The House of the Spirits

I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading this remarkable book. It was published in 1985--during which time I was very busy with kids and farm stuff and probably reading only light stuff.

But I bought a copy at a library book sale, maybe ten years ago, and still it sat, unread.

After being gently nudged by Carolyn to read One Hundred Years of Solitude, I ordered a copy. And then, to prepare for a plunge into Latin American literature, I dusted off House and made it my breakfast time reading. 

It worked! A few pages a day gave me so much to appreciate, to digest, and to ruminate on (ruminate--like a cow chewing its cud--is particularly appropriate here.) The prose is rich and satisfying and the characters are fascinating.

Three generations of very peculiar (clairvoyant, levitating, etc.) women in an unnamed South American country grow up as members of an eccentric (to put it mildly--I mean, who keeps their mother's head in a hatbox for years) family and part of the privileged class that shamelessly exploits the peons on their land

When eventually a Socialist/leftwing coalition is elected,  a right-wing junta overthrows the government and people begin to disappear.  While the patriarch of the family is a member of the right wing, his daughter and much beloved granddaughter have allied themselves with lovers on the left--a recipe for family chaos.

These are strong echoes here of Chile and and Salvador Allende, (a cousin of the author) whose Socialist government was overthrown (with help from the CIA.) 

Read this for the gorgeous writing--as well as a history lesson told slant.

Now, on to A Hundred Years of Solitude.