The death of the beautiful, green-haired Rosa sets life off for her sister Clara and their suitor, Esteban Truebo. Clara, a clairvoyant, lives a loveless marriage with Esteban, having three children who she has unique and compelling relationships with, and who, throughout the novel, we witness the political upheaval of Chile.
Oh man, this book hits all my buttons. Magical realism! Inter-generational family saga! Loveless relationships paralleled by insanely romantic, doomed ones! Minor characters who recur in unexpected places! It helps that Allende's prose is almost as magical as the content of this novel, being deeply moving and poignantly layered. The exploration of the characters is always pitch perfect, and even when characters are doing downright dastardly things, you understand them, if not empathise with them. All in all, it's a pretty perfect novel.
5 out of 5 three-legged tables.
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