4.5 stars rounded up
Violeta is born in 1920 in South America during the Spanish flu, the first girl after five boys and several miscarriages. Violeta tells her story to someone she loves when she’s approaching her 100th birthday—during yet another pandemic, this time COVID 19. During those hundred years, there is the upheaval of the Great Depression, marriage to someone she doesn’t love and a long-lasting but emotionally and sometimes physical abusive affair to a man she does. She has children and makes money, but it’s difficult for her to control her money because she’s a female.

Themes of women being able to control when they give birth and controlling what money they can earn permeate her hundred years on Earth. There’s government overreach and women fighting for the right to vote and being able to love who they love. It's ridiculous that we’re still battling those same issues. It’s a different time and a different country here in America, yet only some things have gotten better. Sadly the cliches about two steps forward and one step back is still applicable.

Allende is a gifted writer and this epic story that reaches across continents and decades makes for an absorbing read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 25.

After here recent meditation on feminism, the beloved Isabel Allende returns to form with a sweeping historical novel. The titular heroine, Violeta Del Valle, the only girl in a house of boys who “behaved like cannibals,” is born during a worldwide pandemic to an illustrious South American family (the country remains unnamed) whose fortunes are dwindling. Violeta’s impudent father loses the last of the family’s holdings during the stock market crash, takes his own life, and leaves the family, as his widow reflects, “”helpless in the midst of a disaster he himself created.” Violeta tells her life story in a letter to her grandson. Allende uses the centenarian’s life to check off significant global events, but the novel resists what could become formulaic because Allende populates the tale with arresting and well drawn secondary characters, such as Violeta’s governess, Josephine Taylor, an orphan who worked in the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, was later indentured to a British military officer whose kindly wife rescues her from her husband’s brutality by placing her as a companion for her elderly mother. With a small bequest she receives upon the matron’s death, Josephine tends to Violeta and then arranges for Violeta and her family to live with her lover, Teresa Riva’s, parents in a rural town to escape the scandalous ruin created by Violeta’s father. In the ensuing pages, Violeta recounts with pathos and humor her heartbreaks and passions, losses and joys against the backdrop of the upheavals of the twentieth century. This is a book that will appeal to readers who enjoy historical novels and family sagas.

I guess I should have known before reading this that Isabel Allende can truly do no wrong in writing these epic novels! She does it again, taking us through 100 years of an extraordinary tale filled with it's share of heartbreak and twists. Highly Rec!

I absolutely adored this book. I think fans of Evelyn Hugo will find a place in this story. It is reminiscent of the flashbacks and story being told through remembering the past, but that, aside from a compelling LGBT storyline, is where the similarities end. Violeta is a enigmatic character you cant help but root for, and all of the characters you meet through her are so well written they feel real.

Violeta a now aging woman recounts her life to her grandson who is now a priest. Through her storytelling we learn about her upbringing before the Spanish flu, her family losing all of their earthly possessions after the stock market crash, and moving to Santa Clara to start all over again. She also recounts her years of being in love, independent and the many heartaches she endured in her long and well lived life.

I thought this book was A M A Z I N G. It was vivid in the depictions of the epochs Violeta lived in, it felt fluid and I emotionally connected not only with Violeta but with many of the characters in this story. I also really enjoyed the fact that it highlighted the Latino culture, how multifaceted it is, and the deep connection to the earth/land.
This book felt like an instant classic in the vein of Victor Villaseñor's Rain of Gold (another book I can't recommend enough). This book had a strong female lead that was full of hope, love and perseverance, like the many generations of women in my family both past and present that continue to awe and inspire.

"This sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.

Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.

Through her father’s prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling.

She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and ultimately not one, but two pandemics.

Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional."

I like epics and I hope you do too.

Since I finished reading A Long Petal of the Sea a few months back, I’ve added a number of Isabel Allende’s books to my reading list. Then I started seeing ads and giveaways for her newest novel, Violeta, all over the place and managed to get myself a preview copy. It’s only the second of her novels that I’ve read but everything I’ve read so far only makes me want to read more. In Violeta as with A Long Petal of the Sea, she captures the upheavals of life in 20th century South America in a thoroughly personal and accessible way, looking at families built from circumstance and necessity as well as the ties of blood and tradition.

