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Product Description
Spanning four generations, Isabel Allende's magnificent family saga is populated by a memorable, often eccentric cast of characters. Together, men and women, spirits, the forces of nature, and of history, converge in an unforgettable, wholly absorbing and brilliantly realised novel that is as richly entertaining as it is a masterpiece of modern literature.
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Spanning four generations, Isabel Allende's magnificent family saga is populated by a memorable, often eccentric cast of characters. Together, men and women, spirits, the forces of nature, and of history, converge in an unforgettable, wholly absorbing and brilliantly realised novel that is as richly entertaining as it is a masterpiece of modern literature.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A massive book bursting at the seams with magic and fantasy and also encompassing over half a century of Chilean history veiled under the disguise of metaphor. The story may run for 500 pages but they disappear so quickly that when you read the words 'The end', you flick back to page one and begin Allende's mystically real realm of spirits all over again.
The haunting truth of this book is its realism. One feels a part of the landscapes such as the cordillera or the vineyards, even though you are never told you are in Chile. However Allende, born in Lima and now US citizen yet Chilean through her parents (indeed a niece of ex-President Salvador Allende, who crops up as the candidate in the story), is attempting to reclaim the history of her country as well as suggesting hope for the future in the female lineage of her family.
One must remember the context in which this book was written. Allende had fled her country following the 1973 coup d'etat, and was living in Venezuela. The book despite its metaphorical disguise breaks the silence of dictatorship, and demonstrates how the barbarities of the despotic Pinochet have plunged her beautiful country into turmoil. Her haunting real descriptions broadcast her experiences and those of her countrymen to the outside world, and this seemingly magical yet sadly realistic literary world aligns this novel with that masterpiece of magical realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by the Nobel Prize winning Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Despite the easily readable accounts of her eccentric family and her marvellously painted 'country of catastrophes', Allende blends her lyrical magic with figures of historical importance, such as her Uncle, Pablo Neruda (the Poet) and Victor Jara (the guitarist, Pedro Tercero Garcia). This book could be read as a fictional account of Chile between 1910 and 1980, but I would recommend it more simply as a masterpiece of modern fiction and a classic to be enjoyed by lovers of fiction of all ages.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can still remember reading Allende's opening lines in Liverpool's Bold Street Waterstones. 'Barrabas came to us by sea, the child Clara wrote in her delicate calligraphy.' I tingled all over, bought the book and barely managed to get off the train at Bolton Station. Literary purists always gesture knowingly towards their copies of Marquez's One Hundred years of Solitude. Leave them to it. Allende was born to write this book. She centres her story on a family's experience of Pinochet's savage regime in Chile. The House of the Spirits is as the title suggests, a family saga but a saga marvellously suffused by 'other' ways of knowing about events and futures. Part of the magic of the novel is that the 'spirit' co-exists powerfully with the 'material' in an unapologetic and finally redemptive way. The epigraph by the poet Pablo Neruda says it all for me:
How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
...What does it mean to say 'for ever'?
How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
...What does it mean to say 'for ever'?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Is not a secret that I love the magic realism, and this book is a good exponent of this movement.
A familiar history, with strong characters, hard stories, bad (and some good) times.
I read it so long ago (when I was 13 or so) and return to it each 5 years approx.
One of the best in its genre.
A familiar history, with strong characters, hard stories, bad (and some good) times.
I read it so long ago (when I was 13 or so) and return to it each 5 years approx.
One of the best in its genre.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Barabas lives on...
I started this book and was unable to put it down. First & foremost, the syntax of the writing style Allende imposes upon the reader is astounding. Read more
Published 3 months ago by L.Lais
Give Isabel Allende a try?
I was wondering if I should try Allende's books in Spanish so it was good to look at this and see if it is worth buying. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lathe User
Great book that's more gripping than expected
I came to this through references to its magic realism, which I enjoy. This aspect of the book is played down, although it has more than a passing resemblance to Gabriel Marquez. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Archy
Wonderful Magical Epic
I first read this book as a teenager - nearly 20 years on it's still one of my favourites, and I must have read it about ten times. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kate Hopkins
An all-time Classic!!!
Isabel Allende will hopefully and deservedly win the Nobel Prize for Literature one day! This book is just brilliant - sometimes hilariously funny and others almost poignant -... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Wendi
A Visionary History of a Great Family
This saga depicting the evolving generations of a family, is a visionary exploration of the psychology of family, culture, and state. Read more
Published on 15 May 2010 by Ila France Porcher, author of My Sunset Rendezvous
A surprise
Initially, I was put off by the fantasy element(shades of Marquez), but this is a good story, with many touching moments. Read more
Published on 6 May 2010 by Donald Hughes
UNPUTDOWNABLE
I read this book about four years ago and really enjoyed it. It was my first Isabelle Allende book and I have since read three others. Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by ANNE O'NEILL MAXWELL
Strangely compelling
This is far from my normal taste in fiction, but it is strangely compelling. This is partly because many of the characters are characatures - weird and wonderful and wacky... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2009 by W. Bustard
A fantastic read
I read my invented country and thought it was excellent as it described perfectly, and humouresly Chile and the Chilean people. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2009 by N. Peters
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