Welcome to Litsy!

?/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.

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.

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

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.

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.

3.5 out of 5

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.

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!

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.

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?

#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.

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.

#HelloThursday @wanderinglynn
✔️ US English
✔️ 2- English and Spanish
✔️ Spanish and a few very very basic German books

"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."

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

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.

#emojimadness #🏖

Anybody else watch Jane the Virgin and love how much of a bookworm she can be!

#fallintobooks #southamericanwriters I've not yet read any Isabel Allende, but when I do I want to start with this one.

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.

☺☺☺

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...

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

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

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.

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

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

Started this today. Hoping to learn about Haitian history and what life might have been like for a woman enslaved there. #weneeddiversebooks

Hmm. My selection of books by #latinxauthors needs work. I'll get right on that!

#feistyfeb

#seasonsreadings2016 #setonanisland