"House of Spirits" Isabel Allende - Hailey Morgan

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House of Spirits is not a book I ever imagined I'd be reading in Honors. When I first picked it up and began to read, I had to check the syllabus to make sure I had the correct novel! However, as different as it is, this book is probably one of my favorites.

In any given chapter and at any given moment, there is always just so much going on! All of the characters to keep up with, the time skips, the smaller stories that take place within the main narrative... It's like constant chaos, but with a nice flow.

I will admit, when I first started to read, I wasn't really looking at anything past the story. It took me a while to realize that Isabel Allende was writing on social issues and did not just create a very Broadway feeling book just for fun. I question why Allende decided to protest against such important matters in this way? Why not be more forward about your true intent, unless there is more to what she was trying to accomplish?  

Edit - Replied to Leanne White and Drew Hedden.

Comments

Moriah said…
Isabel Allende's style of writing is definitely very unique, and at times I wondered if this is how people feel when I try to excitedly tell a story: the chronological order can be a little scattered at times! Allende is definitely tackling some major social issues including women's rights and classism. I think her novel illustrates how social issues, even when individuals try to ignore them, ultimately impact a family's way of life. That's probably why she didn't merely write a memoir about how she views the world or write a paper about social issues.
March 18, 2020 at 8:50 AM
Leanne Elizabeth said…
I also thought I had been reading the wrong book. You cannot imagine the panic that came over me. I agree this is not what I expected to read in honours. It came across as silly at first compared to the other works we have covered.
March 19, 2020 at 8:45 AM
AnnaKate Burleson said…
I feel like Allende's intention with this novel is simply for it to be raw and real. You don't notice the social issues at first because it's simply a story about life. But as time goes on and you begin to see things more clearly, you see how politics and social issues truly do bleed into the every day, mundane things like one of those big Crayola markers bleeds through four sheets of paper at a time if you're not careful. It's bizarre and hard to follow and everyone in it is infuriating. But that's what life is, in the end.
March 23, 2020 at 2:25 PM
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