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readbycarina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Addiction, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: War, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Rape
Minor: Body shaming
chb's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, War, Dementia, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization
beyreads's review against another edition
- 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.
Graphic: Sexism, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Addiction
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual content, Cancer, Suicide, Police brutality, and Infidelity
laurennicole98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, War, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Colonisation, Rape, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Sexism
now_booking's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Like many of Allende’s protagonists, Violeta is born into some privilege. This book spans Violeta’s life from her birth during the emergence of the 1920 flu pandemic, the stock market crash and the Great Depression, through the rise of Naziism, fascism, peasant uprisings, revolution and the legacy of colonialism, Western political influence and dictatorship in Latin America, to the end of her life in 2020’s coronavirus pandemic. While this work of historical fiction is not specifically about these historical events, the dramatic events of her life and her dysfunctional family are greatly influenced by these events and through her story, we get a fresh perspective of what it may have been to love through those times.
This is ultimately a book of an entire life, so there is a lot of sadness and trauma in this that linger especially when one looks back at a lifetime and has experienced the pain of regret and loss. This isn’t a maudlin read, Violeta has a good sense of self irony and is witty and humorous, and is viciously honest even with herself about her own failings, yet the overarching mood of this is sort of sad and reflective. This book addresses themes of neglect and abuse, infidelity, sexual assault, addiction, violence and genocide. If you’ve had experience living under an authoritarian regime and experienced loss through it, this might be somewhat triggering. If you haven’t, this has a lot of loss in it, so gird your loins.
That said, this book is absolutely gorgeous. The writing is fantastic… it reads authentically like an old lady wrote it as her memoir and there are so many points reading this that I stopped to reflect. There were so many points of reflection about relationships, faith, regret, wealth. The story of love and family and found family that is built through this book is so real yet so flawed and because of that compellingly human. The character development is as expected from and Allende novel, great, and even the description of the most mundane aspects of her life was compelling. This would have been a perfect 5 stars for me if not that I think it was at times a bit repetitive in parts and I think in places the story could have moved faster. I think fans of the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo will adore this, but I found this to be more encompassing, more meaningful and just… more! I highly highly recommend this!
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Cancer, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexism, Classism, Death, Addiction, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Bullying, Drug use, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Infertility, Torture, War, Ableism, Confinement, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Abortion, Chronic illness, and Colonisation
daniellekat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Police brutality, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Terminal illness, Genocide, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Drug use