Violeta By Isabel Alende

A beautifully written story that spans 10 decades of the life and times of Violeta, a fiercely determined, strong-willed woman, who narrates us through her life's journey. The book starts out with Dear Camilo" and we soon come to realize this is the story Violeta is writing for Camilo. Who is Camilo? You won't find out until you are deep into the book and then, there is no stopping --buckle up for the ride!

As the book starts out in 1920, the narrator lets you know that she was born on one stormy Friday, and as you read on, you will understand that her life continued to be filled with stormy weather at every turn. She was the only girl in the large family of the Patriarch, Arsenio Del Valle.

The story speaks about the pandemic of that time period and how the Del Valle family combatted the disease. For the most part, they were locked in their large home, know as the Camellia House with their maids, cooks and washing women.

Arsenio decided early on that Violata, being his only daughter of his six children, needed an English governess-enter Miss Taylor. Miss Taylor plays an important role in not only Violeta's life, but also her brother Jose Antonio's life.

The story continues with the stock market crash of 1929, which proved to be extremely devastating to the family, both financially and personally. Fifty-seven years later, Camilo, as a teenager, sets out to dig through the past and unearth the family secrets.

The second phase of Violeta's long life, which her family referred to as Exile, had the family relocated to a semi-uninhabited province in the south, a landscape of vast cold forests, snowy volcanoes, ermerald lakes and raging rivers.

This well written tale, will illustrate for you Violeta's love escapades, her business acumen, her trek through motherhood and the losses of her family and friends. The journey really takes off when Violeta meets Julian, who she describes as "a spellbinding man, whom no one could ever compare to, because he had such an ability to captivate others, like a powerful magnet." This is one novel you don't want to miss.

This was truly a sweeping novel that span's the entire life of the main character, Violeta. The setting is somewhere in South America - interesting that the author never discloses the location but I suppose it allows for imagination and interpretation. Violeta is a lovely woman and is interesting enough for the whole book to be centered around. There are also quite a few intriguing characters that come in and out of her life throughout the book. The book covers so much life, so much history. One can only hope to truly experience life as Violeta did truly embracing all the joys and sorrows.

Violeta is the story of the life of a woman of that name. It is an amazing story, told by an amazing writer.

Violeta is born in 1920 in an unnamed country in South America. The war is not long over, and the Spanish flu is just taking hold. The story is written as a letter to a loved one, but the identity of the person is not revealed until much later in the story.

She lives in the city and her family is well off, so Violeta is fairly happy as a child. They hire a young woman from Ireland to be her nanny/governess. When the depression hits, her family loses everything and must escape to live with some relatives in the country. Through it all, Violeta adapts and mostly thrives.

She lives for over 100 years and dies during the current pandemic. So she sees another world war, as well as political upheaval in her country. Along the way she falls in love, and out of love, maybe a couple of times. She remains close to her family and always helps them when she can.

It is a beautiful story and was so easy to read. Allende just has a way of writing that makes you fly through the pages. I should probably give some credit to the translator, as Violeta was originally written in another language. Spanish? I'm not sure. But it reads so incredibly easily. I will read anything Allende writes.

If you've never read anything by Allende, Violeta is a good place to start, although I also really loved Daughter of Fortune. In any case, I highly recommend this author.

“The fairy tale that all humans are equal before the law and in the eyes of God is a lie, Camilo. I hope you don’t buy into it. Neither the law nor God treats everyone the same. That is especially clear in this country.”

REVIEW•
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Isabel Allende’s new novel reads like a memoir- it is so intimate and detailed. Violeta is writing her life story as she nears death at 100 years old, her life bookended by the Spanish Flu and COVID pandemics. Though the South American country where her story occurs remains unnamed, it very much seems like Chile, and in the middle of her life, Violeta navigates her own societal role as her country descends into a brutal dictatorship.

Though it took a while to get into it, I enjoyed this book overall, and there is no doubt that Allende’s writing is stunning. I have been wanting to read “La Casa de los Espíritus” in Spanish for a long time and this has moved it higher up on my list.

Thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for this eARC!

Beautiful story from the perspective of a woman born during the Spanish Flu pandemic and her final days in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Per her usual gift, the novel is haunting and engaging.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of Isabel Allende's newest work, Violeta. This was the first book from Allende that I've attempted to read - I'm ashamed of that fact, but I was excited for this one! The premise sounded promising, but I started to get worried when multiple bookstagrammers posted negative reviews of this one, claiming it was difficult to get into and/or dull. I decided to give it a try for myself.

I'm sad to say that after just 5%, I DNF'ed this book. The story did not grip me at all and the writing felt very clinical. I could already tell that I would be unable to feel attached to the story's narrator; the writing was just bizarre. It did cross my mind that perhaps this was a translation issue more than a writing issue, but I simply could not continue.

I definitely still plan to read more of Allende's work in the future such as The House of the Spirits and A Long Petal of the Sea. Hopefully these reads will grasp my attention much more than Violeta.

3.5 rounded up
Violeta - 100 years old - tells her life story in one long, dialogue-less letter to her grandson. It's an interesting story, but it's 100 years long! At the end, she would say something like "I almost forgot I was married to that man in my youth" and I had the same thought - "I almost forgot that too! Feels like 60 years ago!" I loved that it opened with the plague in 1920 and ended with covid. I found I couldn't just leave it - I wanted to know what happened. Definitely felt like an memoir & that was well done.

This book was really boring for me. I tried to get into the story several times but the way it was written was just not for me. It was dull most of the time even the points where things did happen it was told in such a blank way that it wasn't interesting enough to keep reading. I got halfway through until I dnf'd it . This was the first I've read of this author but I don't feel like the writing style is for me. I may pick it up in the future but I don't have a desire to now. Disappointed because this was one of my most anticipated books of the year but it was just not enjoyable for me.

A beautifully written masterpiece. I will remember Violeta Del Valle for a long time.
If you enjoy sweeping family sagas, this book is for you.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.#Violeta/English Edition#NetGalley

Born into one pandemic and lived to see the next, Violeta is one heck of a woman and the book reads as her personal retelling towards the end of her life. A lot can happen in a century and Violeta is witness to history throughout her life. While at times it read a bit like the rattling off of events and people, it’s full of colorful characters and puts forth the (radical!) idea that people change throughout their life, learning and growing based on their experiences. My only qualm with the book was that the last 3/4 read like a wrap up of the characters - like the epilogue of a movie. I kept assuming it was the end only to find more chapters to follow.

I’m an Isabel Allende super fan, but have missed her intricate, multi-generational sagas. Luckily, Violeta has arrived, and it’s everything you want from a true Allende epic. I couldn’t read this fast enough, but was also so sorry to turn the last page.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Amazing. Absolutely loved it. I very, very rarely read a book twice, but I'd read this one again. I only wish I'd kept a character list, as there were a ton of people and intertwining relationships to keep track of.

Looking back on her 100-year life in a narration directed to her grandson, Violeta, is unapologetic in the non-traditional life she had. Her father committed suicide and thrust the family into bankruptcy. Fleeing to a rural area farm, she grows up and married a German immigrant, but finding him boring she begins an affair with a handsome pilot. Although the country is unnamed, it has to be Chile, and her life documents the events which lead to the rise of a dictator and the Dirty War. Violeta remains with her lover for many years, has two children with him and suffered mental and physical abuse before finally leaving him for good. What is remarkable about Violeta is her ability not to hide what many would consider an adulterous life but shows how the double-standard was reflected on female behavior but not male behavior. Along with her personal life, she reflects on how her search for financial independence led her to accept an evil regime for personal gain. But seeing her daughter die after a life of drug addiction and raises her grandson as her own child, Violeta realizes that others were not as fortunate as she was, and she uses her wealth to help others. Her one hundred years of wisdom show in her declaration that if you want to help others you need money.

