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La isla bajo el mar
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
La azarosa historia de una esclava en el Santo Domingo del siglo XVIII que lograr librarse de los estigmas que la sociedad le ha impuesto para conseguir la libertad. Para ser una esclava en el Saint-Domingue de finales del siglo XVIII, Zarit haba tenido buena estrella: a los nueve aos fue vendida a Toulouse Valmorain, un rico terrateniente, pero no conoci ni el agotamiento de las plantaciones de caa ni la asfixia y el sufrimiento de los trapiches, porque siempre fue una esclava domstica. Su bondad natural, fortaleza de espritu y honradez le permitieron compartir los secretos y la espiritualidad que ayudaban a sobrevivir a los suyos, los esclavos, y conocer las miserias de los amos, los blancos. Zarit se convirti en el centro de un microcosmos que era un reflejo del mundo de la colonia: el amo Valmorain, su frgil esposa espaola y su sensible hijo Maurice, el sabio Parmentier, el militar Relais y la cortesana mulata Violette, Tante Rose, la curandera, Gambo, el apuesto esclavo rebelde... y otros personajes de una cruel conflagracin que acabara arrasando su tierra y lanzndolos lejos de ella. Al ser llevada por su amo a Nueva Orleans, Zarit inici una nueva etapa en la que alcanzara su mayor aspiracin: la libertad. Ms all del dolor y del amor, de la sumisin y la independencia, de sus deseos y los que le haban impuesto a lo largo de su vida, Zarit poda contemplarla con serenidad y concluir que haba tenido buena estrella. En mis cuarenta aos, yo, Zarit Sedella, he tenido mejor suerte que otras esclavas. Voy a vivir largamente y mi vejez ser contenta porque mi estrella -mi z'etoile- brilla tambin cuando la noche est nublada. Conozco el gusto de estar con el hombre escogido por mi corazn cuando sus manos grandes me despiertan la piel. He tenido cuatro hijos y un nieto, y los que estn vivos son libres. Mi primer recuerdo de felicidad, cuando era una mocosa huesuda y desgreada, es moverme al son de los tambores y sa es tambin mi ms reciente felicidad, porque anoche estuve en la plaza del Congo bailando y bailando, sin pensamientos en la cabeza, y hoy mi cuerpo est caliente y cansado. Resea: Un canto a la libertad. El Mundo
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review
giulia.mosna
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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Mehso-so

?/5 ⭐

Non so proprio che voto dare a questo libro. È una storia ben scritta e coinvolgente, ma una cosa mi ha turbata: vengono trattati temi storici importanti, complessi e problematici, ma mentre alcuni vengono giustamente rappresentati in maniera critica (come schiavitù, razzismo e abusi), con altri (incesto, relazioni tra adulti e adolescenti) sembra quasi che Allende li voglia normalizzare. Spero di aver capito male.

iaietta Lo leggerò così possiamo discuterne 🙊 7mo
giulia.mosna @iaietta uh mi interesserebbe un sacco sentire cosa ne pensi tu 7mo
2 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Andrew65
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Pickpick

Read for #Haiti for #ReadingtheAmericas2023 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBb

Another excellent novel by Isabel Allende covering life on Haiti, the slave trade, voodoo, the slave uprising and is an excellent read. I think I enjoyed this part more than when the book shifted to Louisiana at the time when it was transferred over to the American authorities. A sad ending for the book.

I think I‘ve found a new favourite author.

Andrew65 15th book finished in November #Rushathon @DieAReader @Ghabi4Roses 13mo
GHABI4ROSES 🎉HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU FOR TODAY AND @DieAReader tomorrow! After I check my office calendar 🎂 13mo
Librarybelle Hooray to discovering a new favorite author! 13mo
See All 8 Comments
Andrew65 @GHABI4ROSES Thanks 😁 13mo
Andrew65 @Librarybelle That‘s always good and found a few through your annual challenges. (edited) 13mo
DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES Thanks❤️‍🔥🥳 13mo
DieAReader Happy Birthday @Andrew65 🎁🎂🎊 13mo
Andrew65 @DieAReader Thanks 😍🥰😘 13mo
58 likes2 stack adds8 comments
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E.Bolhafner
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Pickpick

Best of 2023 so far. I understand this isn't considered Allende's best book but it is the first I have read. A Historical Novel with the Haitian Revolution as a backdrop & spanning several decades. I found the historical bit interesting as it intersected with various other reads the most recent of which was Babel. Reading my fiction alpha by author so I have another of her books to follow this one: The House of Spirits. #20in4 progress

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E.Bolhafner
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Echos of Wide Sargasso Sea where the Caribbean heroine, Antoinette, becomes Mr. Rochester's Madwoman in the attic. Passage:
...it was not a rare thing for white women who had come from outside the island to become deranged... Their husbands sent them to recover in a diff. climate... In the case of Eugenie, it was already to late to send her anywhere except an asylum, an option V's .. pride would never allow...:dirty linen was washed at home.

