New York : Atria Paperback, 2015.
481 p. ; 21 cm.
I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to read The House of the Spirits. I've been aware of it for years and have seen Isabel Allende interviewed on TV, but it's just one of those books that it took me far too long to get around to, but I'm glad I finally read it.
It was odd to me that I found it took me a long time to lose myself in this book, but once I did it really was a rewarding experience. In some ways for me the book really builds to a crescendo when the candidate becomes President of Chile. The candidate is, of course, the fictional version of the real hero of Chile, Salvador Allende - who was brutally overthrown by the United States and Chilean military, ushering in a period of savage repression under the fascist dictatorship of General Pinochet.
But the novel is not so much about the coup, though that is the tragic climax of the novel. Instead it is very much about the forces of love, greed, pride, ambition, politics, & art - all framed within a world of sensuous and magical forces.
Allende has a lot to say about the potential loveliness of the human spirit, but also its potential for smallness, sadness, and depravity.
When I finished the novel, I was surprised to see that it was first published back in 1982, just 9 years after the horrendous events of the coup of 1973 and while Chile was still in the grip of the dictatorship. The novel holds up well and feels as timely as ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment