Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors.. I have read most of her work over the years and find her work so deeply touching and eloquent. This is a remarkable body of work that I recommend to every woman . It is both her story of being a early feminist and the story of all women. A beautifully heartfelt told story of our fight for our rights and for respect in a misogynistic patriarchal society.
It is her insight here that resonates with all women and her reflections on being a feminist as well as her personal history. From the 60's forward its her true experience as a woman fighting for her own rights and bearing witness to a society that was based on eliminating women's voices, our potential and our rights. It is a love story to all women of what we deeply want, our fears, our struggles for respect and equality and our never ending fight for the rights to our own bodies. I highly recommend this book for all of us that embrace our freedom from the patriarchal society and fight for equality. A book to give to all the women in your life and to keep in your personal library of feminist literature.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

I've read many of Isabel Allende's novels so it was exciting to get a look into her own story. In this short memoir, Allende reflects on her own life and what it means to her to be a woman. She grew up in the 1960's as part of a Chilean family and rode the first wave of feminism. Through her 3 marriages, Allende has learned what love, passion, and her own femininity means to her. She discusses the challenges she faced being a female author trying to initially get published in an age when most popular literature was still authored by men. In the book she also delves into how she interacts with the younger generations and what the new brand of feminism and being a modern woman means to her. She talks about dating as a 70-something woman in America with honesty and wit. Through it all, she suffuses the memoir with warmth and light humor.

I recommend this one to fans of Allende along with those who like short reflective memoirs.

To be honest, the first 30 pages left me bored and uninterested. I couldn't get into the book at all, and this is usually where I give up and move on to another.
But, I stayed with it. The book was a bit up and down for me. Some parts were interesting and others fell flat. The second half of the book, for me, definitely had more to offer. There are examples of mistreatment of women from all over the world that should make any woman want to get out there and do something to help move our countries out of this archaic mindset that "men are superior."
I have never read anything by the author before. I did enjoy her style of writing and found some of her actual memoirs interesting.

The Soul of a Woman is a collection of essays and recollections by Isabel Allende written in March of 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Allende recalls her feminism sprouting at a young age as a result of her own observations of the women around her and some of the patriarchal views of the men in her family. Feminism, before having the vocabulary for what she was feeling, was Allende's recognition of the unequal treatment of women at a young age. From her mother leaving deciding to be a single mom to adults having differing expectations for herself and her brother based on their respective genders. Allende primarily focuses on feminism and womanhood including nurturing, vanity, and her experiences with marriage.

It was wonderful getting to know the development of Allende's viewpoints and perspectives through her own experiences and anecdotes of her life. This work came at such a pivotal time in history with a new wave of feminism and assessment of the patriarchy. Allende ends The Soul of a Woman with hope for future generations and the evolution of feminism.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Soul of a Woman is a short nonfiction work by Isabel Allende. It is basically part feminist musings and part informal memoir. She discusses anecdotes from her life and her introduction to feminism, along with her thoughts on the state of gender equality in the world today. Coming of age in Chile in the 1960s, she witnessed the effects of the patriarchy. She has lived a bold life, and it is fascinating to hear some of her thoughts on how her generation differs from that of her grandchildren. Her views were considered radical during her youth, and even as they are becoming more mainstream, she reminds us that change is slow and hard-won.

If you like Isabel Allende as an author and are interested in hearing more about her life and her thoughts on feminism, this book is a delight. If you are looking for a strong feminist treatise or original ideas and suggestions, that is not really the purpose of this book.

I wanted to love this book. There is nothing greater than a book that is centered around a strong woman. I LOVE non fiction and Memoirs. I also gravitate toward stories that take place in countries beside the USA, Or books about Diversity in general. However, I did not love this book. I couldn't connect with the characters and it was a slow going book for me that left me confused.

Thank you to Random House & Ballentine along with Netgalley for allowing me to review this book for my honest feedback.

What a beautiful, encouraging, affirming book. This may be my most highlighted read in several years - phrases and attitudes I hope to remember a good long time.

Isabel Allende has been a feminist even before she knew what that term meant. She saw the injustices against women that plague every culture and race and wanted to do something about it.

