Sunday, July 5, 2009

TSS Week 30

A good friend and colleague lent me The House of the Spirits weeks ago because we like to discuss books together and she thought I would like it. I was eager to read it because I have heard such great things about Isabel Allende's work but had never read any. I finished the novel yesterday and I am so glad that I read it.

The House of the Spirits is about a Chilean family's trials and triumphs. Allende is all about the details and small nuances of her characters which, while it annoys me in some other authors, is endearing and captivating in her work. I constantly looked forward to returning to the novel when I had a few spare minutes to read. I got lost in it.

The family encounters great suffering as their country undergoes extreme change (the coup d’etat of 1973), which each character seems to contribute to in his/her own way. This novel is often cited as an example of magic realism, which is a fantastic element that really adds to its appeal for me.

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