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The House of the Spirits

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The House of the Spirits

By: Isabel Allende
Narrated by: Marisol Ramirez, Thom Rivera
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Brought to you by Penguin.

As a girl, Clara del Valle can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future.

Following the mysterious death of her sister, Rosa the Beautiful, Clara is mute for nine years. When she breaks her silence, it is to announce that she will be married soon to the stern and volatile landowner Esteban Trueba.

Set in an unnamed Latin American country over three generations, The House of the Spirits is a magnificent epic of a proud and passionate family, secret loves and violent revolution.

'Extraordinary... Powerful... Sharply observant, witty and eloquent' New York Times

'Intensely moving. Both entertaining and deeply serious' Evening Standard

'The only cause The House of the Spirits embraces is that of humanity, and it does so with such passion, humor, and wisdom that in the end it transcends politics…The result is a novel of force and charm, spaciousness and vigor' Washington Post

© Isabel Allende and Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1985 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism World Literature Witty
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Firstly, I found the narration too fast to support the various changes in families. (I had to slow the voice down.) The story itself involves a number of generations and that in itself is confusing. I found the book quite depressing to be honest. The characters that are likeable are not in it enough and the main character is not likeable at all. There is way too much rape in this book. Perhaps this is the point, but it paints a very dark picture of South American patriarchal society and I didn't enjoy being in the mind of such a patriarch. The female characters show strength, but for me it wasn't enough. The fictional South American land is just too depressing.

Hard to keep up

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House of the spirits details the lives of several generations of middle class south Americans and the politics of land ownership and peasantry. it's is a very human story and beautiful painted in Allende's magical realist style.

beautiful multi generational epic

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the story is very engaging and I really enjoyed it. the narration sounds a bit like AI though, which is a bit off putting.

love the story

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