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The House of the Spirits: A Novel
The House of the Spirits: A Novel
The House of the Spirits: A Novel
Audiobook18 hours

The House of the Spirits: A Novel

Written by Isabel Allende

Narrated by Thom Rivera and Marisol Ramirez

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

“Spectacular...an absorbing and distinguished work...The House of the Spirits...is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America.” —The New York Times Book Review

The House of the Spirits, the unforgettable first novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.

One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 29, 2016
ISBN9781508215257
Author

Isabel Allende

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of a number of bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, The Stories of Eva Luna, Paula, and The Japanese Lover. Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages and have sold more than 77 million copies worldwide. She is the receipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and she divides her time between California and Chile.

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Reviews for The House of the Spirits

Rating: 4.139914606741573 out of 5 stars
4/5

3,738 ratings108 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautiful in every way. I come back to it time and again to reflect on my impermanence.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an epic tale of the trials and tribulations of the Trueba family in 20th century Chile, from the presidential era through to the Pinochet regime. This is my first Allende-book and I find her style very luscious, partly because of the descriptions and partly because of the huge scope the story. The characters are all interesting, whether you like them or not, and, although most of them are larger-than-life, I still find them believable. A lot of people have tagged this "magic realism," but those parts are really tiny, should you not be a fan; I happen to like magic realism and found myself wishing for more. The author's father was Salvador Allende's first cousin, so I was really interested in seeing how she took on his presidency and the military coup that followed, but even without the family connection, the story Allende tells is one that is inherently interesting from a historical perspective. Considering that this accomplished piece was Allende's debut novel, I can't wait to dig into more of her œuvre.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I actually never finished it. It was never compelling enough to entice me to read it, and I eventually became tired of the long narratives.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Can’t believe it finish ? one of the best novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    La importancia de contar la vida de tu familia para vivir el presente sanando ❤?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautiful, captivating book. Couldn’t stop listening, even when I tried.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. Every woman should read this book before marriage to understand the complexities of life and family and the compassion necessary to live in the present.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Allende is a wonderful writer, but this is a very "Latin" book, full of spiritualism and layers of meaning (look up the names of the characters in a Spanish/English dictionary). I was very comfortable with this device, but others in the book club were not. If we gave a collective rating it would probably be 2.75 stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For someone as frustrated with Chilean fiction as I often am, I find that this book gives an essential scale and perspective to both love and suffering. Allende’s classic is just that.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    oh my goodness, this book sent through a roller coaster of emotion… listen to it!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Poor recording. Dropped off offer for 10-15 seconds. Too bad
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This one one of the best books I have ever read. Wonderful story telling and capturing of the lives of many different types of people in South America.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Dit debuut van Isabel Allende is zeker verdienstelijk. Ik vond het interessant als familie-epos, met vooral vrouwen in de hoofdrol. Het magisch-realisme is overduidelijk ge?nspireerd op Marquez, maar toch veel verteerbaarder dan bij de meeste andere Latijnsamerikaanse navolgers. En de eigen inbreng van Allende is zeker de bijna expliciete verwijzing naar de Chileense actualiteit en geschiedenis, met de opkomst van de linkse beweging, de overwinning van de linkse kandidaat (haar oom Salvador Allende) en de staatsgreep tegen hem. Dit alles maakt dat Isabel Allende met haar debuut zeker haar eigen plaats verworven heeft in de Latijnsamerikaanse literatuur. Maar... tegenover al dat positieve staat dat ik eigenlijk niet goed weet wat Allende met dit lijvig boek nu precies probeert te vertellen. Ik heb zelfs de indruk dat ze rond halfweg zelf een beetje de draad kwijt was en ons opzadelt met ontwikkelingen en beschrijvingen die amper het niveau van een goedkope soap overstijgen. Bovendien staan wel vrouwenpersonages centraal, en op hun manier zijn die best indrukwekkend, maar ten aanzien van tirannieke mannen gaan ze telkens zonder veel poespas overstag. Vandaar toch maar een lagere score.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my favorite books of all time! Read it!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have heard about her as an author for years, and sometimes simply don’t have the time to read a long book but this was wonderful to listen to. Made me think let me concerned about the future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love books witg circular story line. The first half of the book gave me Encanto/ 100 years of solitude vibes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I never gave Latin American magical realism a chance because I didn't like Garcia Marquez's books. But boy was this a wild ride. At times it has a child like stoic humor that I can envision as a Wes Anderson scene, children with green hair and impossible flying contraptions. The image it conveys remind me of Remedios Varo paintings. Yet it's so insanely well written i feel for every character (even the ones i despise). I'll recommend this book to anyone who cares to listen to me for the rest of my life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Stitched together with loving detail , this book is wild , magical and a tempestuous family portrait.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book relays the life of four generations, wrapped in the joys and suffering of events inspired by reality. It is a mix of the mysterious and the familiar, all the while maintaining elegance and continuity. I enjoyed the unique story and would be interested in reading more from the same author.