AJ Kerrigan reviewed The house of the spirits by Isabel Allende
Review of 'The house of the spirits' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I don't think this is a bad book, I just think it's a bad book for me. This book and One Hundred Years of Solitude are held up as high points in the magical realism style, and I liked neither. I would be tempted to write off the genre altogether, if not for counterexamples like The Shadow of the Wind or Blindness which I quite enjoyed.
Who would have thought... there's more to a book than genre :).
I do love the idea of a story carrying through multiple generations, I just had a hard time being interested in the primary characters. Esteban in particular is so prominent and painful to read. Not in a "love to hate" way, but in a "I don't want to read any more about this guy" way. Hard to overcome that. And the odds are good that any break from his story is going …
I don't think this is a bad book, I just think it's a bad book for me. This book and One Hundred Years of Solitude are held up as high points in the magical realism style, and I liked neither. I would be tempted to write off the genre altogether, if not for counterexamples like The Shadow of the Wind or Blindness which I quite enjoyed.
Who would have thought... there's more to a book than genre :).
I do love the idea of a story carrying through multiple generations, I just had a hard time being interested in the primary characters. Esteban in particular is so prominent and painful to read. Not in a "love to hate" way, but in a "I don't want to read any more about this guy" way. Hard to overcome that. And the odds are good that any break from his story is going to contain rape and/or child abuse. Really not what I'm looking for in a book.
