The house of the spirits

Carlos Francisco 📖 reviewed La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

Mi primera lectua de Isabel Allende

5 stars

Se nota claramente la influencia de "100 años de Soledad" de Gabriel García Márquez en este libro. Eso para mi es algo muy bueno, considerando que el de García Márquez es uno de mis libros favoritos de la vida. En la parte de "realismo" del realismo mágico, siendo latinoamericano y particularmente chileno, uno se siente identificado con una realidad existió y que aún existe. Formas de pensar y de vivir, y los terribles acontecimientos ocurridos durante la dictadura cívico-militar. "La Casa de Los Espíritus" no alcanza a estar al nivel de la gran obra de Marquez, pero creo que está solo un pequeño peldaño por debajo.

#IsabelAllende #RealismoMágico #Chile

AJ Kerrigan reviewed The house of the spirits by Isabel Allende

Review of 'The house of the spirits' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I don't think this is a bad book, I just think it's a bad book for me. This book and One Hundred Years of Solitude are held up as high points in the magical realism style, and I liked neither. I would be tempted to write off the genre altogether, if not for counterexamples like The Shadow of the Wind or Blindness which I quite enjoyed.

Who would have thought... there's more to a book than genre :).

I do love the idea of a story carrying through multiple generations, I just had a hard time being interested in the primary characters. Esteban in particular is so prominent and painful to read. Not in a "love to hate" way, but in a "I don't want to read any more about this guy" way. Hard to overcome that. And the odds are good that any break from his story is going …

I don't think this is a bad book, I just think it's a bad book for me. This book and One Hundred Years of Solitude are held up as high points in the magical realism style, and I liked neither. I would be tempted to write off the genre altogether, if not for counterexamples like The Shadow of the Wind or Blindness which I quite enjoyed.

Who would have thought... there's more to a book than genre :).

I do love the idea of a story carrying through multiple generations, I just had a hard time being interested in the primary characters. Esteban in particular is so prominent and painful to read. Not in a "love to hate" way, but in a "I don't want to read any more about this guy" way. Hard to overcome that. And the odds are good that any break from his story is going to contain rape and/or child abuse. Really not what I'm looking for in a book.