House of the Spirits chilled me

Submitted by Trust_No_Won t3_11cr5iy in books

I finished this book today (part of my recent kick reading South American magic realism) and got a gut punch from the ending of the novel. One passage in particular hit too close for my recent experience here in the States:

“Alba wondered where so many Fascists had come from overnight, because in the country’s long, democratic history they had not been particularly noticeable, except for a few who got carried away during World War II and thought it amusing to parade in black shirts with their arms raised in salute—to the laughter and hissing of bystanders—and had never won any important role in the life of the country. Nor did she understand the attitude of the armed forces, most of whom came from the middle and working class and had traditionally been closer to the left than the far right.”

In the context of a coup that results in secret police, dictatorship by the military, and the murder and disappearance of thousands, it’s frightening how fast these folks come out of the shadows. Maybe that element is always within society.

The ending at least offered a vision of hope that also moved me, but I’ll save that for people who want to read or know how to do spoiler tags lol. Just thought I would share.

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ERSTF t1_ja4otf9 wrote

I love that book. Allende is a master. Incredible book

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larrod25 t1_ja5ha9x wrote

I read this 30 years ago and loved it. Time for a reread.

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Grace_Alcock t1_ja5mhwn wrote

That’s what I thought…it’s been at least 20 years.

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sbtortellini t1_ja4tfq8 wrote

One of my favorite books I go back to every year!

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Rripurnia t1_ja5pgx4 wrote

I’m ashamed to say I’ve been meaning to read this for years now!

Thank you for the reminder - I should get to it promptly!

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whereisthenarwhal t1_ja5rp1a wrote

I read this in High School and it was my answer to "What is your favourite hook?" for a long time.

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notjeffkoons t1_ja5jkgr wrote

I loved that book! My roommate also read it and he didn’t like it

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night_priestess t1_ja5uh86 wrote

The writer has a lot of books about this theme, I hate her books (I admit she's a good writer but my teacher was a fanatic lol) and the one that hit me the most after this one (the first of her books I read, like all chilean people at school) was "Of love and shadows", it has a movie too (with Jennifer Conelly looking super pretty). The end is brutal and realistic, but it may be considered good tho

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Trust_No_Won OP t1_ja5wrd2 wrote

Got to know why you hate her books. Not for you or dislike something about her writing?

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night_priestess t1_ja60vn4 wrote

I have a lot of reasons but they aren't about her (at all)

  1. My teacher made us read her books excessively through high school. Plus, she talked about her 95% of time.She knew I liked to read so she wanted me to like the same books she liked, basically.
  2. While reading her books, the female characters are often shown like, idk, people with high intuition (in a spiritual-ish way) and men oriented to logic stuff. I know, it has a context but it annoys me. One of the books I enjoyed the most was "Maya's notebook" bc one of the women, with these features, was down to earth at the same time, and all the women of the book could represent some of the real chilean women (there was a divorced lady who was the principal of a countryside school, a lady who worked in a lot of things to mantain her family, a woman who left her kid to get a job, a modern nurse). I also liked "Ines of my soul", is one of the best historic novels I read, and super funny. But the rest... idk, maybe it is bc I'm zero espiritual.
  3. All people thought that I loved her books bc I like reading. I guess is the equivalent of being an english book lover and having people assuming you love Jane Austen.

The last thing: magic realism isn't my thing at all. Like a lawyer said about her, there are 2 ways of reading her books: enjoying them or looking for defects. I enjoy them but if someone forces me to like them, I'm lost. On the other hand, if someone says again that the "House of the spirits" is the same of "100 years of solitude", I'll jump direct to his/her neck and make him/her cry bc they are literally 2 different things that just share the literature type. Is like saying "War and Peace" and "Vanity fair" are the same thing just bc they share a similar background and theme (aka napoleonic wars + aristocrats life + love stuff)

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omg looks like I smoke somthing, this is a testament, long af

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Religion_Spirtual21 t1_ja6fx79 wrote

This! When I was little people thought since I liked to read I loved Austen. Nope. I like watching the movie adaptions only because I love the aesthetic. Funny enough my Chilean friend loves her and I love Latin American Feminist Literature. I took a class on it and fell in love.

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night_priestess t1_ja83bm0 wrote

My fav chilean writer is Marcela Paz, but she's a kids writer (Papelucho series, is super funny) but there's this one, María Luisa Bombal. She's popular tho

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