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The House of the Spirits Review

Isabel Allende's masterpiece _The House of the Spirits_ follows several generations of the del Valle family through the twentieth century in an unnamed South American country. The story is told through 3 narrators: an unknown omnicient narrator, Esteban Trueba, a conservative patron, and (until the end of the book), an unknown woman. These three narrators relate the political and social happenings of their country, as well as the personal details of the family. I was consumed by the story.

To a large extent, Allende "out-Marquezes" Gabriel Marquez. His One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.) follows a similar theme, and is written in a similar genre (magical realism.) However, I found _The House of the Spirits_ both easier to read and much more interesting. There are supernatural elements of the story, especially within the house of which book is titled, as Clara (a del Valle daughter, and wife of Trueba) sees and speaks to spirits. But the book is much more than a genre piece - it is the narrative of continent, as the del Valle's (and Trueba's) struggles are a microcosom of Latin America: the conflict between liberals and conservatives, the endemic generations of fatherless children, the passion of youth and forbidden love across social classes, the tendency (especially in the 20th century) towards fascism and dictatorship. It is both beautiful and tragic, much like South America itself.

The scope and scale of the book alone would warrant high marks; that it is so lyrically written gives it 5 stars. A lesser story written with such ardor would also earn 5 stars from me. For example, writing of the political chaos that so often wracks that part of the world, she writes, "She did not understand the state of civil war, not did she realizt that war is the soldier's work of art, the administration of all their training, the gold medal of their profession. Soldiers are not made to shine in times of peace. ..." Allende, however has a messge for her countrymen, and finishes the book on a positive note with hope for the future, although perhaps with a bitter-sweet tone. Without spoiling the story, Allende tells us "It would be difficult ... to avenge all those who should be avenged, because ... revenge would just be another part of the same inexorable rite. (We) have to break that terrible chain."

_The House of the Spirits_ was the first book about the del Valle family, the saga which continues (through other branches of the family) in Daughter of Fortune: A Novel (P.S.) and Portrait in Sepia, although these are set earlier in time. While I immensely enjoyed these others, far and away _The House of the Spirits_ is my favorite. Enthusiastically recommended.

The House of the Spirits Overview

A best seller and critical success all over the world, The House of the Spirits is the magnificent epic of the Trueba family -- their loves, their ambitions, their spiritual quests, their relations with one another, and their participation in the history of their times, a history that becomes destiny and overtakes them all.

We begin -- at the turn of the century, in an unnamed South American country -- in the childhood home of the woman who will be the mother and grandmother of the clan, Clara del Valle. A warm-hearted, hypersensitive girl, Clara has distinguished herself from an early age with her telepathic abilities -- she can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future. Following the mysterious death of her sister, the fabled Rosa the Beautiful, Clara has been mute for nine years, resisting all attempts to make her speak. When she breaks her silence, it is to announce that she will be married soon.

Her husband-to-be is Esteban Trueba, a stern, willful man, given to fits of rage and haunted by a profound loneliness. At the age of thirty-five, he has returned to the capital from his country estate to visit his dying mother and to find a wife. (He was Rosa's fiance, and her death has marked him as deeply as it has Clara.) This is the man Clara has foreseen -- has summoned -- to be her husband; Esteban, in turn, will conceive a passion for Clara that will last the rest of his long and rancorous life.

We go with this couple as they move into the extravagant house he builds for her, a structure that everyone calls "the big house on the corner," which is soon populated with Clara's spiritualist friends, the artists she sponsors, the charity cases she takes an interest in, with Esteban's political cronies, and, above all, with the Trueba children...their daughter, Blanca, a practical, self-effacing girl who will, to the fury of her father, form a lifelong liaison with the son of his foreman...the twins, Jaime and Nicolas, the former a solitary, taciturn boy who becomes a doctor to the poor and unfortunate; the latter a playboy, a dabbler in Eastern religions and mystical disciplines...and, in the third generation, the child Alba, Blanca's daughter (the family does not recognize the real father for years, so great is Esteban's anger), a child who is fondled and indulged and instructed by them all.

For all their good fortune, their natural (and supernatural) talents, and their powerful attachments to one another, the inhabitants of "the big house on the corner" are not immune to the larger forces of the world. And, as the twentieth century beats on...as Esteban becomes more strident in his opposition to Communism...as Jaime becomes the friend and confidant of the Socialist leader known as the Candidate...as Alba falls in love with a student radical...the Truebas become actors -- and victims -- in a tragic series of events that gives The House of the Spirits a deeper resonance and meaning.

It is the supreme achievement of this splendid novel that we feel ourselves members of this large, passionate (and sometimes exasperating) family, that we become attached to them as if they were our own. That this is the author's first novel makes it all the more extraordinary. The House of the Spirits marks the appearance of a major, international writer.

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Customer Reviews

A Visionary View - Ila France Porcher -
This saga depicting the evolving generations of a family, is a visionary exploration of the psychology of family, culture, and state.

Filled with heartwarming, wrenching, and unexpected human stories and adventures, it keeps the reader riveted to it.

As Isabel Allende's first book it is a remarkable work of genius, as well as a window on another way of life, of such a richness that it is unforgettable.

It's one of those books to go back to again and again, for its beauty, and the brilliancy of its author.

Somewhere above average... - S. Hewlett - Pierre, South Dakota
I read several reviews both before and after ordering The House of Spirits and reading it, twice. I re-read it because there is just A LOT of information that I felt as though I had to have missed something the first time, but I believe this novel is completely void of a definite plot. It is simply the convoluted story of a family. The characters are unique to say the very least, but some are violently unloveable and others are too weird to embrace, Allende's portrait of this family saga is a quintessential freak show. The book's paragraphs are exhaustingly long, and though the book is roughly 400 pages, it seems much longer. These paragraphs also randomly change voice for no apparent reason, and I found myself stopping to re-discover whose voice I was reading in order to continue. A few reviews coined this book as "grotesque", I didn't find that to be true at all. It is reality that there are really bad people that exist in our world and it is refreshing that our author can incorporate that with brutal honesty.

Try this book twice. - k.kachel -
After forcing myself through about fifty pages, I decided this book was average and abandoned it for something else. When I came back and picked it up a few months later, though, it was a completely different novel and I literally had trouble putting it down. It made me late for work. This is the kind of book that might not catch you the first time, even if you particularly enjoy the South American magical realism thing (I do), but if you put it aside and never try reading it again, you are missing out on one of the most wonderful and transfixing books out there.

So. It might take two tries to get into this, but it absolutely deserves them. If you don't like it on the first attempt, pick it up later and just start wherever you left off. After another ten minutes, you'll go back to the beginning.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 06, 2010 21:20:04

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Friday, August 6, 2010