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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