She is thought-provoking and well-spoken and exudes elegance in all that she does. She makes excellent points about what it means to be a woman and the many changes that still need to be made to obtain true equality without coming across as preachy. This short book is only split up into two chapters, where Allende talks about her family, feminism, aging, and much more. The format is nonlinear but it is not scattered and nor hard to follow.

This book was amazing but at the same time very, very sad some of the stories Isabel narrated in this book are terrible, what I mean by terrible is they are so sad and very hurtful.

this is a book that talks about how hard is to be a woman in a world that constantly puts us down and makes us feel like we're the worst that had happened to this world...

I really can't understand why they do this to us Women, why do we keep fighting and fighting for a place without even having any place? what do we have that men feel so intimidated to the point they feel entitled to treat us like we don't have any value at all??

We're the ones who create life in this world (you know what I mean by "creating") and we're treated like a potato bag.. and the worst part of this is that no matter if we're in 2021 it always feels for us like we are in 1800. our stories during WW2 were hidden from the world, many of the women who fought so bravely during those times don't exist in the book, and if you're someone looking for a high profile position be ready to fight for your life like if you were in a real war.

as Isabel said such is the case of Hilary Clinton (it doesn't matter what political party you support or if you like her or not) the truth was and is they don't want a woman in charge or in power no matter what stories or excuses they keep saying .. The truth is They DON'T want a woman in charge never ever.

Each story in this book is even harder to digest, the Manitoba case in Bolivia was unbelievable, the Myanmar situation that's still happening as I type this, they even banned internet access one or two months ago so as you can see there still so much to learn especially the people in power or better say the man in power.

**SPOILER ALERT**

There was a story that really broke me terribly, about a young girl, named Shamila from Pakistan. I kept thinking about her over and over again while reading the book and still I can feel her story to the core. Shamila was studying at Isabel British school, her father sent her there for fear she would be "Ruined" the worst part was when she left for to Pakistan and later returned to school to pick up her diploma, you can imagine what had happened to Shamila when she was in Pakistan??? she was beaten and locked up for two months thank her idiotic father who wants her to marry a man 30 years her senior.

**End Of SPOILER**

so the stories go on and on and still, we are not even on the verge to see any possibility for us because no matter how much we protest and raise our voices men will always put us down and make the impossible to see us as a second class citizens of this world.

This opens my eyes even wider than before, it was painful and sad but I'm so glad I'm reading all these books to learn the evilness and ignorance of humans who always feel entitled to destroy lives even if you're just a small girl dreaming big.

Thank you very much for this book.
I have always loved Isabel Allende.
I am hoping to be able to write about this book for Ms. Magazine.
I am pitching my editor.

https://msmagazine.com/author/lniver/

Best known for her breakout hit THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS and the bestselling follow-ups, DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE and A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA, acclaimed author Isabel Allende returns with a passionate treatise on the need for feminism and what it means to be a woman.

Born in 1942, Allende was, in her own words, “a feminist in kindergarten,” long before she or her family had even heard of the concept. As she explains, it was the situation of her mother, Panchita, that infused a young Isabel with rage and a visceral rebellious nature against male authority. A natural beauty, Panchita was raised to be a wife and mother, and although she achieved success in both departments, her life was upended when her husband left her and she was forced to have their marriage annulled, as divorce was not yet legal in Chile. Panchita was fortunate enough to be welcomed by her parents, but her life was full of gossip and prejudice in the years following her husband’s departure; even worse, she had neither the skills nor the finances to create any small freedoms for herself. Even as a child, Allende could not help but notice the similarities between her mother’s life and the lives of their maids, and she vowed then and there to be independent and live the life her mother never could.

Although the idea of feminism was not yet being tossed around in Chile --- and especially not in her grandparents’ home --- by the time Allende came of age in the 1960s, the whispers of the first wave of feminism were just beginning. Full of anger, obsessed with justice and incited by male chauvinism, she became a journalist at a newly launched feminist magazine, Paula. Along with her colleagues, Allende drew inspiration from writers like Sylvia Plath and Betty Friedan and focused on shaking up Chilean prudery and conservative, provincial mentality. She soon realized that she had a gift for humor and began a column called “Civilize Your Troglodyte,” where she made fun of machismo energy and --- against all odds --- became very popular with her male readers. As Allende quips, all of her male fans would tell her, “I have a friend who is just like your troglodyte,” never once seeing the similarities within themselves. But even as men laughed at her column, some women who were trapped by their patriarchal society felt threatened by her work and its ability to shake their foundations and domestic worlds.

