Inés of My Soul
Earlier today I finished my... what, seventh book from Isabel Allende. Which was Inés of My Soul. As pictured here:
However, I didn't read this edition with this pretty and work safe cover, oh no, I read an older print of the book, that you'll easily find by googling. Not a good cover to bring out in public, I tell you.
So I finished. And ever since a friend lent it to me... it has passed around a month. Which is quite a long time. I actually was avoiding to read this book for a while, even if I like Isabel Allende's writing a lot. I don't know, something kept me from wanting to finish it quickly.
And when I finally began reading it seriously, it was interesting. But historical fiction does not sit well with me. The book is about the Conquest of Chile, through the eyes of a woman that came to the New World looking for her husband. And it seems that Inés Suárez, the woman in question, existed in real life. How much of the novel is fiction, and how much it isn't, well, I'd love to know.
Well, after getting to America, Inés finds out her husband is dead, she finds another man, she conquests Chile, trouble, wars with the natives, love troubles, etc. All narrated by Inés herself, as if she was telling the story to her stepdaughter.
At some points, I actually confused Inés the narrator and Allende the writer, because before this, the two books I had read by her were Sum of Our Days and My Invented Country, which are autobiographical. Because of this, my mind tried to imagine the writer as the protagonist of the story, with rather hilarious results. Even so, the fact that it was a first-person narration was the most appropiate for the novel, as it really gets in Inés' soul, like, to be a woman in those times, with all the things it carried.
As a side note, I'm glad of living in this time. Really.
You know how Allende's chapters are usually long? As in 'For heaven's sake, when are you finishing?' long? Well, they are. And I enjoyed it when reading Sum of our Days and My Invented Country, as they allowed me to feel like I was really enjoying the book, and I could let myself go at a slower pace than usual so I didn't finish as usual. This time I didn't feel like that. The chapters, there are only three or four at the most, and are divided through time periods and places. And are long. And I almost couldn't bear with that longitude.
For a book filled with important happenings, and a good bunch of battles, I would have preferred shorter chapters. But oh well, I can see why Allende divided the book like that.
In conclusion, I enjoyed it, could have done with shorter chapters, the narration was delightful and quirky and I have a problem with history. Currently it's the Isabel Allende book I like the least, but I should reread House of Spirits to make a more accurate statement.
And that was all. Oh, tomorrow it's my birthday. Enjoy my Tiana icon I stole from god knows where. But the credit must be there. I believe so.
However, I didn't read this edition with this pretty and work safe cover, oh no, I read an older print of the book, that you'll easily find by googling. Not a good cover to bring out in public, I tell you.
So I finished. And ever since a friend lent it to me... it has passed around a month. Which is quite a long time. I actually was avoiding to read this book for a while, even if I like Isabel Allende's writing a lot. I don't know, something kept me from wanting to finish it quickly.
And when I finally began reading it seriously, it was interesting. But historical fiction does not sit well with me. The book is about the Conquest of Chile, through the eyes of a woman that came to the New World looking for her husband. And it seems that Inés Suárez, the woman in question, existed in real life. How much of the novel is fiction, and how much it isn't, well, I'd love to know.
Well, after getting to America, Inés finds out her husband is dead, she finds another man, she conquests Chile, trouble, wars with the natives, love troubles, etc. All narrated by Inés herself, as if she was telling the story to her stepdaughter.
At some points, I actually confused Inés the narrator and Allende the writer, because before this, the two books I had read by her were Sum of Our Days and My Invented Country, which are autobiographical. Because of this, my mind tried to imagine the writer as the protagonist of the story, with rather hilarious results. Even so, the fact that it was a first-person narration was the most appropiate for the novel, as it really gets in Inés' soul, like, to be a woman in those times, with all the things it carried.
As a side note, I'm glad of living in this time. Really.
You know how Allende's chapters are usually long? As in 'For heaven's sake, when are you finishing?' long? Well, they are. And I enjoyed it when reading Sum of our Days and My Invented Country, as they allowed me to feel like I was really enjoying the book, and I could let myself go at a slower pace than usual so I didn't finish as usual. This time I didn't feel like that. The chapters, there are only three or four at the most, and are divided through time periods and places. And are long. And I almost couldn't bear with that longitude.
For a book filled with important happenings, and a good bunch of battles, I would have preferred shorter chapters. But oh well, I can see why Allende divided the book like that.
In conclusion, I enjoyed it, could have done with shorter chapters, the narration was delightful and quirky and I have a problem with history. Currently it's the Isabel Allende book I like the least, but I should reread House of Spirits to make a more accurate statement.
And that was all. Oh, tomorrow it's my birthday. Enjoy my Tiana icon I stole from god knows where. But the credit must be there. I believe so.