Violeta - Isabel Allende

What an incredible novel following the long and prosperous life of a woman named Violeta Del Valle.

Isabel Allende’s 317 page novel is like nothing I’ve ever read before. I found it to be a gripping and educational read that had me reading for pleasure whilst learning about the traumas and beauty of life.

Allende has written a novel about a complicated family with a complex life. It’s such a simple read among all the chaos she brings into it. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and full of authentic love and affection.

Allende’s protagonist, Violeta, starts her life during the Spanish Influenza and has nothing but an intriguing story from there. Illnesses shatter souls, decisions destroy families, and love breaks the hearts of those most innocent to the world around them. Violeta loses people, she finds people, and she lives for herself. It makes you question why sometimes we’re so hard on ourselves when others can have it much worse at times, but it also brings joy and relatability to the lives of those who read this spellbinding masterpiece. The amount of subject matters that Allende covers/brings to light is vast, showing her readers just how much can happen during one’s life, and where each little thing can lead you when you feel lost.

I loved this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a story written by the extraordinary Isabel Allende, but doesn’t know where to start. This certainly throws you in the deep end, but it sets you up nicely for what the rest of her books may bring - Violeta being her second newest novel after The Wind Knows My Name, which was published in 2023. The House of Spirits was her first.

Violeta deserves five stars for every aspect of this novel; from it’s overall rating, to its quality of writing (considering it had been written in Spanish originally and translated into English later on), to its well developed characters, and plot. It’s a family saga set in a historical time period that takes you right up to the year 2020, and boy does Allende do a good job of conveying what each era of Violeta’s life was like to live in at each point in time. Her research is impeccable, and the way she encompasses what she’s found is presented in an outstanding way. She’s an inspiration, not only for a writer’s own writing, but I’m sure she’s inspired people, and given them the motivation to research information for their own historical novels; or whatever genre they may be exploring. Because I know research is my least favourite part of writing, but somehow, Isabel Allende makes it all seem so much more worth it than it was before I’d laid a hand on her novel.

Allende is brilliant, and I have no doubt that her other novels are just as brilliant as her and the book I’m writing about today. So please, take the time to read one of her great pieces of modern literature. You’ll be better off with her stories in your life. They’re different from the cliche romance novels, or spooky horror stories, and intricate plots that make the realistic fiction we all know and love. These are books that are meant for reading at least once in your lifetime. Allende has some powerful things to say and every word that makes up Violeta’s story is just as meaningful as the last.

So if you’re stuck on what to read next, and you need a novel with strong characters, a courageous female lead, an enticing story from start to end, and a plot that simply isn’t difficult to get through or a bore at times, Violeta by Isabel Allende is the book for you!

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/h5sFhkz

The Last Murder at the End of the World - Stuart Turton

Stuart Turton’s latest novel is about a murder that has quite literally happened at the end of the world. It hasn’t been told how one might expect it to be told, but it’s a story that entices the reader with its strange thoughts on what the world might look like in hundreds of years time, as well as its unique storyline and characters. It takes a very curious and courageous mother through the journey of investigating the murder of a scientist named Niema, but not everything is at it seems. Nobody knows why or how Niema has died, and with her death being a death trap for the villagers living on the island, the fog is closing in faster than people can keep up with; and the only way to stop the fog is to find out who Niema’s killer was. But do they ever find them at all? That’s something you’ll have to find out. The clock is ticking, there’s secrets to unveil, and villagers to reassure; it’s intense, extremely detailed, and like nothing you’ve ever read before. I think it’s like Marmite, you’ll either love it, or you’ll hate it.

Let’s just say, I’m not a fan.

33 days later and I can say that I’ve read it all, front to back, without a single doubt in my mind about how I feel about Turton’s Dystopian, Sci-Fi, crime, and mystery novel.

So with that said, I think it’s finally safe to say that (if it wasn’t already clear) I didn’t enjoy this book at all. The concept is pretty cool, but if we’re considering the fact that the story is about someone’s murder, it doesn’t introduce it until one hundred pages in which made the first third of this book quite difficult to get through. It was information heavy and much of it wasn’t necessary in my opinion, and not a lot happened. Nothing exciting, anyway. Nothing that raised my hairs and quickened my heartbeat. Turton’s plot was too slow paced for me. Niema’s death was a surprise but only because I wasn’t expecting it to happen so late in the story. The story would have been interesting if she’d died right off the bat, but instead I had to get through an information overload that had me zoning out every five pages. And how it happened wasn’t anything that stirred my emotions either. It felt quite bland, and because of that it was a tedious read.

On top of its plot, almost every single character in this story annoyed me. I never warmed to any of them, and I never wanted anyone to leave the book with a positive outcome. I simply wasn’t bothered about their storylines. They annoyed me too much, but then again, I guess that means they were pretty realistic and well thought out. However, I can’t say that Turton did this to his characters on purpose, he might have actually wanted them to be loveable and to have his readers rooting for them. I never saw them in that light, and I still don’t even after I sat back to think about how and why I’m approaching this review the way I am. Instead, I found myself wanting to shout at them, begging them to do exactly the opposite of what Turton had them doing. Plus, there were character’s mentioned in this book that were never explained, or introduced properly, they were just referred to every once in a while, which left me assuming that they weren’t important and that they were simply villagers left in his story to help show what life is like in the world they live in.

It saddens me to say, though, that I’ve never experienced such negative emotions whilst reading a book before and that in itself took me by surprise.

The Last Murder at the End of the World wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I kept thinking about how I could write it, removing all factors that make it Sci-Fi and Dystopian because I’m not sure that helped his idea. It made it confusing, and some of it I felt didn’t make much sense. Though I do blame that opinion on the fact that I zoned out a lot while reading this book, and therefore missed some key parts in Turton’s story. However, a good book holds onto the readers’ attention throughout his or her story, and because Turton’s didn’t do that for me, it wasn’t a good book. I didn’t care enough to stay in his world for more than five or ten minutes at a time.

Admittedly, I’m only one person out of the hundreds who have read this, and everybody is different. There’s people out there who’d rave about this novel all day and all night, and I’m unfortunately not one of them. So, if you’re like me, and aren’t a fan of science fiction, complicated murder mysteries that haven’t been executed in a way that’s easy to follow, or simply dislike books that have a wishy-washy beginning, middle, and end, then I don’t recommend Turton’s latest novel. It sort of put me off his other books, but I shan’t judge them based on this book solely. He writes in different genres every time, perhaps this genre isn’t his forte? I know it’s not mine.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/dLd8IEc

The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk

The Empusium is a novel about a young man, named Mieczyslaw Wojnicz (pronounced: Mi-etchy-swuff Voy-nitch) who has a mild case of Tuberculosis. He takes it upon himself to travel to Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentleman in the Silesian Mountains, where residents are cared for during their stay. Little does Wojnicz know that the health resort he’s at starts to become a trip full of sinister nightmares.

People die. Hallucinations occur. Eerie noises are heard. And deep philosophical conversations stir emotions. It’s a novel full of deep, thought provoking messages surrounding life and the world lived in before the wars began. Translated concisely by Antonia Lloyd-Jones from Polish to English, written originally by Olga Tokarczuk, who tells the tale with long bouts of description that capture the scenes unfolding with clear powerful imagery and hair-raising action.

It’s heavy on description and quite minimal on dialogue, which I personally find quite difficult to get through. Tokarczuk approached it splendidly, with real sophistication that told the story in an elegant way, but I’m not a fan of long winded passages that sometimes lose my undivided attention because they go too long without the action of people conversing. Dialogue carries a story as well, and I find it more engaging when the characters too are telling the story through words. But - especially in the final thrilling scene - I began to understand how description over dialogue can be quite a bit more powerful. There was no need for speech, the feelings and inner thoughts of Tokarczuk’s protagonist was enough to create a horrific scene that left me with a spine-chilling, and quite harrowing feeling inside. And that’s exactly what I expect from a horror story.

At times I felt it was a little confusing, with certain concepts being mentioned once and then never mentioned again until 70 or 80 pages later, and by then I’d forgotten all about that idea which had me lost at times; questioning what was meant by a certain phrase, or what was actually happening at a certain time. On top of the jumping back and forth; as an English speaker, name referrals were something I didn’t fully understand or follow too easily. Sometimes people were called different names to the names they’d been originally referred to, with honourifics that I’m not familiar with at all, and this chopped and changed which had me concentrating hard on each little detail in each masterfully described scene.

However, the key at the beginning of the book was useful a reference for when I got bewildered by the various number of titles and names of characters used to propel the story along. I do however, solely respect their way of addressing people, it just wasn’t something I’m used to as I’m not a fluent Polish or German speaker.

A translated novel like this made a change from reading books written by English speaking author’s. This is something that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I selected a book that I know will reach a few people immediately, and perhaps it’ll sway the minds of those who only ever stick to romance, or sci-fi, or even fantasy, because I know it pulled me out of my typical books of choice and I don’t see why it wouldn’t draw others away from their standard novels either.

The Empusium was certainly a new kind of horror story that compelled me right through to end, with creepy happenings that were key milestones carrying Wojnicz through his stay at the health resort. With characters who expressed their anticipation for the future, inflicting fear and anxiety upon Wojnicz which as a reader I felt as well. It’s a place I wouldn’t want to be in, and Tokarczuk did an excellent job of making me feel that way. I give her four stars for a brilliant, magical story drawn from ideas all over. Starting with Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain to phrases taken from author’s such as Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Johnathan Swift and many more.

If you like who Tokarczuk has referenced, or you simply like the idea of a health resort gone wrong in a completely disturbing and unnatural way, this is the book for you. Otherwise, get out of your comfort zone, you might like it, and she’s got plenty of other books too which are just as wonderful and worth the read but I’m yet to give them a go myself.

So for now, I’ll stick to The Empusium, where horror meets health resort in the 1910s.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/0zT8kwN

The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is a short novel that follows the beautiful and complex life of a girl named Esperanza Cordera. The novel covers one year of the twelve year olds life, where she is fully submerged in the lives of everyone else around her. All authentic and extremely impactful, moulding her into the person she will later become, teaching her life lessons that stay with Esperanza through her coming-of-age journey, right to the end.

What a stunning and well articulated story. I’ve read a lot of books in the eighteen years that I’ve been on this planet, but nothing quite like this. I wanted to broaden my chosen reading genres and took a look at this puzzle I received for Christmas. Over 70 world renowned novels are on this puzzle, all worthy of five stars depending on your taste and this one - The House on Mango Street - caught my eye. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I don’t and never will do that, but what I did do was judge it by its title! Which is just as risky, I know, but luckily my eyes were right and my gut was accurate. Not only did the title bring me this ray of bright, welcoming, light, reminding me of happy summer days, but the words written within the cover of this book threw me this way and that giving me even more reason to fall in love with it. The story is just as warm and radiant as its title, arousing curiosity and surprising me with what Cisneros’ story is truly about.

  It’s heartbreaking at times but draws on all the joy our world brings to us as well. Cisneros sheds light on the harsh realities of life as well as the small delights that find us along the way. From domineering males to innocent young children trying to find themselves in a world that seems so well developed and matured in comparison. It’s relatable, the kind of read that everyone should pick up and learn from. Because there’s things in life that make us feel alone at times, and Esperanza cures that isolation with a little validation. And sometimes that’s all we need.

Cisneros tells all the things mentioned above in a beautifully poetic way that flows from one short, descriptive passage that captures a moment in time to the next, keeping the reader guessing as each passage unravels. It’s a five star novel that can be read in a day, and can be read again and again and again until the story no longer needs to be told because the individual reading it finally understands the importance of time, patience, and acceptance. It could truly never become a bore.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/iDFlbDn

From the Oxford Dictionary: bildungsromans is a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education

Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising is a historically set family saga that follows the lives of the Riva family. The book spans across one day and focuses on the children of Mick and June Riva, though it flashes back to their own personal lives - where the two meet and fall in love, expressing their hopes and dreams for the future - throughout the story, weaving the aftermath of their reckless choices and purposeful neglect into the outcomes of Nina’s, Jay’s, Hud’s, and Kit’s lives during August 1983. And when secrets start to come out, people finally start showing up, and ineffective apologies get told, the Riva family are left fighting one big disaster that could make or break each and every one of them. Can Mick Riva, the all famous star of the family make amends for what he’s done in the past? Or will his children who live in the shadows of his limelight and the remains of their mother’s harmful mistakes fail to forgive?

I mean…wow. This is my favourite book of the year, or I should probably say so far…there’s plenty to come but this book glued the pages that make up Taylor Jenkins Reid’s story to the palms of my hands so that I couldn’t put it down. Each time I did, I picked it up again not even five minutes later. From beginning to end this family kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what kind of secrets may or may not crop up throughout the story putting a pause on their lives, just to break their bond that little bit more. And as much as I wanted the Riva’s to live the perfect carefree life, it wouldn’t have been a story if they all had a flawless existence, living happily ever after. It needed every bit of heartbreak, anger, grief, and loneliness to push the plot along; with speckles of love, devotion and affection, to ease the tough moments they had to endure.

         It was shocking and unfeigned at times, and irresistible and warm during others. And for me, a good book makes me feel warm inside yet churns my emotions and tugs them in every direction. Whether I’m full of resentment for what Jenkins-Reid made me read through, or whether I was silently cheering and hoping for Hud and Ashley to stay together because they were just the cutest couple ever, despite the setbacks they knew they’d have to face; I felt it all and experienced every bit of vehemence that the Riva kids felt. I had a lot of love for each character, but they also had flaws that every other person in the world has and that bugged me. But it’s only natural and it’s that which decided how each person was going to live their life, and how damaging those choices were going to be.

         This was truly the perfect novel, probably better for a long summer break rather than a drowsy few days in January, but because it was such a beautifully written story with description (with the opening sentence: “Consciousness seeped into her slowly, as if breaking the morning to her gently”) better than anything I’ve ever seen or come up with myself - much like her novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - it was enthralling, so much so I wish they were all real, living in the world we all live in. Just so I could hear the talent behind Mick Riva’s most dear passion, so that I could support Nina in her struggle to take care of her siblings. Because we all go through it, and to have to witness everything, helpless but knowing that they were clearly a strong group of people, was both gruelling and exciting.

         To know the family is to know the gossip, and we all love a bit of that from time to time. If their story was in the papers, I’d be all over it, but I think Jenkins-Reid did me one better. I got to live through it by reading the delicate chapters of her five star novel. It’s one of her best books yet, and she’s linked almost all of her other novels into it some way or another. And that itself paints this extravagant picture of a world that does exist in reality, it shows us what living with fame and all its beauty and even ugliness is like, yet her version of it is so amazingly imagined and portrayed it doesn’t feel real at all.

         So, if you’ve read her other novels, or enjoy a long story that delves into the complex structure of a family, or simply adore reading about fabled celebrities who struggle to cope with the side effects of being world renowned, then Malibu Rising is the book you’re looking for. It’s fun, a blast, even, and I guarantee you a good time -whoever decides to try it out. It’s totally worth it. Trust me.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/e1H4Fxr

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies - Deesha Philyaw

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a short story composed of 9 chapters that share the raw, real to life, lives of black women who come from highly religious families. From ladies listening to their hearts, exploring queer love and desire, to celibate women in their forties, to young school aged girls exploring what a relationship is, and how it can affect others around them. It doesn’t matter what the story, they all have one thing linking them together: faith. Something they might feel restricted by, yet they explore the boundaries that come with it and defy them in noteworthy and inspirational ways.

         This novel empowers Philyaw’s readers with its unique ideas and perspectives. With the very first chapter to the very last chapter of this book being told from the first person, which provides an honest and wholehearted representation of each issue being raised.

         Eula is about a woman named Eula. She’s in denial, under pressure, and frankly quite fearful. She’s exploring her sexual identity in an extremely guarded way. While, Daughter - in the last chapter: When Eddie Levert Comes - experiences the heartache and constant and strenuous responsibility of looking after her mother, who sadly suffers from vascular dementia.

         So when I talk about issues being raised in the way they should be raised, I know that I can declare this to be a five-star story that needs be to read. Its feminism runs strong throughout, putting the needs and desires of women at the forefront of Philyaw’s writing, while intertwining smaller topics such as queerness and ethnicity into the bigger picture as she goes along.

         Philyaw’s scenes are not only incredibly relatable and soul-stirring, they’re written in such a way that feels raw and extremely realistic to the human mind and body. As well as what we as people, no matter our religious backgrounds, or ethnicity, or gender, or sexual orientation, go through on a daily basis; from arbitrary thoughts to both senseless and meaningful actions.  

         It covers a wide range of topics, none to be ignored, but there’s something in each of them that the individual reading it can learn from. And I think that’s a really powerful thing to be able to do with the use of words and phrases. Each character has been made wonderfully believable, with their own faults and personal beauty marks that can be found in everyone around you (if you look hard enough). It highlights the nature of human beings, expressing the fact that people need people - whoever that may be, young or old, boy or girl, lover or friend. Everybody needs somebody, and I love how Philyaw has made me as an individual see this.