This lyrically lush historical fiction by Isabel Allende is my first dip into her extensive collection of written works, and it most certainly won’t be my last. Violeta, Allende’s most recent book, originally caught my eye because of the vivid cover and the expansive synopsis.

Written as a long letter to a “mysterious” loved one, Violeta del Valle, begins with her birth in in South America in 1920 and covers the next 100 years of her life in this narrative format. Violeta’s life story includes many extraordinary events during this time period: two pandemics, the Great War, the Great Depression, the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants.

It’s historical fiction at its finest. A fascinating way to highlight significant events that helped shape our today, but through the dynamic lens of a woman who is passionate, determined, fiercely loyal to those she loves and to a country that she calls home. Make sure you have that box of tissues handy because this book is emotional and inspiring.

If you are a fan of gorgeously written, epic historical fiction narratives, then I’m sure you will enjoy Violeta by Isabel Allende.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this opportunity to read and review.

In 2020, in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, Violeta del Valle, who is now 100 years old and in her last days, writes to her grandson Camilo recounting her life story.
Born in Chile in 1920 during the Spanish Flu pandemic, there is a just inevitability that a century of war, struggle, discrimination, marriages, good, evil, selflessness, challenges, depression, love, loss, happiness and accomplishment should end when the world is in the midst of a global pandemic.
Violeta has lived her life fully. A life exquisitely captured by the events of her country and Violeta’s journey.

Isabel Allende is a master at weaving compelling stories and characters. She sucks you into their world and you keep turning the pages marvelling at the words. The story is told by the letters written to her grandson and the world comes alive.

This is an intense, gripping and dramatic saga which is a brilliant read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This sweeping epic covers so much, and it was a thrilling whirlwind of a read. From the love and complexities of a family, to war, race, gender and sexuality, this tale is told as a memoir in the form of a familial love letter, spanning a century from the early of days the Spanish civil war, to the present day.

Covering a head-spinning number of remarkable historical events - the Great War, the so-called Spanish flu, the rise of drug cartels, Cuba, US involvement with the Cold War - Allende delves into implications of these events globally on the women's movement, drug culture, and other pivotal movements that shaped history.

Violeta, the riveting narrator, suffers through war, economic depression, great loss, and great love. The story explores how women suffered with lack of freedom and gender inequalities, domestic abuse, obstacles to financial freedom, and the perils of being a woman and a mother during war. It also explorers the push and pull of motherhood, not to mention historical parallels to today’s political climate, the current pandemic, and the ongoing fight for equal rights for all people. But Allende’s soaring prose and compelling narrative makes the reader forget what very serious and contemplative topics are being discussed throughout the story, the reader losing themselves instead in what it means to be so very human.

This novel read so quickly and with such a fluid and matter-of-fact style that the depth sneaks up on you.

Spanning a century, with pandemics as the opening and closing parentheses, this intimate yet sweeping epic will pull you in from the first page, and won't let you go until the last. The compelling but simple narrative language is at once intoxicating and spellbinding.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Such a beautiful written novel. It will take you over a span on hundred years full of love, heartache, scandal, and determination.

THIS. BOOK. I am a long time fan of Isabel Allende and I love how much time this story spans. It felt like a beautiful marriage of all the things I loved about One Hundred Years of Solitude by GGM and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. The language is beautiful and it was impossible to put down. Can't wait for everyone to get their hands on this one. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I really enjoy reading historical fiction and this one was no exception. I loved the writing and the way the story flowed and I had such a hard time putting this book down.

While I’ve love a couple other Isabel Allende books, this one unfortunately wasn’t my favorite. I felt pretty disconnected from Violeta, our narrator. The potential of a book about a lifespan from pandemic to pandemic was really intriguing to me, but the pacing was just too slow considering the wide timeline. There was such a focus on other characters and on an unnamed country instead of Violeta herself that even though she was narrating, I didn’t connect with her. She went through so much, but without much emotion. Despite not loving this book, I’ll definitely still read Allende books in the future.

Thanks so much to Ballantine for the copy of this book!