Born during one pandemic and dying in another a century later, Violeta Del Valle has decided to write down her life’s story so that her beloved Camilo will once and for all have the whole story – including the messier parts that she had hidden or glossed over in various tellings over the years. And so, Violeta unfolds the story of her life and the ways that it intersects with and mirrors the highs and lows of her unnamed South American homeland across the 20th century in the wake of World War II and as the nations of the continent became pawns to the major players in the Cold War. From financial ruin in her early childhood to a lucky prosperity throughout her adulthood, from a busy life in various cities to the peace of the rural countryside, Violeta spends a lifetime learning what to appreciate and how best to do so making many mistakes along the way and trying to atone for her regrets in her later years. With the wisdom of years and lessened pain of distance, she is better able to acknowledge where and how she hurt others and where she did a disservice to herself (as well as which “sins” she’ll never regret).

Family is very much at the heart of Violeta, in every form it takes and with all the tensions that accompany it. Though Violeta has several brothers, the only one who is truly present through most of the story is her oldest brother, José Antonio. After the death of their father, José Antonio takes over as the head of the family. In many ways they (and their closest remaining family and some of those who have been adopted into their family circle) proclaim conservative, traditional expectations of their class and family legacy while actually taking a more liberal, progressive approach to everyday life. It’s perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the relationship between José Antonio and Violeta. Though he becomes responsible for providing for his sister, mother, aunts and more, he does so without adopting an overbearing and controlling approach. When Violeta works alongside him at his new business as a young woman, he listens to ideas she raises and when those ideas yield fruit, he happily lets her continue alongside him to grow the business. Though he is taken aback when she leaves an unhappy marriage, he helps ensure that she has access to the money she’s earning, sidestepping the (unjust) laws that would see her at the mercy of her husband.

It’s incredible to watch how much Violeta’s sense of morality develops and shifts over time and in reaction to the changing political situation of her homeland. After securing herself financially, Violeta is in a position where she can comfortably endure the sudden shift from a democratically-elected, leftward-leaning government to a military dictatorship. While some of those around her become quite active against the regime (especially her son and later her grandson), Violeta initially objects to the inconvenience more than anything. Even after it starts to impact her more personally, there’s a detachment, a denial that it takes her a while to overcome – much as the knowledge of what was truly happening took a while to register within the consciousness of the larger world. What makes this aspect of the novel even more interesting to analyze is the reflective nature of the narrative – that she is providing commentary from decades after the fact and deciding, as a reader, where the truths of her reflections really lie.

There are so many other elements and themes explored that provide fodder for analysis – the classism and how race plays into it, the impact of European immigration after World War II, parent/child relationships, etc. While there were times I wished there was a little more focus on certain plot threads and that the narrative had more direction, it was incredibly true to the structural approach laid out at the start and was executed in a manner that kept that approach from crossing over into tedium.

Violeta will be available January 25, 2022.

Incredible. This letter to Camilo, an unknown individual at the start, is written in chapter format and not epistolary, and chronicles the last 100 years, beginning with the Spanish Flu pandemic during 1920 when she was born in South America, to our current pandemic. From her early years with a British nanny to life during the Great Depression, from dictatorship to democracy, from lovers, friendships and children, to losses and regrets, decade by decade she peels layers away to reveal the core of her existence, one family story and life defining experience at a time, as the reader sees life through her eyes over the past century. As she awaits her death, she bears witness to a life in a land that was “plagued by revolutions, guerrillas, military coups, tyranny, murder, torture, and genocide.” Allende is a masterful writer whose prose is a beautiful as this jacket cover, and whose ability to wind you up into her narrative and hold you captive within its pages is part of her allure and magic. Add this vivid work of historical fiction to your 2022 list for an epic treat by a brilliant author.

“There’s a time to live and a time to die. In between there’s time to remember.”

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader’s copy! Pub date is January 25th

𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙚.

This has become my favorite novel by Isabel Allende. Violeta was the perfect tale to read during our own pandemic, an interesting parallel as within these pages the Spanish Flu is terrorizing people with the specter of death. Yet, that is not what the story is about, just one of many obstacles fate deals Violetta and her family in their time. If you want to read a book full of characters and rich stories, this is a must read in 2022. Catastrophes, love, sin, political corruption, family loyalty and betrayal, drugs, poverty, wealth, births, deaths, war, the great depression… this is just to name a few. Violeta sees the rise and ruin of her family in waves, chaos within her own country. Your geography is enough to alter your life, your wealthy family can lose everything for being on the wrong side of politics or making one mistake in business. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing.

