Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Violeta

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Violeta by Isabel Allende

21 reviews

literarypenguin's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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

3.0

Violeta tells the story of Violeta, a Chilean woman who has lived a memorable and fulfilled 100 years of life. She recounts her life to a young man named Camillo who you later learn who he is and his importance to Violeta later on in the book. The tales she tells are ones of war, passion, loss, and rebirth.

I adored the plot of the book, how a woman was retelling her life and all the hardship and triumphs she went through. How she became her own independent woman and escaped an abusive marriage to raise two children. How she handled her own money, had passionate affairs, and helped take care of an extended family. I loved how Violeta acknowledged her mistakes that she made and didn't try to excuse her actions just accepted them and moved on. Her love for her family and her romances were interesting to read about.

I enjoyed reading about Chile and all of the history and culture that this land holds. How it has been through so many wars and revolutions in its lifetime, how the government mistreated and cruelly mislead it's people at some points. The only thing that took me out of the story was Violeta as the narrator, it didn't read to me like she was emotional about certain things or moments and just felt like any other narrator. Not a person who was retelling her amazing life she lived. If that little thing was changed then I could have rated the book higher and enjoyed my time with it more.

Despite the narration issue, I had a good time with this book and is a must read for fans of historical fiction!

Content Warnings

rubl_b's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

solenekeleroux's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

Content Warnings

sofipitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

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)

Content Warnings