The House of Spirits

Rating:
Summary: Isabel Allende's first novel is true winner!!!!!!
Review: This novel is truly breath-taking. It is a beautiful exhibition of what family struggles are like. The Truebas are the family whose lives are recorded in this novel since the begining of the century, untill the present. The struggles of these brave people make this novel unique, the characters make the book stand out as a well worked literary breakthrough in modern Spanish Literature. I highly recomend it in the original Spanish, but think everyonr should read it.Isabel is surely guarenteed the Nobel Prize in the years to come.

Rating:
Summary: This incredible novel is a definite must read!!!!!!!
Review: Isabel Allende's La casa de los Espiritus has ended up as one of my favorite novels of all time. This novel accounts the story of the Trueba family in a South American country from the begining of the centurty up to the modern times. Allende introduces various colorful characters in incredible almost surreal at times situations. Allende's writing style is simple, and to the point, but she knows just when and how to include details that give you crisp ideas and visions of exactly what is going . The incredible story of the Truebas is one all families can relate to, the characters are so vivid in ones mind, you know exactly what Isabel was thinking as she created them. Everyone should put this book on their summer reading list!

Rating:
Summary: Great philosophical meanining and awesome characters.
Review: I've read this book, and I have one thing to say: amazing. The author truly wrote a masterpiece, allowing the reader to make his own decisions about everything in the novel. There was no blindly patriotic theme which deemed the socialists subversive rebels; neither was there an extreme communist sympathy(although the book looked favorably upon the socialists) Also, the characters are not 'good' or 'bad'; they are multisided. There is no blunt manipulation of the reader's opinion, but a refined tone is everpresent. The book also has an amazing theme. However, it seems to foreshadow a little too much(I found it to be *slightly* detracting from the overall impression) Also, the book is not for the squirmish, it has some rather explicit imagery.

Rating:
Summary: Could not put the book down
Review: This book is enchanting. You can feel the character's emotions and see them as if you were face-to-face. The story moves fast and you are never bored. A magical tale. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Bad Philosophy
Review: This book has a vein of communism coarsing through it that was so repugnant that it was difficult to finish.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST ENSEMBLE OF CHARACTERS EVER!
Review: Not since LES MISERABLES have I ever encountered such amazing characters: Esteban, Ferula, Jaime&Nicolas, Blanca, Alba, etc, and of course the most unforgettable Clara. The story simply is the most beautiful one you'd ever want it to be. Clara, you'll never forget her for, besides Esteban's iniquitous character, she is the best asset of this excellent novel. She will blow you away with her humorous eccentricities and her belief that today's sufferings are the seeds for the next dimension's sweetness. After reading this novel, I realized how fertile life is. After you read this novel, you, may or may not, look back and dig for the Trueba family's beginning, and if you do, you'll find out that Rosa's death started it all, then, you'll know what I meant by life's incessant fertility.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!!
Review: What else can I say, it's simply an Allende novel- of course it's brilliant!!

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: It was a mysterious trip to the world of the spirits and to the dreamy world of reality. It was basicly the best book I've ever read!

Rating:
Summary: good
Review: As one of many students who had to read it for the IB program, I have to say that it was a good read. (despite all the moaning and groaning that I got from some of my friens) There is a lot of foreshadowing, which unfortunately takes away some of the surprise in the book. But, despite my disappointment with "Paula", I like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I thought this book was one of the best I have read in a while. I loved the intense character development, and the surealist events that take place. Compared to OF LOVE AND SHADOWS by Isabel Allende, it tells more of a story over a longer period of time, and OF LOVE AND SHADOWS is much slower and more descriptive, almost artistic writing, in a sense. If you know of any books to recomend please email me.