The House of the Spirits: A Novel
by Isabel Allende
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Book Summary Information
Author: Isabel AllendeTranslator: Magda Bogin
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-30
ISBN: 0553383809
Number of pages: 433
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of The House of the Spirits: A Novel
Book Review: Powerful Family Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
The Pablo Neruda quote that precedes Allende's The House of the Spirits asks, "How much does a man live, after all?/Does he live a thousand days, or only one?/ For a week, or for several centuries?" Allende goes on to write a graceful, powerful intergenerational saga focusing on the eccentric Trueba family which contemplates the workings of time and memory. A work that some would label "magical realism," The House of the Spirits includes several characters with supernatural abilities, and Allende's novel seems to purposely blend the past, present, and future in an attempt to challenge linear, logical notions of time. As Alba eloquently observes in the novel's epilogue, "I write, she wrote, that memory is fragile and the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously - as the three Mora sisters said, who could see the spirits of all eras mingled in space" (432).
Indeed, the reader of Allende's novel is instructed to be attentive to chronology throughout. Alba, the granddaughter of Esteban and Clara (the Clairvoyant) Trueba, points out that she has arranged her grandmother Clara's notebooks, which were not in chronological order, so that a reader can follow the family's story. Alba and her grandfather Esteban narrate the story in turn (though usually Alba is at the helm), and both characters, narrating from the present, have knowledge of the family's history, and the sequence of events that is just unfolding for the reader through the novel. Therefore, our narrators often give clues to events that will occur later in the story and often refer back to earlier stories or details which become important later. More blatantly, the sort of circular or nonlinear representation of time in the novel is embodied in the supernatural storylines. Clara, the matriarch of the Trueba family, is a clairvoyant who has the ability to communicate with spirits, among numerous other psychic powers. Clara can foretell events (often tragic ones), and her ability to co-exist with spirits leads to the entrance of her newly deceased sister-in-law Ferula into "the big house on the corner," as the Trueba estate is called, and Clara's own appearance to the family after her death. All of Clara's psychic powers lend a magical feel to Allende's novel and futher contribute to the idea that the time of the memory and of the spirit are fluid and indefinite.
The House of the Spirits raises many interesting questions about time, memory, and family, but it also presents those interested in gender studies much to think about. The patriarch of the Trueba family, Esteban, is a power-hungry, violent, self-righteous man who, while claiming to love his wife, angrily strikes her and regularly visits brothels. Before his marriage to Clara, Esteban makes it a habit to rape peasant girls in his hacienda Tres Marias, impregnating several of them with no concern for the children he has fathered. Despite his abominable character, he is central to the novel and even narrates parts of it. His granddaughter Alba also remains close with her grandfather at the end of the novel, and the reader is, in a sense, asked to sympathize with Esteban. On the other hand, the female characters rarely commit any serious offenses in the readers' eyes. Clara lives in another world much of the time, but all of the book's characters love her, and Blanca and Alba are extremely sympathetic characters. Blanca and Alba both devote their lives to love affairs with men who are involved in the Communist resistance (Esteban, father of Blanca and grandfather of Alba, eventually becomes a Senator and is a staunch advocate for the conservative right), and Alba is even drawn into political struggle (to the point of being arrested and tortured) because of her relationship with Miguel, a guerilla leader. Rosa, whose presence sort of haunts Esteban and the novel, but only slightly, is merely a beautiful creature. Women in the novel are given most of their power in the domestic realm (with the possible exception of Alba at some points), but are nonetheless the heart and soul of the novel and of the Trueba family. The women's stories are the ones that are, in my opinion, the most interesting to read. Also, I think it's important to note that Clara and Alba are characterized as creative spirits and writers in this novel. Although Esteban adds his own narration occasionally and gives Alba the idea to write down her family's story, the novel is primarily controlled by the stories of Clara's notebooks and Alba's narration. These female characters become the keepers and recorders of the family's history.
The spirited Alba is a particularly intriguing character, and I found that her entrance into the novel (chapters 8 and 9) piqued my interest. When I first began reading the novel, I had a little trouble getting into it and quickly grew tired of the character of Esteban. The second half of the book was a much more interesting read for me, and I felt that the Epilogue provided a fitting conclusion to this story, though I found myself wishing I could read more about the lives of Blanca, Pedro Tercero, Miguel, and Alba when I closed the novel.
Summary of The House of the Spirits: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.
The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.
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