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La isla bajo el mar (Vintage Espanol)…
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La isla bajo el mar (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition) (original 2009; edition 2009)

by Isabel Allende

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,4671166,038 (3.92)121
"The story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible"--Provided by publisher.
Member:bailaoragaditana
Title:La isla bajo el mar (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition)
Authors:Isabel Allende
Info:Vintage (2009), Hardcover, 512 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:fiction, Latin American

Work Information

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende (2009)

  1. 30
    Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Cecilturtle)
  2. 10
    Zorro by Isabel Allende (fiercebunny)
    fiercebunny: Isabel Allende is one my favorite Authors of all time, and Zorro is a surprising and beautifully written novel. While it is not my favorite Allende novel, it is up there and it a a fun read.
  3. 11
    Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (CGlanovsky)
    CGlanovsky: Cast of interconnected characters are subjected to historical pressures through years-worth of events surrounding a revolution. Issues of paternity and social justice.
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» See also 121 mentions

English (89)  Spanish (12)  Dutch (7)  Italian (3)  German (1)  Swedish (1)  French (1)  Catalan (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (116)
Showing 1-5 of 89 (next | show all)
Slavery
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
I had expected to enjoy this book more than I did, and it’s possible I might have if I hadn’t come to it with high expectations. There were many observations that were written beautifully, but the characters felt as though they had been created to suit the plot, and the plot felt as though it was checking off a list of atrocities and injustices to be described. It was little vignettes in time connected by great chunks of exposition, capped by a jarringly abrupt conclusion. There were moments in this book that were bright, highly colored, in which I could disappear into the experience of the story. It was enough to keep me trudging along, but did not entirely make up for the rest.

Audiobook, borrowed from a friend. S. Epatha Merkerson performed the reading, with precise pronunciation and pacing but little emotion.

Cross-posted at Booklikes
( )
  Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |
This is an extraordinary novel by a great writer. The first half of the book takes place in what became Haiti in late 18th century. Allende knows her history and transported me to that time and place. (The balance of the book is set in New Orleans and nearby.) The story and characters are believable and powerful, compelling and knock-you-out realistic - these times were tough, especially for people of color. This book is a masterpiece. ( )
  RickGeissal | Aug 16, 2023 |
Quite the epic. Dipped into this periodically over the last... 3 months? I get the feeling this is one of those foundational stories, it will come back to me in details and references, I will stop knowing it as a book and remember it as myth, or history, or memory. ( )
  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |
The story of Zarite, a mulatto slave on the island of Haiti, from age 11 until her "older" age. Zarite was moved from Haiti to Cuba, and finally New Orleans. She had a hard life, but was a survivor. This spanned the time of about 1790-1830? (Through Haitian independence, but not American abolition.) As with all the Allende books I have read, magic realism played a part, this time in the form of voodoo. In general, this was a good read. I have only a minor complaint: Too much French! For a non-French reader, there were 2-3 sentences of French in several paragraphs that I had no idea how to interpret. I tried Google translator, but as in Spanish, I'm sure the translation was very off! I hope I didn't miss anything important. The title refers to the place voodooists go after death. 595 pages 4 stars ( )
  Tess_W | Mar 30, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 89 (next | show all)
After the recent catastrophes in New Orleans and Haiti, I had hoped this novel would teach me something new about the history of those places, but it did not. I kept wondering when the story would take off, but it never did. There is no magical realism here, and little realism of the ordinary kind. It has much more in common with Cartland than with Márquez.
added by Nickelini | editThe Telegraph, Lewis Jones (May 30, 2010)
 
Island Beneath the Sea isn't Allende's greatest work, but she handles a difficult issue with, for the most part, considerable restraint and grace. Allende isn't, and never has been, a terribly subtle writer -- her plots are typically markedly dramatic, and her characters often wear their motivations and emotions on their sleeves. But she's a little more reined in than usual here, despite a few ornate phrasings that might have lost something in translation ("Meanwhile, the French Revolution had hit the colony like the slash of a dragon's tail ... ").
 
With this admirable novel, Allende cements her reputation as a writer of wide scope and amazing talent. Although very traditional in its unfolding — readers enamored by her use of magical realism will find little in this narrative — this historical novel does what one hopes a book of its ilk will do: transport readers to a new world, open up history and make it come alive, and cause readers to forget time passing in the world the author has so carefully and lovingly built.
 
Critics devised the label “magical feminism” just for Isabel Allende’s multigenerational family chronicles featuring strong-willed women, usually entangled in steamy love affairs against a backdrop of war and political upheaval. These elements are all present in her latest novel, “Island Beneath the Sea,” which is set partly in late-18th-century Haiti. The protagonist, a mulatto slave named Zarité, is maid to a sugar planter’s wife who gradually goes mad. (The Caribbean seems to have had a reliably deranging effect on women in fiction, from “Jane Eyre” onward.) Even before her mistress’s death, Zarité becomes the concubine of her master, Valmorain, submitting to that role across decades and borders, even when he flees to New Orleans after the 1791 slave revolt. ...
In a welcome revision, Allende brings women to the forefront of the story of the rebellion. She replaces the African war god Ogun with the love goddess Erzulie. (In the one episode that most approaches magic realism, Erzulie possesses Zarité, but even then it’s unclear whether this is merely happening in Zarité’s imagination.) Ultimately, however, Allende has traded innovative language and technique for a fundamentally straight­forward historical pageant. There is plenty of melodrama and coincidence in “Island Beneath the Sea,” but not much magic.
 
NOT MAGIC, NOT REALISM
This failure to capture history in the making is the greatest contrast between this book and Allende’s early works. The rich texture of details that Allende provided in The House of the Spirits and Of Love and Shadows served to bring a particular universe vividly to life. The rich details were not superfluous or banal—they had a purpose, they represented a larger understanding. In Island Beneath the Sea, by contrast, what we get is a shallow and lazy pastiche of a well-researched historical mise-en-scène embellished by irrelevant but colorful particulars that are supposed to certify the book’s authenticity but are instead a poor substitute for a deeper comprehension of what this moment in history was about.
 

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Allende, Isabelprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Juan, AnaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Peden, Margaret SayersTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Risvik, KariTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Risvik, KjellTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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To my children, Nicolas and Lori
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In my forty years I, Zarite Sedella, have had better luck than other slaves.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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"The story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible"--Provided by publisher.

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