amgarrido's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
nimeneth's review against another edition
The book is a tale of misery and bizarre characters, and that would be fine if the writing was engaging. Unfortunately it's not - it's a lot of summary, very minimal dialogue, and the changes in the characters are superficial and revert relatively quickly. I wound up skimming the last 40 pages I "read" because it just wasn't engaging.
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
cami1107's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexism
lorenag5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Classism, Sexual violence, Abortion, Blood, Car accident, Slavery, Torture, Rape, Sexism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, War, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Violence, Animal death, Colonisation, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Police brutality
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Excrement, Gun violence, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, Classism, Confinement, Blood, Sexual assault, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Abortion, Child abuse, and Abandonment
riffmonkey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I do not want to read about exploitation or rape. I do not give a shit about torture and the most dark psychological hellscape you can come up with. But just 500 pages of a garbage human ruining the lives of this magical family made me feel sick to my stomach. It's a fucking miracle I even finished this book although I am quite sure I was dissociated for the last 2 chapters at least.
Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Torture
emmagiverny's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, Death, War, Animal death, Rape, and Addiction
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Drug use, Pregnancy, Violence, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
hopeandchange'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
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
karydiazc'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? It's complicated
4.5
This is the first book I've read of Isabel Allende and I think these words will stay with me for a long time.
The book starts comically, with fun stories about the family, with sad and almos cruel things woven in between. To be honest I had a really hard time reading the book because those first chapters seemed to go really slow and nothing seemed to be really happening, however things started to move ahead and it started to get interesting.
I must say I loved almos every character (with obvious exceptions) and found the family history and generations to be quite interesting.
I've never really been interested in politics so when that part of the books started I wasn't sure what to expect, but characters such as Clara, Blanca and Alba made it worth reading along.
Now, the last few chapters were so hard to read. Not because they were boring or anything like that, but because of how crude and realistic they were. It's so hard to think that Latin America has been going through that for many many years and along several countries. Even now, it feels kind of close, even though nothing like that is happening apenly in my country (and hopefully won't happen, at least any time soon)
As I said on the beginning, this book was wonderful to read despite everything, however I would recommend anyone who wants to get into it to first read the trigger warnings, since there are a lot and some are very graphic, specially towards those final chapters.
Graphic: Abortion, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Misogyny, Violence, War, Grief, Police brutality, and Sexism
Moderate: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Classism, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Violence, Sexism, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Animal death, Excrement, Gun violence, War, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, and Police brutality
peggychecksitout'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
5.0
This book is as magical as it is absolutely devastating. Allende's writing is mesmerising, imaginative and gut-wrenching at different turns. There’s a real juxtaposition between the magical elements presented to us—Clara’s clairvoyance, the kooky characters of her spiritualist salon, the house filled with spirits—and the incredible violence enacted both at personal and political levels (I highly recommend looking up the content warnings for this book, so you know what to expect going in).
The personal and the political are very closely entwined in this story; it’s a multi-generational family saga for sure, but as much as it is about the Trueba family, it’s about the history of the country that they’re a part of too (though never directly addressed, through context and historical clues, it is a fictionalised depiction of Chilean history).
It took me a little bit to get into the story, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down, and the end absolutely wrecked me—you know a book is good if it leaves you sobbing—and I think this is a book that is going to stick with me for a long time. There’s a reason that this was an instant bestseller, and has gone onto become a classic. It was my first Allende, but it certainly won’t be my last.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, War, Abortion, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Racism, Sexual violence, and Murder
Moderate: Abortion, Homophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use, Addiction, and Car accident