Fortunately for readers everywhere, Allende’s work at Paula gave her not only an outlet for the frustrations she had been dealing with since childhood, but also the tools to challenge sacred notions like sex, discrimination and motherhood using the written word. She and her gang “wrote with a knife between their teeth,” ready to change the whole world in 10 or 15 years, give or take. Looking back, Allende can see how naive they were, but as she writes in THE SOUL OF A WOMAN, she has not lost her faith that change can and will be achieved. In this glimmering meditation, she shows her readers how women will make it all possible.

It is clear from her writing --- both fictional and political --- that Allende is a feminist not just in spirit, but in action and academia as well; she knows her stuff. However, rather than chronicle the history of every achievement or setback in feminism, she focuses on her personal journey with feminism, pausing along the way to define terms, break down misconceptions, and infuse her readers with an everlasting hope and optimism for the future. Feminism, as Allende defines it, is a “philosophical posture and an uprising against male authority. It’s a way of understanding human relations and a way to see the world. It’s a commitment to justice and a struggle for...emancipation.”

With the benefit of hindsight, the fight for equality that Allende once saw as a man’s game has been revealed as a folly; she now believes that we must not replicate the disaster, but mend it. In advising her readers on how to go about this monumental task, she explores inequalities of gender, race, sexuality, income and social status, reminding us all the while that there is not one system that is not built on patriarchal beliefs, and that men have used these systems --- and the labels, laws and punishments that come with them --- to control and confine women. Pairing her gift for prose with facts and figures, Allende lays bare some of the biggest and most complicated issues in the world, distilling them into brief statements that pack a major punch.

Much like Allende herself, THE SOUL OF A WOMAN is poignant, intelligent and eloquent, but with her willingness to be vulnerable with her readers, it feels less like a manifesto or meditation and more like a passionate conversation with a friend. Along with her dealings with feminism, Allende discusses her sexuality, marriages, vanity and literature as if she is speaking to a trusted confidante, not a distant reader. By juxtaposing these heartfelt and intimate moments with frank discussions on aging, violence against women and sexual assault, she compels us to understand the ways that these issues affect us all, even when we feel safe in our homes. She also implores us to join the fight in whatever way we can so that the world will be safer for our daughters and granddaughters, as well as for our husbands and sons.

Passionately written and brimming with hope, THE SOUL OF A WOMAN is a joy to read and a gift of knowledge from one of the world’s most celebrated authors.

I really loved Isabel Allende’s latest book, Long Petal of the Sea, so I was very interested in learning about the author herself. She certainly has much to say. She has lived through many difficult times and happy days and describes these so well. The seven decades she has lived have given her this perspective. If I was to sum her life up in one word it would be passion. That comes from having a purpose in life, letting go of things that are not really important, and loving those she cherishes.

So, when she says she was a Feminist in kindergarten, most likely because her father left her mother with two children in diapers, I understand why. Unfortunately, when one labels themselves a feminist, s/he is described as hating men. Nothing could be further from the truth for Isabel Allende. She says there is nothing more beautiful then to use your voice to speak up for what you think is important. That should be a freedom each and every person has, but many do not have this. Women especially are held back.

She speaks of international violence against women. Domestic violence in the United States is mostly considered a private matter. Girls and women are still being blamed for looking or acting a certain way that attracts boys or men’s lustful ways. How can this not be addressed? The violence is worse in other parts of the world, much worse. When you break someone down, yes you keep the power, but at what cost? We lose someone who has potential, talent, and greatness that will never be noticed. This does need to be said aloud, then noticed and changed. It is a world wide human rights issue. Isabel Allende could easily skip it, she already realizes she is fortunate and wakes up each day safe, financially free, able to make her own choices, and live her life as she pleases. Still, she fights on because women matter to her. This is about love and peace. It’s especially moving that when her daughter died, she wrote a memoir about her death. She said the money from the book was never hers, but her daughters. So, she decides to create a foundation for women and girls.