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent, captivating, magical, painful, difficult, and healing. Loved and suffered through its wonderful and harsh episodes. A classic I waited a long time to listen to and that I am glad I did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Extremely well written. Dynamic characters. I gave 4 stars because I wanted it to be 1/5 shorter than it is.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This review is for this audiobook version only. I don't enjoy the reader's intonation. I have read the book before and enjoyed it immensely.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Many hours of storytelling to enjoy. The story carries through many generations and many different point of views, which I appreciate. Nicely described details of elements and places, as well as characters. I also appreciated how the book lifted different women as persons and own personalities-as well as how it lifted mother/daughter-relationships in a patriarchal society to the forefront. Some of the characters could have been more deeply delved into, and the end felt quite sudden, abrupt and unexpected-but over all a satisfying story and a good listen that also momentarily touches deeply.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is going to be a strange book review. It?s more about the author than the book. After reading her account in the autobiographical Paula, I knew I had to read The House of the Spirits. In Paula, Allende writes about a goodbye letter to her beloved grandfather in Chile: ??I wanted to tell him not to worry, that nothing would be lost of the treasury of anecdotes he had told me through the years of our comradeship; I had forgotten nothing. Soon he died, but the story I had begun to tell had enmeshed me, and I couldn?t stop. Other voices were speaking through me; I was writing in a trance, with the sensation of unwinding a ball of yarn, driven by the same urgency I feel as I write now. At the end of a year the pages had grown to five hundred, filling a canvas bag, and I realized that this was no longer a letter. Timidly, I announced to my family that I had written a book.."Allende began her ?letter? on January 8, 1992, and it had such an impact on her that all her subsequent books begin their conception on January 8. Just as Allende wrote in a trance, I read this phenomenal book in a trancelike state. I?m usually a fast reader, but I read this one slowly, savoring each turn of phrase and each magical character. Make no mistake, there are lots of characters in the sprawling Trueba clan, based on the author?s own family in Chile. She uses her imagination to flesh out a dreamlike story; however, it?s a legendary story based on truth. The fictionalized version is based on Clara?s notebooks ?that bore witness to life.? The true version is based on the all too real uprising in 1973 wherein the author?s uncle Chilean President Salvador Allende was assassinated and the horror of Pinochet?s dictatorship began. The political unrest is a constant clamor throughout the book reminding us that real people suffer during the lifechanging chaotic events that become the dry facts of history.I?m a big fan of good historical fiction, and this is one of the best that I?ve read. It?s truly a journey into another place and time that firmly establishes Allende as one of my most-admired writers. It is my fortune that she is a prolific writer as well, and I?ve barely begun reading her oeuvre. Highly recommended to readers who like to get lost in a spellbinding story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Takes a long time to appreciate it because it’s drawn out. But the majesty of the long arc is informative moving and brings the mundane of life into a sharp historical lessons.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This went on for way too long but the pay-off was worth it. A genealogical tapestry woven with a steady, deliberate hand and incredible attention to detail.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende; {acquired prior to LT}; (4*)The House of Spirits is quite an odd novel covering four generations of the same family. (The character of Clara is so very fascinating.)Yet although there are things that require a stretch of the imagination there are very real aspects in it such as the revolution and the conflicts that the characters experience. A reader will truly get what they want out of it. One may read it strictly superficially in order to follow the plot which is capitivating. Another may choose to be open minded enough to notice that it is rich with symbolic detail. Or the reader may perhaps gather it all in. I highly recommend it. Allende always comes off well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent book. Way better than the movie. The audio is fantastic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There is an important difference between a literary family saga and soap that is to do with the purpose of the writing. Allende's writing is highly accessible, lively and entertaining, the characters are bold and deep, the story engrossing but the clinching factor is that the whole book presents a sweeping panorama of South American culture and society. There is a drop of magical realism and the purpose, I think, is not to provide a story totally founded in perfect verisimilitude but to build a mythical representative saga, The book covers four generations of the Trueba family focussing primarily on the despotic hero or anti-hero, depending on your political bent, Esteban Trueba. Personally I found him a revolting character as I have little regard for unpredictable right-wing bullies, but others may find his work ethic and powerful personality more sympathetic. The saga encompasses the extreme political tensions of a typical South American country and the peoples vulnerability to unstable government and natural disasters. Idealism and corruption are counterpointed to the disdvantage of the weak and poor irrespective of the political faction in control of the countries politics. This is a juicy, fabulous, rich novel that leaves you recalling a series of affecting scenes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    How strange that i would revisit this book now ( in sept 2023), almost to the exact 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile. This fantastic, profound book is a love song to a country, a political history - but it is so much more than that. It could almost be said that it contains the history of everyone everywhere, and everything in the (modern "civilized") world. It's about the machinations of fate, and the dynamics of power, and the innocence and wounds of the arrogant, who create such tragedy and horror for so many. ** It is a necessary read for any modern human. ** For the 2nd time, i am deeply moved and delighted and grateful.