Thursday, March 20, 2014

The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende
A family saga set in an unnamed but very recognisable country this book is teeming with all sorts of characters from animals-"Barabbas came to us by sea"-children, lovers, tyrants, spirits of the dead and they all combine to tell a story that is magical, strange sad and somehow uplifting all at once. This is not the sort of book I would normally read but I enjoyed it immensely 8/10

Beloved

by Toni Morrison
A story set in the American South just after slavery was abolished. A slave who escaped before abolition is never far from the consequences of her early life which drove her to kill(sacrifice? protect?) one of her young children. Is it a ghost story? It is certainly haunting and will live with me for some time. The characters are beautifully crafted and the pain is shared with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it. 8/10