When women get together, they are more intimate and share more easily. In remote villages where women experience much hardship, they still sing and dance. Their spirit can not be held down. Isolation is what does that to people.

She says that women want safety, to be valued, peace, have their own resources, be connected, have control over their bodies and lives, and to be loved. I think that sounds exactly right. There is nothing radical about this statement at all.

It was an honor to read this book and gain so much wisdom from reading about a woman who has lived many years. It makes her more valuable to me. She has seen much, learned from life, and has a lot of wisdom to share.

Excellent Book.

Thank you NetGalley, Isabel Allende, and Ballantine Books for giving me a copy of this book.

This is Isabel Allende’s story. It is her life. It is her beliefs and life lessons. Through this book you get to know Allende’s personal life and her perspectives. Her strong opinions of women’s rights and women she admires. I love Allende’s writings and find this book insightful to know her. She is a strong woman with strong views. If you enjoy Isabel Allende’s writings, you may enjoy getting to know more about her, her background, and her opinions in life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books, for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was the first one of Isabel Allende's that I've read, but it definitely won't be the last. I wasn't expecting this to read the way that it does, but I really loved how intimate and authentic it was. I keep saying that it felt like having a cup of coffee with a fascinating and worldly woman, who regaled me with her stories and insights for a couple of hours. It was all over the place, but I found that super charming. She clearly isn't a perfect person and I appreciated that she didn't paint herself as such. She could have very easily left out the parts that expose her shortcomings, but I like her all the more for owning them instead. I wish I could meet all the women she spoke of, what a tribe to belong to! (I did start following her and all the charities she mentioned, I'm grateful to know of good places to donate and help girls that are suffering elsewhere in the world.) I really loved this book and though it is a short read, I stretched it out for a couple of days to savor it.


Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the complimentary copy of The Soul of a Woman in exchange for my honest review.

There are several poignant parts in the book but nothing revolutionary. She discusses issues that have gone on since the beginning of time and provides some statistics. The issue is she does not challenge women or men in positions of power to start to correct situations or does she herself have done anything to assist in changing the political views or what has become acceptable in so many areas. I appreciate she has a foundation to try to provide money but she muddles some of the information with her own political views. There have been many women in roles in the US that could change the situation and yet have not done anything to change the status quo..
Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Okay wow, I really loved this.

I would recommend this to fans of Roxanne Gay and/or Glennon Doyle. This is self-aware, wise, firm, and still maintains a light and welcoming tone. Allende layers her own memories onto current events and cultural movements, opening many discussions from her unique and seasoned perspective.

There are global issues addressed here that may be difficult to read about (child brides, genital mutilation, domestic abuse, to name a few). However, Isabel Allende delivers the information, statistics, and calls-to-action in a gentle-yet-no-bullshit manner that is hard to explain but is very, very profound. I enjoyed the complexity of her personal vignettes written in tandem to the current events she's bringing to light.

I only wish this had been longer and denser. She has lived such a rich life, yet I felt like I barely got to scratch the surface of Allende's life, beliefs, and activism (which, to me, was the purpose of this book in the first place). If this had been twice as long I would have loved it twice as much, BUT that isn't to say I did not wholeheartedly love and enjoy this from cover to cover as it is.

The Soul of a Woman is a great fiery feminist novel by Isabel Allende. An honest depiction of the author's life as a woman, her influences, heartbreaks and passions, mixed with facts/atrocities against women in the world, and the brave movements tackling to fight against them. Felt like an interesting, inspiring and intimate glimpse into the thoughts of this amazing author. Thank you NetGalley, publisher and author for the e-reader for review. All opinions are my own.

I am a longtime fan of the Chilean writer Isabel Allende’s "The House of the Spirits," which was the first South American novel by a woman compared to the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This is her best book, or at least the one I love most, a family saga that traces three generations of a wealthy family, the Truebas, through stormy personal conflicts and political upheavals in an unnamed country in South America. The patriarch, Esteban Trueba, a landowner and far-right politician, cannot control his wife and female progeny, who unswervingly follow their own paths. But as the years go by, he, too, is appalled by the violence of the newest regime, and the family comes together. This utterly stunning novel is laced with magic realism, humor, and enchanting lyrical descriptions.