South America: Violeta is born in 1920 on a stormy day, a surprise for a family of five sons. It is the year of the scourge. She is a force as powerful as any of her male siblings, as her parents come to learn with her willful nature. Violeta’s family home is like a ‘little universe’ spinning safely, while many others collapse. Her father, a business tycoon, has the foresight about the forthcoming panic caused by the pandemic, hence has prepared to maintain their existence. While still venturing out for work, the measures he takes keeps them free from illness. As Violeta grows up in the bosom of her large and extended family (her aunts help her parents raise her) she becomes spoiled. Enter the scene an English governess, Miss Josephine Taylor, of course this much too young woman isn’t what her father hoped for. Her origins, too, come into question. He longs for his daughter to not be corrupted by ‘harmful ideas’ or taken by disease, which has ravaged so much of the population. As fate likes to challenge us all it is no different for her father, for Violeta is a theatrical child from the start, born to challenge and surprise him. Miss Taylor improves upon the girl, despite Violeta’s rebellious, strong will. She will be important to the family for years. Allende has not written ghosts of characters here, for they all come to feel like friends, kin.

A family of conservatives, the changing times will test them all. Violeta’s brother and her father’s second- in-command, José Antoino, is ‘old before his time’ but not too ancient for the bite of love. What will become of him, having worked so hard for his father? Some characters have their position forced upon them early on. Others make different decisions, which doesn’t always necessarily mean they are happier. If the measure of one’s life is happiness, you aren’t long for life. Violeta’s father isn’t alone in wishing his will be followed, Violeta’s own future children face love and rejection with their own father, with different consequences. There are acts of bravery and cowardice, each coming from surprising places. Torito is a fascinating character, his beautiful, protective nature such an admirable quality despite that ugliness he has faced in his days due to disability. Particularly when Violeta’s sheltered bubble bursts, with unfolding events but the ‘realities of life’ are often the greatest character forming moments. This book engaged me to the very end but it also broke my heart. People come and go, some leave a greater impact than others. Violeta’s own mother’s illness lends itself to the strength Violeta finds in her own life. Through a native, female healer named Yaima, her aunts learn of herbs and healing but she will guide Violetta through a spiritual experience of her own. Every person that comes into Violeta’s timeline has shaped her, whether she aims to emulate or reject who they are. Headstrong in youth, she refuses to live only in the past as others in her family have. Her views are far more progressive than her father likely would ever have imagined. It is the future she longs for and what an adventure it will be.

Love comes along early, a husband who will steady her but is it passionate enough? Is it the life she wants, particularly when independence is so important? With a man whose community is German, and she an outsider, how will she fit? Can she go along with his plans? Is she up to the challenge of molding herself into being a submissive wife with her fiery nature? She will be, of course, a fool for love that comes falling from the sky and it will be as unstoppable a force as a hurricane. A love that keeps coming around again and again, as if there is a lesson to learn. She isn’t without flaws, failing as a mother to protect her children and yet moving heaven and earth in her attempts to make things right. Violeta felt like a real person, through and through.

This is a novel in four parts, a life remembered as Violeta pens letters to her grandson who may one day want to remember her, and the devil would blush. It truly is a journal of self discovery deeply rooted in family tradition. There is sexual liberation and the burns of blind innocence but Violeta is a smart woman, one whose mistakes and sins afford her the freedom in business and her personal life, with a lot of heartache. This is one of the best books I have read in years.

Publication Date: January 25, 2022

Random House

Ballantine

Violeta | Isabel Allende | Book Review
336 Pages | Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction | My Rating: 5 Stars

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for this ARC in exchange for my honest review! I spent every free moment I had with Violeta. I couldn’t get enough. Ten extra minutes before work? Reading Violeta. Should be grocery shopping? Reading Violeta instead. Waiting for my nail polish to dry? Reading Violeta. I would even go to bed an hour early so I could read.

A lot of this book hits home as we are living through the Covid pandemic. This is a story of a woman with immense resilience and strength. So much happens in this book and it’s difficult to write a review without spoilers so I’m keeping it short for that reason. I definitely think you should read this one and I do not want to be responsible for taking anything away from your reading experience.

Violeta is chronicling her life which contains her fair share of tragedy. It’s a story of love, not just the romantic kind, but also of families and friends who become family. It’s also a story of perseverance through the hard times and enjoying the good times. I feel like the heart of this book is summed up by a quote from Violeta “There’s a time to live and a time to die. In between there’s a time to remember”. She does this so eloquently. The words all flowed so smoothly from the page to my brain and whenever that happens I just can’t help but love it.

Pub date is coming up on 1/25!

#books #bookstagram #netgalley #randomhouse #reading #read #bookreview #5starbook #whattoread #violeta #isabelallende

Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the arc of Violeta. This book is a story from a grandmother to her grandson about her life spanning a decade. It’s beautifully written and ties in all the historical events this woman lived through.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Synopsis: VIOLETA is a historical fiction novel told over the century-long life of Violeta Del Valle and chronicling the ups and downs of both her life and the history of her country (Chile, though—interestingly—she never names it explicitly). A much more detailed synopsis would be difficult without spoiling the entire novel, but it’s a narrative filled with tenderness, happiness, and kindness as much it is filled with violence, pain, and cruelty.

My Thoughts: This is somewhat different from the novels I usually gravitate to, and definitely different from anything I read in the past year or so—it takes a special kind of writer and a special kind of character to keep me invested in this type of narrative the whole way through. Fortunately, Isabel Allende is a special kind of writer and Violeta is a special kind of character.

This book is equal parts uplifting and heartbreaking and I’m so glad I read it. It has an almost Forrest Gump vibe (sounds strange but I mean this in the best possible way) in that Violeta experiences many important historical moments almost unwittingly, without understanding their larger context until later in her life. And through this historical lens, Violeta’s growth as a person and as a character, and her evolving understanding of the world and the people around her, was fascinating to watch unfold. Ultimately, this book is a shining example of how one life, even one that is supposedly “not special,” can have a massive impact. Thanks to the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Recommended for everyone, but especially if you love: historical fiction; feminist narratives; Latinx literature.

CW: sexual assault; intimate partner violence; self-harm/suicide; homophobia; racism; Nazism/xenophobia; pregnancy/childbirth/abortion; drugs/alcohol/addiction; government oppression; imprisonment/incarceration; death (human and animal).

If you're a fan of Isabel Allende's other work, I imagine you'll enjoy this book. There was a lot that I liked about it;
it spans decades of Violeta's family history set against the backdrop of major historical events. I loved getting to know the many people who Violeta knew and loved in her long life. I think this novel did a good job of showing us history through Violeta's eyes while also showing her inability to keep pace with the changing political and social climate. The generational divide between Violeta and her children felt very relatable. The machismo and other issues addressed in the book felt very real, and how Violeta dealt with those issues felt real too.

Some things that didn't work as well for me. The pacing felt a little slow sometimes; other reviewers have mentioned a lack of climax, and I think that contributed. I understand that the retelling of one's life may be a slow ramble rather than an obvious climactic arc, but there was never a sense of growing excitement or anticipation like we were building to something. Also, I know that Camilo is supposed to be the most important person in Violeta's life, but I wanted to see more of him. By the time he's introduced, the book is mostly over, and we get some little snippets of her life with him, but it wasn't really enough for me, and I didn't get the clearest picture of their lives together or what they meant to each other.

I do hold Isabel Allende to pretty high standards, and while I enjoyed this book, it isn't my favorite of hers. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, I picked up a book by Isabel Allende, hoping to finally become completely and utterly absorbed by the magic of her writing that her readers often praise. At first, the novel Violeta was fantastic, gripping, eventful, different, and oddly also relatable—I thought I finally found it! But my excitement died just as same quickly as it came to life. No, I didn't find it.

The story is told by Violeta del Valle, who recounts a hundred years of her life in a letter to someone she loves, describing joyful events, sharing heartbreaking losses but also confessing sins. The story starts with her birth in 1920, just as the Spanish flu sweeps through South America, and ends in 2020, with the hit of coronavirus pandemic. In between hides a story of the high-society city life, the aftermath of the Great Depression, life in a beautiful, rural exile and a path towards finding love, lust, money, and much more.

Undoubtedly, Violeta is a strong feminist character whose determination to find her place in the world, despite any turmoil her family has to make its way through, is admirable. Violeta is also a character who often tells the story just for the sake of telling the story, with no relevance to the continuation of the plot. Many times throughout the book, I wondered, what's the point of telling me this? And would the story's heroine really recount many events the letter recipient was part of? (Or was there just no other way to convey the information to the reader...)

Allende makes it a point to educate her readers about the history of the place and the times she sends her protagonist to. Yet the history lessons often seem a little heavy-handed and, quite honestly, a little distracting when all I want to know is what is happening to the main characters.