E.Bolhafner for those not aware Wide Sargasso Sea was a 'feminist' prequel of Jane Eyre. I usually read the two back to back. More a commentary on constraints put upon women's behavior due to differing cultural norms and how we treat women who do not adhere to them. At least that is how I remember it --its been a while since I reread the WSS and Jane Eyre 2y
1 like1 comment
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E.Bolhafner
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My mother's favorite author which is honestly the only reason I own this book.

About 25% the way through but loving it. I think it is interesting-coincidentally- that it is happening around the same time as Babel. For those who haven't read Babel it is an alternate timeline that tangentially discusses the Haitian Revolution, which falls in the timeline of our story.

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E.Bolhafner

So many good quotes in this book!

Music is the wind that blows away the years, memories, and fear, that crouching animal I carry inside me.

..it doesn't mean anything for me to be free and everyone else slaves...her freedom was irreparably bound to that of other slaves

...:dirty linen was washed at home.

4 likes1 stack add
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Evita
Pickpick

3.5 out of 5

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kalivha
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Mehso-so

This was a really nice book! Unfortunately, the German translation opted for using a lot of racial slurs when there were none in the original nor the English version, which I found to be a pretty inappropriate choice since neither the author nor the translator are Black. I wish I had read this in English instead.

BookwormM Interesting point about translations 4y
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Floresj
Pickpick

At the beginning of the novel, I felt as though there was too much back story and I was a bit lost. However, the effort paid off! Great novel covering the Haiti slave revolt and living in New Orleans when the US buys it. Great voice, characters and plot!

JenniferP I‘m just starting my first book by Allende, and I love her vivid story-telling! 4y
10 likes1 comment
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suvata
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Mehso-so

Set in the late 18th century during the Haitian Revolution, on the island of Saint-Domingue (La Hispaniola). Spanning four decades, it is the moving story of the life of Tete (daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor who brought her into bondage) and of one woman‘s determination to find love amid loss, to offer humanity though her own has been battered, and to forge her own identity in the cruellest of circumstances.

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kalivha
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I'm reading this next. I would usually buy books like this in English (it's more convenient to do so, living in England) but I don't mind reading it in German as neither language is the original.

Those of you who are bilingual, what determines what language you read a book in, if you can't read the original anyway? Do you research translations? Or just get whatever is most convenient?

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DebinHawaii
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#WanderingJune
I thought of Zarite (Tete),born a slave in Haiti when it was under French control as San Domingue as a #CaribbeanQueen 👑she is purchased for Valmorain, a Frenchman who inherited his father's sugarcane plantation there. It's been a decade since I read this book while on an Allende phase.

Cinfhen Allende just doesn‘t jive with me 🤷🏼‍♀️ 5y
60 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Sace
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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Pickpick

Another one I can check off the December TBR.

I started reading this un June, but the fact that I took a break and it took a while to read does not mean it wasn't good. On the contrary, it's very good. The ending broke me though.

MarriedtoMrT I love that cover! 6y
87 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Sace
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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#HelloThursday @wanderinglynn
✔️ US English
✔️ 2- English and Spanish
✔️ Spanish and a few very very basic German books

wanderinglynn Hola! Thanks for playing! 😀 6y
80 likes2 comments
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Sace
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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"Parecía en su salsa, como si hubiese hecho ese rudo trabajo toda su vida."

¡Ay, español! ¡Te expresas tan bonita!
******
"She seemed in her element (lit. in her salsa/sauce), as if she'd been doing this rough work all her life."

To which I respond "Oh Spanish! You express yourself so nicely."

hermyknee ♥️ 6y
61 likes1 comment
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Sace
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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Gracias, Isabel por hacer #despacito tan fácil. Y también ¿Como leo yo en español? Des.pa.ci.to. 😑

Thank you, Isabel Allende for making #despacito so easy. And also, how do I read in Spanish? Slow.ly.