Allende is closely connected to her characters. A feminist journalist, she fled from Chile to Venezuela after her father’s cousin, Salvador Allende, the first socialist president, was assassinated in 1973. She considered herself a journalist and wrote her first novel when she was 40: "The House of the Spirits" was published in 1982. A few years later a book tour changed her life: in 1988 she met her future second husband and moved to California. She has won numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal for Freedom, awarded in 2014 by Baraq Obama. And in 2019, she married her third husband, with whom she has discovered the joys of a relationship at a Certain Age.

I read her new memoir, "The Soul of a Woman," in the hope of learning what was autobiographical in her fiction and what was pure imagination. Alas, it is not quite the book I sought, though it is excellent in its way. It is part feminist primer, part collection of charming anecdotes. The anecdotes are lively and entertaining, but this book is not very personal. She sketches the history of feminism, lectures us on smashing the patriarchy, writes vividly and indignantly about ageism, and speculates on the difference between free love and non-binary sexuality.

Allende knows exactly where she’s going with this book: the first sentence establishes her theme, connecting her identity with feminist politics.

"When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, even before the concept was known in my family, I am not exaggerating. I was born in 1942, so we are talking remote antiquity. I believe that the situation of my mother, Panchita, triggered my rebellion against male authority. Her husband abandoned her in Peru with two toddlers in diapers and a newborn baby. Panchita was forced to return to her parents’ home in Chile, where I spent the first years of my childhood."

Such lovely writing! But soon she veers into politics. She becomes more explicit in her definition of feminism.

"In my youth I fought for equality. I wanted to participate in the men’s game. But in my mature years I’ve come to realize that the game is a folly; it is destroying the planet and the moral fiber of humanity. Feminism is not about replicating the disaster. It’s about mending it.
Much of the book is also devoted to the work of the Isabel Allende Foundation, which she founded as a memorial to her daughter Paula. The Foundation is 'dedicated to supporting programs that promote and preserve the fundamental rights of women and children to be empowered and protected.'"


I have to admit, I got bogged down in statistics, but I certainly admire her buoyancy and optimism. This memoir is beautifully-written, blessedly short, witty, and very political.

And now I need to go back and read (or reread) her fiction.

The Soul of a Woman, by Isabel Allende, is a bit like having a long chat with a person you have long admired but never expected to meet. Allende bundles recollections of her childhood, career, and personal life; her continuing commitment to feminism serving as the all-important connective tissue. As in any long conversation, she touches on many subjects and occasionally rambles just a bit. However, she emanates passion for her life, her ideals, and the people who have populated her world. She moves quickly from a worldview of women’s precarious status in the world to the particulars of her own life. We see the practiced mind of the journalist she once was in her ability to prove her point by marshaling facts, and in her descriptive expertise to share glimpses of her home and daily existence.

There was much that resonated with me, and a bit that bristled. I look forward to talking about this book, and it is a top contender as my choice for book club when my month rolls around. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

NetGalley ARC - It’s been two days since I’ve finished this book and I’m honestly still trying to process it. It’s a true masterpiece. Isabel Allende has just written the next great piece of feminist literature.

Part narrative memoir, part feminist non-fiction: The Soul of a Woman is a reflection on Allende’s life and how feminism and sexuality has shaped her. It is comprised of stories that follow Allende through childhood, already a passionate feminist, then coming of age during the first wave of feminism in the 1960s. She shares her journey to balance her fierce feminist inclinations while loving her partners through her three marriages and giving birth to her children.

Allende also shares several personal narratives of her friends and acquaintances that help to shed light on the history of the movement, how far we have come, and how much further we have left to go.

There is an especially poignant and gut-wrenching piece on violence against women, both in America and across the globe. For me, personally, it puts into perspective how privileged I am to live in the United States. Though it is nowhere close to perfect and lots of work needs to be done, I face much less danger here at the hands of men and our patriarchal society. The plights of women across the globe greatly outnumber my own; it was a true wake-up call knowing that there is more I can be doing to improve the lives of those who do not have my circumstances.

Both tragic and uplifting, the statistical information and stories provided is very palatable. It honestly felt like you were sitting and speaking with a close friend. I devoured this book in one day and would recommend to everyone.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for the Advanced Reader Copy.