Esteban,
set life to your demand.

Clara, Clara, clairvoyant,
how does your marriage keep?
With magic silent and so near,
to where your children sleep.
When tragedy has struck your home,
and the bull is in the shop,
reality will find you there,
your disengagement stop.

Humans, humans, high and low,
what does your life move toward?
To riches spun in paradise,
And poor ones marching forward.
When man must strain for food and work,
and women for their life,
the wealth grows lazy in its keep,
and tensions run in strife.

Politics, politics,
what are your true names?
The search for living fair and true,
the beasts of power games.
When fear drives sides to action,
and both believe in might,
lands will burn in suffering;
no one escapes the light.

Esteban, Trueba,
you've lived a life of pride,
planted seeds of cruel revenge,
and harvested in stride.
You are old now, Esteban,
what has your life earned?
A ghost, a house, a granddaughter;
all are scorched and burned.

Esteban, Trueba,
how does your country grow?
With driving out the communists,
or dictators and woe?
When tragedy has snuffed your pride,
and your path is lost in fear,
you'll find your guidance, Esteban;
redemption gathers here.

Reader, reader, reading here,
what is this story read?
A tale of individuals,
Small strainings birthed for dead?
It is one and it is all,
growing evermore,
family framed society;
history at its core.

Reader, reader, what is life,
how does one tell it true?
With torture, fear, and oftentimes,
death of all you knew.
And yet life keeps, and yet life goes,
and strength is found in you,
men of hope, women strong,
love and laughter too.

Time of death: 67%
The framing of this book didn't work for me. I thought the insight was stunning, the idea ambitious and the translation phenomenal. But the actual story was all hitting a dead horse, summaries, and spending time in the heads of people I find not only uninteresting but repugnant. 1 star because I got over the 50% mark so I'm counting it read, and an extra star because I can see the significance of this work, and will assume that the last third contains all the poignancy I've missed.

CONTENT WARNING: (a list of topics)  rape (on screen), pedophilia, loss of a loved one, animal cruelty, spousal abuse, body horror, necrophilia

I wanted to spend more time in the heads of Clara, investigating her older sister, Tercero, and the things that wove them together. This read more like a family biography one would bring to the family reunion, plus a bunch of stuff intended to cause drama. It couldn't capture me and as I have a quota on the amount of rape I choose to witness, I'm moving on.

If you'd like to see the playlist I created for this book (through what I read) you can find it here: You may see the playlist I've assembled for this book here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mv...

Αν και είναι το πρώτο δικό της βιβλίο που διαβάζω, στον κόσμο του βιβλίου και όχι μόνο, η Αλιέντε δεν χρειάζεται συστάσεις. Ήταν καιρός λοιπόν να την γνωρίσω κ εγώ και νομίζω ότι αυτή η έναρξη που έκανα ήταν ότι καλύτερο θα μπορούσα να επιλέξω.
Δεν θα πω πολλά. Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι πλέον πασίγνωστο. 3 γενιές μιας οικογένειας. Μαζί τους βιώνουμε το τέλος μιας ολόκληρης εποχής και τις επιπτώσεις του. Δεν χρειάζεται να αναφέρω την ιστορία, διότι η γνώμη μου είναι απλώς να το διαβάσετε.
Αυτό που μου έκανε την μεγαλύτερη εντύπωση είναι ότι τα γεγονότα του βιβλίου αρκετές φορές είτε σκληρά είτε βάναυσα είτε τραγικά περιγράφονται με αυτή την ήρεμη, ρομαντική αποδοχή που πραγματικά μόνο σε λατινόφωνους συγγραφείς την έχω συναντήσει. Ότι και να συνέβαινε στην πλοκή το βίωνα με μια ευχάριστη μακαριότητα… πραγματικά αυτό το βιβλίο είναι σαν τα ναρκωτικά… πως αλλιώς να το θέσω;
Επίσης τι να πω για την γλώσσα; Ο λόγος της είναι υπέροχος. Κάποιες ατάκες ήταν σκέτη ποίηση…
Παρόλο που λίγο πιο πάνω ανέφερα ότι δεν θα σχολιάσω πολλά (ναι καλά), κάτι άλλο που πρέπει να πω είναι το πάντρεμα του μαγικού στοιχείου με τον ρεαλισμό στο βιβλίο…πραγματικά δεν ξέρω, δεν νομίζω ότι θα κατέτασσα Το σπίτι των πνευμάτων στον μαγικό ρεαλισμό. Θα μου πεις και που θα το κατέτασσες; Έλα μου ντε… Το μαγικό στοιχείο έρχεται και δένει απίστευτα ομαλά με τον ρεαλισμό (σε μερικά σημεία σχεδόν νατουραλισμό, ειδικά προς το τέλος.) Η αφήγηση είναι ρεαλιστικότατη, δεν έχει αυτό το ονειρικό που συναντάμε στον λατινικό μαγικό ρεαλισμό. Τέλος πάντων, όλο αυτό μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ.
Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο, παρά τον όγκο του και τις διάφορες εναλλαγές των ηρώων. Δεν βαρέθηκα και δεν κουράστηκα.
4.5/5