#heatofjuly @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

BarbaraBB Muy bien 👍😀 6y
mrp27 👍🏼👍🏼 6y
Sace @BarbaraBB gracias! 6y
Sace @mrp27 😁 6y
74 likes4 comments
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Sace
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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As much as I struggled to read Ines del Alma mía, the discussion at the workshop was just amazing (and I got to practice my Spanish.)

Now I'm inspired to read another Allende novela. Just can't decide which one. Hopefully not having the "required reading" weight dragging on me will make it a more pleasant experience. I'm leaning towards Zorro.

EadieB Daughter of fortune - I enjoyed that one! 6y
Sace A lot of workshop participants and the workshop leader had high praise for it as well. 6y
Avanders Zorro was really good.... though I read it in English 😉 6y
See All 15 Comments
Sace @Avanders I've loved Zorro since I saw the Guy Williams Disney movie from the 50s. Zorro was probably my first crush 😏 6y
Avanders Heh heh seems fair 😁 6y
Sace @EadieB ooops! I forgot to reply to your comment with a tag. See above 👆 6y
Sace @Avanders I'd probably hate to go back and watch the movie now. It might be embarrassing. 6y
Avanders Lol you never know.. I think Johnny Depp was mine from Cry Baby (or Jonathan Brandis from... never ending story 2?)... both have held up. Not theb movies 😆😆 But the boys 😁 6y
xicanti I adored Zorro. 6y
Sace @Avanders yeah... Movies rarely hold up do they? 6y
Sace @xicanti I don't know why I've waited so long to read it. Allende has never disappointed me so I don't expect to be disappointed with any of these. 6y
AlaMich I practiced my Spanish on La Casa de Los Espiritus...it was challenging but totally worth it!! 6y
Avanders @RestlessFickleBookHoarder yeah.. but that's okay 😁 6y
Sace @Avanders it is. I embrace my tastes in mediocre entertainment. 6y
Avanders @RestlessFickleBookHoarder lol same here 🙋🏽‍♀️ 6y
66 likes15 comments
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mrp27
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KassKho
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Anybody else watch Jane the Virgin and love how much of a bookworm she can be!

LA_Mead Yes! I love that show. I'm a little behind in my episodes though... 7y
19 likes1 comment
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KerriNTurner
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#fallintobooks #southamericanwriters I've not yet read any Isabel Allende, but when I do I want to start with this one.

Texreader I've not read many by her but I've liked the ones I've read. 7y
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heatherspoetlife
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This is a sad insight that is said so perfectly this book. The context is a conversation of how quickly a non-slave state became a slave state when they realized how much more profitable it would be.

12 likes1 stack add
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Booksta.helen
La isla bajo el mar | Isabel Allende
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☺☺☺

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Shimuli
Pickpick

Loved this book!! Even a few days after finishing it, I still feel like I'm in Haiti and New Orleans in the early 1800s...

1 like1 stack add
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Yeah_I_Read
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This is an incredible story!!! Such a good deal. Sorry to be an enabler but this would be $2 well spent 😊😊

HannaPolkadots Hear, hear! An excellent read! 8y
Buddys_Momma Beautiful book-may read it again soon! 8y
69 likes1 stack add2 comments
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dariazeoli
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I searched my #Goodreads for "sea" and this book came up. I read it in 2010. Sadly, I remember nothing about it - this is a common problem I have.

It occurs to me now that I could've gone with Springsteen's memoir for this prompt instead. A Jersey rocker whose home is by the sea! ???

#rockinmay #homebythesea

Lacythebookworm I have the same problem. 🤦‍♀️ 8y
Cinfhen I can't remember half of what I read , either! but I recently listened to BRUCE and he was on fire! 23 hours of audio, I will say as much as I love his voice...he's a bit of a rambler 😜😎 8y
30 likes3 comments
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noellemartine
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There are so many bad reviews of this book, but I like it. It doesn't sound like she's trying to copy Gabriel García Márquez (which was my biggest problem with House of the Spirits), I'm learning so much about the history of Haiti and Haitian voodoo, and the story is pretty compelling. So no complaints from me.

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JacquelynLovesYou
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I love having feline company when i read i the bath.

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JacquelynLovesYou
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Reading in the tub with epsom salts and essential oils. 🛀

Hollie Sounds like perfection! 8y
5 likes1 comment
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JacquelynLovesYou
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Started this today. Hoping to learn about Haitian history and what life might have been like for a woman enslaved there. #weneeddiversebooks

1 like2 stack adds
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rockpools
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Hmm. My selection of books by #latinxauthors needs work. I'll get right on that!

#feistyfeb

26 likes1 stack add
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TNbooklover66
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