October 25, 2014 – Our Next Meeting

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Title: The House of  The Spirits

Author: Isabel Allende 

What: LBC Meeting

When: Saturday, October 25, 2014 (following 5:00 Mass; about 6:45)

Where: Panera – Emory Village

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6 thoughts on “October 25, 2014 – Our Next Meeting”

  1. Reblogged this on virtualcoachella and commented:
    Hi Folks! I’m excited to be a virtual member of LBC and am looking forward to discussing The House of the Spirits. Allende is as always a masterful storyteller and weaves her story around a mountain of historical facts …especially with that feisty Esteban! Looking forward to discussions, Also please follow my blogs on virtualcoachella.wordpress.com!

  2. Hi Folks! I’m excited to be a virtual member of LBC and am looking forward to discussing The House of the Spirits. Allende is as always a masterful storyteller and weaves her story around a mountain of historical facts …especially with that feisty Esteban! Looking forward to discussions, Also please follow my blogs on virtualcoachella.wordpress.com!

  3. I’ve read Isabel Allende before and and always enjoyed her work. Allende’s first novel, In the House of the Spirits turned out to be no different. I found that reading this was like reading Toni Morrinson, in that I had to read simply for the enjoyment of the story and suspend logical thinking. The incorporation of magical thinking and talking to spirits, while not grounded in reality certainly moves the story along nicely.
    From another author I probably would have had an intense dislike for Esteban Trueba and his vile behavior but she’s written him with so many layers that I wasn’t able to stay mad at him and was almost feeling badly for him as the story ended.
    Like Marie Ella mentioned in her comments, Allende’s use of historical fiction and fairytale is makes for an easy read but many times throughout this book I had to ask myself “what country are they in? what President are they alluding to?” So it did feel like historical fiction but I don’t know exactly who’s history! I found myself thinking of Evita which probably just means that there are stories with similar themes across Latin America.
    The mother-daughter bonds were wrtten beautifully, each generation had quirky but loving and respectful relationships.
    I was deeply disturbed by Colonel Estaban Garcia. Alba, very kindly – in my opinion – justifies his brutality because of fate and the cruel life experiences of his grandmother but I think of Estaban Garcia as nothing more than a sociopath.
    I thought the role of the clergy in this book was interesting. The first preist we meet, Father Restrepo seems angry and fanatical but likely not an anomoly for the times. While, conversely, at Tres Maria, we meet the “radical” Father Jose Dulce Maria. He gives refuge to Pedro Tercero and at one point tells him “…the Holy Church is on the right, but Jesus Christ was always on the left” (p.154) – I thought this was one of the best lines of the entire book!
    I’m sure that discussion for In the House of the Spirits will be a lively one. Allende’s work gives us quite a bit to talk about. I’m sorry I won’t be present to discuss.
    Best Wishes!

  4. Carole Lacour
    This was my first time reading Allende’s work. At first I found it a little difficult to read because the characters were too “weird” and eccentric. As I got a little further in the book, I couldn’t tell who was telling the story? Where is this happening? Still a little confused, I continued to read. I really got into the story when Clara stopped speaking in Chapter 3. I became more and more intrigued by this historical epic. It is a story of love, of magic, of fate and so much more. The characters portray good or evil. The Trueba women, Clara, Blanca and Alba, mother, daughter and granddaughter are complex, interesting, and powerful women. The dominant male character, Esteban Trueba is ill-tempered and his behavior is so disgraceful that I literally wanted to “deck” him throughout the pages of the book! Themes run throughout the story. The importance of family, family secrets, the power of women, the struggle between the classes, (land owners against the peasants) and the code of conduct for each class , the chance meetings of the couples when they were young (i.e., between Clara and Esteban and Blanca and Pedro Tercero), violence, unconditional love, and politics . I’m sure there are more themes in this complex yet hopeful story. Then there’s the Trueba House, interestingly referred to as The Big House on the Corner. Because of Clara’s clairvoyance, the Big House was full of ghosts and spirits. Does this name come from the title of the book?
    To sum up, there are powerful layers to this story. Each character became very clear to me as I read more. In the end, the many triumphs and tragedies of the del Valle and Trueba families made for a passionate and satisfying read for me.

  5. I liked how you identified the 2 different characters of the priests. I liked Allende’s ability to weave so many characters into the story without getting the reader lost in the plot!

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