         And because of Philyaw’s unparalleled work of art, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a book I would read repeatedly throughout my life just for its sole purpose – which I see to be: to show and understand the dark secrets we all have, but to shed light on all the brightness those dark secrets will never be able to dim.

         I loved this book and I think a lot of people need this book. It came from a deeply personal place in Deesha Philyaw’s heart and soul, and I highly respect that. She used short yet complicated and easy to follow stories that got straight to the point and never bored me once.

         With that said, if you like a story where there’s a variety of different lives being expressed, connected by a singular concept (similar to Charly Cox’s novel she must be mad - which I have burning desire to read) then The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw is a perfect match. It’s adventurous, stimulating, thought provoking, and just plain beautiful.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/iOXLkqv

Where He Can’t Find You - Darcy Coates

Where He Can’t Find You is the story of a town haunted by its past, and Abby Ward is determined to escape its frightening streets and rapidly increasing death count as soon as she can. But for now, Abby and her sister, Hope, continue living in fear, following four strict rules to stay alive and out of trouble. However, when Hope suddenly disappears, snatched by a thing called the Stitcher, Abby steps outside of the rule book she so meticulously created and dedicates her life to saving her sister before the Stitcher gets to her first - down in its lair where its victim’s await their godawful fate. It’s a place where hundreds of people have been taken to die, their bodies found above ground, brutally dismembered, and nobody quite knows why.

         It’s a frightening idea, full of unexpected twists that had me turning each page with fear filled curiosity until the very end.

         Perhaps it started out a little slow, and took me some time to get into; but like with any book you read, every author has something to tell. And it’s up to the reader whether they want to listen or not. So, if your patience wears thin, set it down and leave its seed untold, or stick through to the end and you might just learn something:

For Darcy Coates it was teaching the importance of friendship and dedication, and the dangers that can come with fear that fuelled her first words right through to the last. Or perhaps she’s crafted a hauntingly compelling story that leaves you with nightmares, teaching you never to pick up a book like this again. Either way, you know it was a decent read because it left a mark. A mark that you’ll remember until the next novel whisks you away, taking you to a world you haven’t explored before.

         And Where He Can’t Find You does just that. Coates’ use of metaphors and similes submerge her audience in countless unpleasant bouts of description, painting imagery that exude both dread and disgust. Her short and concise sentences made for a snappy, hair raising novel full of horrific twists and turns.

         However, I can’t say this was the best horror fiction novel I’ve ever read. Honestly, it seemed bland at times, with passages of writing that were prolonged for no evident reason. It didn’t add anything to plot, nor did it draw me in like M.L Rio’s If We Were Villains, which had me questioning everything from the very start.

         Coates, unfortunately, left it vastly uneventful and this made it quite a tedious read, with mundane scenes that were hard to get through. It felt extremely long as well, finishing at page 416, leaving most of the thrilling action to the last hundred or so pages. And for me, I need something that entices me from the very beginning. After all, an opening that hooks the reader is what sets the mood for the rest of the story. Due to the lack of a good hook, I never expected anything spectacular from Coates. She lost me in chapter two and found me again during chapter twenty-three, then lost me a few times more and found me around ten chapters later. So, if you’re looking for a book that keeps hold of your undivided attention, I’m not sure this is going to be your cup tea; though I can’t speak for everyone.

         Besides, Where He Can’t Find You wasn’t so bad that I had to discard it altogether, I managed to persevere, and I give Coates a point for that. The idea is there and I think Coates’ has executed it in her own unique style which is why the story of Abby Ward is so special. It differs from others in both good and bad ways. And that’s what I think will make or break the book for people. You either love it or you hate it. It’s neither terrible nor spectacular. It’s simply a story that nobody else could tell.

         So, if you enjoy the rush of a horror novel, or the intriguing plot of a supernatural mystery, then Darcy Coates’ Where He Can’t Find You is probably the book you’re looking for next. I recommend it as a 3.5-star work of art, it might seem a little dry at times but the chills are inevitable. Or maybe Stephen King is more down your street, and if that’s the case, stick around for more because I’ll be reviewing his legendary novels later in the year.

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UK: https://amzn.eu/d/1ehk87W