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now_booking's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.5
I love this author’s work for her compelling description of the mundane, her ability to weave in real historical events into the lived experience of her characters, and her compassionate development of complex characters who are never heroes nor villains but just eminently human. Violeta sustains that energy being a multigenerational family saga told by the 100-year old Violeta as she looks back at her life, and produces a memoir for her grandson, Camilo.
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Incest, Abortion, and Colonisation
whitedaylilies's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Violeta is definitely my favourite of Allende’s books I’ve read so far. There beautiful and sad symmetry to being born at the height of the Spanish Flu Pandemic and dying during the Corona virus pandemic. Violeta’s 100 year life was one of family and turmoils and tragedy and love! I was hooked from the start and ended with tears in my eyes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Cancer and Abortion