I read two other books by the authors: The Japanese Lover (which I didn't dislike) and Maya's Notebook (which I forced myself to finish). Isabel Allende's name is such a staple in the publishing industry, beloved by so many, that I really wanted to like her writing. Maybe, just maybe, I'm just not the right demographic.

While I will now take a break from the author's work, I am remaining hopeful. Maybe I am yet to find my Allende favorite. There are many, after all.

4.5

If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was reading a memoir; it’s so intimate and detailed. But then, it’s an Isabel Allende novel and I wasn’t surprised to find the heart and soul of her main character, Violeta del Valle in these pages, seeming to me like a real person.

With the back drop of historical events and politics from 1920 - 2020, Violeta’s 100 years take us from one pandemic to another (although this current one briefly touch on - thankfully), from an unnamed country in South America , from city to rural locality, to Cuba, Miami, Los Angeles, but always back to her home country.

It’s the story of a life, told in a letter to a grandson, a story of family, family by blood and family by chance, a story of riches and poverty, grief and joy, lust and passion and mostly love. An absolute must read for fans of Allende .

I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House/Ballantine through NetGalley.

Violeta lives a long, interesting life. She writes a series of letters to her beloved grandson Camilo, telling him of her extraordinary life. She was born during the Spanish flu epidemic and lived until the Corona Virus epidemic. Wioleta tells 100 years of passion, heartbreak, loss and gain. She has lived thru world wars, political unrest, the great depression and all the other events of the 20th century. She has gone from riches to rags and back, experienced ups and downs, soy and sadness. She has lived life to its fullest.
This is a wonderful journey through time, I really enjoyed Violeta's story. This is the first novel I have read by Isabelle Allende, but it won't be the last.
I highly recommend and I know now why it is one of the most anticipated novels of 2022.
Thank you to the publishers at Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

I can easily see why this book is one of the most anticipated stories of 2022. With a century of life to unravel, we are taken on a rollercoaster ride of Violeta's life starting with one pandemic and ending with another. That topic alone hits close to home right now, right? Add in multiple world wars, love affairs, children, family, moves, political exile, there is something in Violeta's life around every corner. Violeta as a character comes across as many from her time do, as rather cold, straightforward, and often selfish. She is the product of a rather unloving home and thus does not have the warm, attached connection with her loved ones to share throughout her life. Her non-romantic bonds appear forged by necessity rather than emotion, a stark contrast to how deeply she often gives herself over to her romantic ones. She is often shrewd, a cold, hard surface, but it's obvious this is what has been needed in order to survive in the world she has lived. Underneath the surface, she has love for her family, her romantic connections, and most of all, her country. This story will take you on a wild journey, so buckle up! (It's a great one!).


I received an advanced copy of Violeta for my honest review, all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for early access!

5.0 stars

I received a complimentary Kindle book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I loved, loved. loved Violeta. This character lived a long and very interesting life with lots of twists and turns along the way. In letters is how Violeta recounts her life which is a great way to tell this complicated and intense story. I loved learning about Chile even though the country was not explicitly identified in the book as well as other parts of South America.

The book started out a little slow for me and then I had a hard time putting it down - there was a lot to setup in this novel. It was beautifully written with incredible character development, settings, and storylines.

This is only the second book by Isabela Allende that I have read. I am super disappointed that I did not find her sooner - her first book was published while I was in college!! But, I am so thrilled and grateful that I have found another amazing author.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

2.5/5

What should I say about this book? This book is a letter of Violeta del Valle to her grandson, Camilo, to tell the story from the year she was born until her death. She was born during the influenza pandemic and she died during the breakout of coronavirus. A hundred year in total with lots of events and stories but it seems like this book is missing a climax. Everything is going pretty fast but the pace is so flat which bored me.

I dislike the main character, Violeta. While the book was trying to bring up how women was mistreated, Violeta was turned into a bad person first by letting her having an affair with another man. I wish there could be a better reason for her to leave in order to make everything more convincing.

I feel Violeta was portrayed poorly without any standout characteristic. She was even outshone by the side character, Torito, my favorite man in this book. There are so many characters that are jammed in this book and I'm pretty sure I'm just able to remember half of them. There were also so many deaths and tensions which were expected and that made the book so depressing and heavy about politics at some points.

However, I do like the ending of this book and I appreciate Violeta's love to her grandson. I believe whoever likes [book:Kane & Abel|78983] may love this piece. Right now, this book is not my choice.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the copy!

I am sorry, this is a dnf. I tried, I had stopped and started again, but it just isn't my type. i realize there are many people who will enjoy this novel, but it is not for me.