Inés of My Soul - Isabel Allende

Born into a poor family in Spain, Inés, a seamstress, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. It is the sixteenth century, the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and when her shiftless husband disappears to the New World, Inés uses the opportunity to search for him as an excuse to flee her stifling homeland and seek adventure. After her treacherous journey takes her to Peru, she learns that her husband has died in battle. Soon she begins a fiery love affair with a man who will change the course of her life: Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro.Valdivia's dream is to succeed where other Spaniards have failed: to become the conquerer of Chile. The natives of Chile are fearsome warriors, and the land is rumored to be barren of gold, but this suits Valdivia, who seeks only honor and glory. Together the lovers Inés Suárez and Pedro de Valdivia will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage a bloody, ruthless war against the indigenous Chileansthe fierce local Indians led by the chief Michimalonko, and the even fiercer Mapuche from the south. The horrific struggle will change them forever, pulling each of them toward their separate destinies.Inés of My Soul is a work of breathtaking scope: meticulously researched, it engagingly dramatizes the known events of Inés Suárez's life, crafting them into a novel full of the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.

Published: 2006-11-07 (Harper)

ISBN: 9780061161537

Language: English

Format: Hardcover, 321 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Genres

Fiction Historical Historical Fiction

Reviews

Burton rated it

Maybe 3.5 stars. My first book by this author. Some of this read like non-fiction but definitely a fictionalized story of the Spanish foray into South America focusing on the conquest of what would become known as Chile and the establishment of the city of Santiago. It is narrated by the 70 y/o Ines Suarez as she relates this history (1500-1553) to her daughter Isabel as she intuits her impending death. " I fear these pages already contain more cruelty that a Christian soul can tolerate. " It was a bloody slog indeed throughout the book, barbaric behavior in torture, victory & death." I suspect in this life we are not going anywhere and even in less haste; one merely follows a path, one step at a time, toward death. So let us keep going...tell this story as long as we have days left; there is still much I want to recount.Ines was quite a remarkable woman and her story kept me reading. She was BOLD, leaving the security of but lonely life in Spain to search for her husband Juan who had left Spain in search of wealth in the New World.She became the lover of the famous conquistador Pedro de Valdivia and shared and fought (literally at times) for his dream. Valdivia became the first Governor of Santiago but was a soldier at heart and determined to subdue the hostile native populations.She endured much hardship to carve a place in the world and living to 70 I think is quite a testament to the iron will and determination of Ines. This woman was definitely a BOLD woman and I found her comment to her friend Cecilia particularly current: " Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is badly out of balance, in favor of men. That is why they work so hard to mistreat us & destroy us. But remember that bold women are like cockroaches: step on one & others come running from the corners."

Burton rated it

Isabel Allende viena mano mgstamiausi autori. Pradjusi paint nuo Dvasi nam supratau, jog k i autor parays, t a ir skaitysiu. Ir skaiiau, vienos knygos patiko labiau, kitos maiau, bet n viena i j neleido suabejoti Isabel talentu. aviuosi ir jos mokjimu vis nustebinti skaitytojus. Daniausiai raytojos knygos bna jautrios, apie eimas, j santykius, visuomet ireikiama meil ilei. Taiau tarp t mielj knyg, yra ir tokia kaip Majos dienoratis. Mano galva, Allende su ia knyga nr visai kitokius vandenis ir pasauliui save pristat i visai kitos puss. Maitinga paaugl, narkotikai, udyns - man tai buvo staigmena. Kitokia yra ir knyga Ines. Prie kibdama roman, internete pasiskaiiau atsiliepimus apie i knyg ir beveik visi jie buvo panas. Knyga monms pasirod ltoka, sunkiai skaitoma, ne Allende braio. Ir tikrai, su kai kuriais i toki vertinim a sutinku, taiau kartu randu ir prieasi tam paaikinti. Ines Isabel Allende ne sukr. Tai tikrai gyvenusi moteris (1507 1580), kuri buvo aistringa politik, verslinink bei padjusi nukariauti il ir kurti Santjago miest. Kaip pati autor teigia, knygoje ji vykius ir veikjus atpasakoja taip, kaip jie vardyti rastuose dokumentuose bei metraiuose. Ji band kuo miau krin dti savo splioni ar vaizduots, kad knyga gautsi kuo autentikesn. Isabel Allende su iuo romanu tiesiog norjo pasauliui priminti umirt heroj, stipri moter ir atpasakoti tikr istorij.Knyga raoma kaip paios Iness memuarai. Juose ji pasakoja visk nuo savo vedybinio gyevnimo pradios iki gyvenimo galo. Dar bdama labai jauna Ines itekejo u grauolio Chuano. Didelio dvasinio ryio tarp j nebuvo daugiausia ia veik kniki dalykai. Tais laikais moterys neleisdavo sau prisipainti jog ir joms reikia vyro, kad ir jos nori naktini malonum. Na, o Ines to n neband slpti. Tad Chuanui ivykus iekoti Eldorado (turtingo Indijos miesto. Deja, igalvoto), ilgai nelaukusi Ines patrauk paskui j be vyro tverti negaljo N Tve ms nebesukalbu neupulta tonik mini. Beiekodama Chuano, ji susipasta su Pedru ambicingu kariu bei politiku. Greitai vienas kit pamil, jie jau nebesiskyr. Jo kvpta Ines ir pati imasi karo ygi ir kaip jau teksto pradioje minjau, pasiekia itin daug.Knygoje be galo daug karo vaizd, udyni, strategijos, politikos apraym. Tai iek tiek apsunkina skaitym. Man norjosi daugiau jos santyki su visais gyvenimo vyrais, Iness kaip asmenybs pieinio. Pirma knygos pus, kol Ines pas vyr keliavo, jo ilgjosi, band sitvirtinti Naujajame pasaulyje buvo kur kas domesn. Kai prasidjo visi kariavimai, nukariavimai, ygiai ir panaiai domumas blso ir nublso. Taiau labai pykt ant autors sau neleidau tai ne meils romanas ir ne jo siuetiniais vingiais Allende mane avti norjo. Tai istorinis romanas. Taiau ir j esu skaiiusi ne vien, ir vistiek Iness negaliau pavadinti geru, stipriu ar simintinu.

Kimmi rated it

Que libro tan maravilloso, que manera tan hermosa de narrar una historia de amor envuelta en guerra y sangre, Isabel Allende me gusta muchísimo y este es sin duda mi libro favorito de la escritora seguido muy muy de cerca por la isla.bajo del.mar.Si bien este libro es en esencia una historia de a amor, nos muestra sin ningún tapujo lo sangrienta que fue la conquista por parte de los españoles en el Perú y Chile y muy sabiamente nos hace pensar si había derecho para eso, por que grandes culturas tenían que someterse a unos recien llegados en nombre de un rey que no solo no conocían, si no que estaba a años de distancia y como sufrieron tormento tras tormento en mano de estos hombres que se creían dueños legítimos de todo en nombre de un Dios inexistente.Inès es un personaje maravilloso, ame este libro.