Hello darlings, I am very excited about this book. The reading was selected by a friend who had not read the book, but we both read another book by the author. The selected book is Violeta by Isabel Allende. The novel recounts:
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life will be marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives at the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.
Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses all and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling...
She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, times of both poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life will be shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women's rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and, ultimately, not one but two pandemics.
Isabel Allende has a beautiful narrative that describes Latin America from the perspective of someone who loves her land, from its beautiful mountains and charismatic smiles to its ruthless wars and challenging culture. She is able to portray the complexities of Latin American culture while describing historical events, delving into those realities. The characters are interesting and fit the story very well.
There are certain moments where I feel the bad things like misogyny, capitalism, war and other things come to the fore. It's not a bad thing that it's exemplified, but I feel like it could have been a more subtle way.
I loved this book, it is a great reading to delve into Latin American literature. Isabel Allende is an incredible author who deserves all the recognition for her work in literature. I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. An excellent recommendation, and I hope you read the novel.
Have you read any latinx literature, and which do you recommend? How many books have you read thus far this year?