Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Violeta by Isabel Allende

30 reviews

chb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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kwahl's review against another edition

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4.0


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kimveach's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was my book club's choice for March.  I love historical fiction, and this didn't disappoint.  I was also happy to read another Allende book that held my interest.  After reading The Long Petal of the Sea, I wasn't too sure about the author's work.

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miap09's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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beyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There’s a time to live and a time to die. In between there’s time to remember.

All I can think about is, it must be tiring to live that long.

I would recommend this book to hisfic enjoyers because in no way it is bad, but I can’t say I actually enjoyed reading this. I suspect it was because it is written in first person, but it can also be the writing.

I was not looking forward to what will happen next in the story because I am… afraid??? An understatement. Terrified??? Of what things will a character do to escalate the story because boy, do they escalated quickly.


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giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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sofipitch's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book holds a lot of similarities to The House of the Spirits, and a lot of Allende's other books tbh. She doesn't name the country the MC is in but it is very clearly Chile, so we get the history of Childe in the 20th century from a european descendended once wealthy family. The book even suggests that Violeta is related to the family from Allende's first book. But the characters aren't well developed, the story isn't as interesting, it's overall a mediocre book from an author who I know has written better and more interesting works. Additionally while I could tolerate the occasional socially unconcious phrase or word or sentiment in her older works, in a book published in 2022 I feel like Allende should know better, or that at least her editor or publisher would have said something, since Allende is considered to be liberal and willing to learn/update her beliefs (Although maybe not, I read the synopsis of Ines of my soul and went 😬 and put it back)

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hillysreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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xmaiixx's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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peytonhhill's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a good book, but the pacing is confusing. So much happens over 100 years, and some times of Violeta's life are very detailed, while others are completely skipped over. Perhaps that is intentional, tapping into of the sporadic storytelling of a 100 year old narrator, but at times it feels jolted. Overall, I enjoyed the idea of telling the story of one life and the ways the world can change over its span. 

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