When I travel I like to take along a book, usually fiction, that connects to the places I will visit. I recently took a trip to South America (namely Chile, Patagonia and Argentina with a few days in Uruguay). It's a part of the world I've long wanted to visit and thought taking The House of the Spirits would be a good accompaniment. Turned out it was very appropriate but not an easy read for a hectic travel schedule. The book is moderately long and while I had both the audio and print in hand I just could not find the time to sit down to really delve into it in order to engage with the story as it needed. I had read it previously in the 1980's when it was first released and still remembered some of the characters. It is a great family saga of a book with a clairvoyant central character, Clara, who is married to Esteban Trueba. This story looks at primarily their family, both before and after their marriage and the complications their children add by finding the usual ways of defying their parents and bringing chaos into the family situation.

This all takes place in the background of a South American country (likely Chile but unnamed) as the society advances (during the times just before the World War I and through the late 50's), as gap widens between the aristocratic class and the peasants and a fear of Communism by the wealthy takes hold. When a socialistic government is elected, there is much work behind the scenes by some politicians to make sure it will fail. The hope is that there will be little resistance by the populist when a military coup results and can reset the balance of power back to the wealthy conservatives. But instead a military dictatorship assumes control with a secret police disappearing all detractors.
These events and times play an important role in the story.

It was not an easy book to read. It is Allende's debut novel and though she has written many books since, this is the modern classic she is best known for and there is good reason for this (see the P.S.S. below). While the writing can be a little less polished at times the story is so well crafted and manages to survive under a heavy burden of politics. For me it was the type of book that when I finished it and finally understood the full weight of where it was going and the beauty of the message I wanted to go back and start again to fully appreciated how it had managed to weave such an incredible story and lead these many characters in such an incremental dance to arrive at a finish that fit so beautifully.

The author did a fair amount of foreshadowing to try to lead the reader down the road in the tale but I still often found myself lost. There is a lot of story here and many events and a lots of names to keep straight, not as bad as a Russian novel but it required a concentration that I was not always capable of at the end of a long day of travel. Yet I am very glad I took it along and read steadily in its pages on trains, planes and buses. It got better and better as it progressed.

A really great book that almost 50 years old is quite relevant for present times. I'm sure I will absorb much more from this reading over time but so far it's main message to me has been:
Each of us leaves a legacy. We will unlikely know its full extent and only have glimpses of it in our lifetime but no matter for how long or for how short of time we live, each of use sends ripples of thoughts, events and feelings that affect others in ways we do not realize.

P.S. I could never have finished it with the audio alone. The story is too complicated for me to fully absorb with even a great audio. The audio was narrated by Thom Rivera and Marisol Ramirez and it was well done but I found I needed the actual book to turn back and forth in, in order to keep names straight and review who characters and events. I also felt it was best to have large chunks of reading to best appreciate and absorb the story. Too much was happening and events often had long term repercussions that did not lend themselves to dipping in and out of.
In all definitely worth the time and effort.

P.S.S. Isabel Allende's father was first cousin to Salvador Allende, President in Chile from 1970 to 1973 when his palace was bombed and his government was overthrown by forces of General Pinochet. Much of this book is believed to be semi autobiographical. In my travels it was heart warming to find how beloved and admired Salvador Allende is, even among the youth. I will say travel in South American is not always easy but well worth it. So glad I got to see this part of the world and learn more about its people.

I CORRECTED WIKIPEDIA, AND I LIKED IT : A GEEKY MINOR ANECDOTE

Since The House of the Spirits is all about Chile I thought I’d check out some history on Wikipedia. I found a page called Timeline of Chilean History. So I was reading that and I came across this under the year 2006 – it was a classic WTF moment :

Strange Missile Accident in Chile killing 50,000 citizens as investigators call it just an accident, some think is was planned to hit the oceans of California but went wrong. Sources say that nobody knew about the missile and thats what made it even more dangerous. Unsuspecting people dying at 12:00 P.M exactly.

Oho, I thought, a piece of vandalism if ever I saw one. This insane item was unsourced - because everyone knows there was no strange missile accident in Chile killing 50,000. I think we would all have been somewhat aware of it if there had been. (Vandalism as you probably know is when people with a sense of innocent fun insert wild and crazy untruths into the hallowed pages of the great Wiki. Editors should prowl all ten billion pages of Wikipedia 24/7 and prevent this happening but some things get missed. The more obscure page it is, the longer your ridiculous made up nonsense will stay there.)

I left the strange missile accident there for 24 hours then I came back and deleted it just like that, because anyone can edit Wikipedia.

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS

And now back to our scheduled programme. This is a very looooonnnnngggggg novel often described as magical realist. Well, there is a charming young proto-hippy called Clara who has telekinetic and clairvoyant powers, she can predict the future, but this happens only sporadically. There was not enough magic for me. If I had a kid like Clara she would have been bundled up and taken to the track every Saturday. “Which horsey is gonna win this race, dear?”

IF I MAY BE SO BOLD

As to complain just a leetle bit about a couple of leetle things, really nothing at all, but in this 500 page 20th century panorama, until the election of Allende, the author only mentions three historical events – world wars get a vague reference and the moon landing comes up briefly. So most of the time we are rafting lazily in timeless mode. Well, maybe that’s how it was in Chile mostly. But it was like being on holiday with no signal and no newspapers.

And I must say that this book is full of page long paragraphs of explication and descriptive listings of interior decoration, and for long stretches is wholly bereft of dialogue. I could have used a bit more lively dialogue. These are plenty lively characters so let's hear them talk to each other! C'mon!

Then also, I have a dislike of when authors call characters The Candidate or The President or The Poet and decline to give them names. I guess in this case Isabel Allende wanted to be clear that she was referring to Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda but still, a fictitious name would look better I think.

WHIMSY REPLACED BY TORTURE

This is a book of two halves. Make that four quarters. Maths is not my strong subject. The last 150 pages are a whole other thing. Up to then we get a whimsical family saga about three generations of women coping with the usual crew of misshapen hideous men-beasts, mainly in the form of the nasty padrone of the hacienda Esteban Trueba, whose hobbies were raping peasant girls and screaming at people.

But when Salvador Allende wins the 1970 election everything changes. In the military coup that followed after three years of chaos torture replaces cuteness and we get a gruelling horror story full of despair. This was the great part of the book for me. I noticed that this appalling account of what fascists will do to anyone who looks at them in the wrong way was written only ten years after the actual events. It gave me a chill.

3.5 stars for me (a life-changing 5 stars for many other readers, of course)

Allende's first and best work of art. The story of three generations of Trueba women that tells the history of a nation.

During the first 10 pages I was thinking to myself that there is way too much similarity on so many levels to One Hundred Years of Solitude, but why not, since it's the bible of Latin American magical realism?

In addition to Clara, the second Del Valle daughter who forsaw the future, communicated with spirits, and moved objects without touching them, and Blanca, her daughter who was castaway because of her forbidden love story with a communist peasant, and Alba, Blanca's daughter who had the green hair of her great aunt Rosa, the story of the book also revolves around Senator Esteban Trueba, the hardline right-wing, anti-communist, angry yet heartbroken oligarch; the Latin Patriarch of the Trueba family, and the man who built the big house on the corner. Allende almost seems rather sympathetic to the man who supressed his workers, raped all the peasant girls he could get his hands on, denied his illigitimate children, knocked the teeth out of his wife's mouth, beat his daughter and alienated her, almost killing her lover and forcing her to marry a French count with strange sexual fetishes, and contibuted greatly to the fall of a democratic government. What's the reason for this sympathetic attitude? maybe because it's Isabelle's own grandfather? Probably.

What I loved most about The House of the Spirits is that it bore witness to the most important part of Chilean history: the Pinochet era. The narration of events that lead to the rising popularity of leftist parties that lead to the election of "the President" who is Salvador Allende- related to the author- the role the oligarchy played in giving the military a new-found power which resulted in the assasination of Allende, the fall of democracy in a country that was unfamiliar to coups and non-democratic processes, and the instillation of a tyrannical right-wing dictatorship that killed off its political enemies, tortured political prisoners, assasinated whoever was suspect of Marxism, and ruined the history of a nation, headed by Pinochet.

The best way to follow this book is by reading her memoires: My Invented Country, and getting a Pablo Neruda - referred to as The Poet in the book- poetry collection.