The Inhabited Woman

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Summary: THE INHABITED WOMAN
Review: As a retired English teacher longing for a "good read". I was delighted from the first chapter of Inhabited Woman. The concept of one woman from one period/culture being a factor in another woman's life sent a tingle through me. As I read on, I was excited in the insights gained by the main character. As she struggled with choices, I found myself rethinking my life and values. The characters are well drawn and the plot complex enough to be interesting. Furthermore, the author's use of langauge and images is sometimes almost poetry. BRAVO!!

Rating:
Summary: THE INHABITED WOMAN
Review: As a retired English teacher longing for a "good read". I was delighted from the first chapter of Inhabited Woman. The concept of one woman from one period/culture being a factor in another woman's life sent a tingle through me. As I read on, I was excited in the insights gained by the main character. As she struggled with choices, I found myself rethinking my life and values. The characters are well drawn and the plot complex enough to be interesting. Furthermore, the author's use of langauge and images is sometimes almost poetry. BRAVO!!

Rating:
Summary: Passionate, arresting and beautifully written.
Review: Few are the books that come along to grip us in their merciless stories. The inhabited woman is a wonderful book of love and war, passion and death, spirituality and beliefs. Lavinia is a woman for the 21st century. Bravo to Gioconda Belli for a most inspiring and haunting tale of the power of our own destiny!! Lavinia is a modern day heroine! I love this book! It ranks high on the list of keepers and most definately a book to pass along to generations to come.

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Summary: REVIEW QUOTES
Review: Gioconda Belli is one of Nicaragua's most highly regarded writers. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Spain, Mexico, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Greece and Turkey. She currently lives in Los Angeles. THE INHABITED WOMAN was awarded "Best Literary Work of the Year" by the Union of German Publishers and Editors.

"[It] is a passionate story of love, courage, solidarity and death, where reality and legend blend harmoniously. The lives of the characters are intertwined with the destiny of a country and the struggle of a people for dignity. There is so much truth in this book, that it is impossible for the reader to remain indifferent. This is a story that needed to be told and Belli does it with talent." --Isabel Allende

"THE INHABITED WOMAN is engrossing, reading like an action adventure...[it] opens on a stunning, magical note..." --The Daily News

"THE INHABITED WOMAN revitalizes two literary genres that in recent years seemed to have lost their grips on the imagination of new writers and, as a matter of course, readers-magic realism and social realism." --The Hartford Courant

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Summary: Another Excellent Piece of Literature From Latin America
Review: I found it interesting that Belli would use the character of a Native American woman to be the emotional narrator of this book. At first, it would seem unlikely that a Native American woman who lived a few hundred years before her modern counterpart would have much in common with each other. Yet, Belli does a marvelous job of tying the emotions of the two women together. As a result, the reader is left with the impression that human beings are basically the same despite differences in circumstances and time periods.

While this theme isn't new, Belli presents it in a manner that is very typical of Latin American authors. The book displays a very strong narrative, well-defined characters, and a touch of mysticism to make things seem slightly otherworldly. I did find the revolutionary angle of the text a little dated. But, that fact didn't detract from an otherwise magnificent book. It should be read by anyone who's either looking for an introduction to Latin American literature, or looking for a reminder about the universality of the human emotional experience.

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Summary: Spread the word about this one!
Review: The Inhabited Woman is a beautifully written story. It takes place in an unspecified Central American country. Briefly, it intertwines the story of a modern-day young woman with a woman warrior fighting the Spanish Conquistadores. The spirit of the warrior grows into an orange tree in the woman's yard, and eventually enters her body to share her experience. The story blends romance, revolution, history and spirituality, exploring the role of women in each. One of the most enjoyable books I have read of late

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Summary: This is an amazing, amazing book.
Review: The Inhabited Woman is a thought-provoking book that takes you on an adventure you won't want to end. Lavinia is a Nicaraguan architect "inhabited" by the spirit of Itza, an indigenous warrior killed centuries ago while fighting for her country. With Itza in her blood, Lavinia finds herself torn between her "normal" upper-class existence and her sense of social responsibility, which, together with her love for the revolutionary Felipe, sends her into a new world of danger and heroism. Analysing and challenging social norms of class and gender, The Inhabited Woman is an excellent combination of theory and story that entraps you so that you won't want to put it down.

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Summary: A must
Review: This is a book that is a must because it helps to understand (or at least to have another point of view) about latin american "guerrillas", but also about the subtle and not so subtle differences between men and women, that havent changed so much in hundred years. Going back to the past (to the spaniard invasion)and forward to our days, Belli knits a unique beautiful story of two eras distant in time, but very close in their needs. Not perfect in its "literary structure", but an original, passionate and enlighten story.

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Summary: La Mujer Habitada
Review: Una escritora increible para una historia verdaderamente emocionante donde el presente con su guerra civil en Nicaragua y el pasado con su Conquista espan~ola tienen aspectos en comun, se unen, se cruzan, se mezclan, pero todo tiene siempre sentido. Es una de las novelas mas intensas que haya leido de toda la literatura hispano americana. Lo aconsejo a todos los latinos.