Ines del Alma Mia: Una Novela (Spanish Edition)

Since I began studying Spanish, Isabel Allende has become one of my favorite authors. In this dazzling novel she does it again. Ines Suarez, the protagonist, an old lady, is trying to set down the tumultuous story of her life, a life which is intimately entwined with the history of her country. Born in a rural town in a backward part of Spain, she journeys to the New World in search of her missing husband, traces his steps to Peru, learns of his death, and manages to survive as one of the few Spanish women in the new land.

Later she enters into a tumultuous relationship with the ambitious and brilliant Pedro de Valdivia, and follows him in his singleminded pursuit--the conquest of Chile. It's a story of endurance, daring, survival, unimaginable cruelty and horror, miraculous survival, a clash of peoples which can have no happy ending, the building of cities, passionate love, and unbearable, tragic losses. I'll say no more. You just have to read the book.

Author Allende writes in her inimitable style--lucid and flowing--that draws the reader in with an unusual sense of intimacy. I found it easy to follow in spite of many words that aren't in my Spanish dictionary. The character of Ines is compelling--a powerful, gifted woman who refused to abide by the stereotyped roles of her time. Amazingly, Allende is able to convey the sweep of history, a story that extends over more than fifty years, without losing that sense of personal connection. I don't know how she does it. Sometimes the feminist message of this book is almost overdone--almost, but not quite. A genius like Allende gets some latitude. I recommend this book highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

He terminado la mitad de este libro, Ines de alma mia. No se si lo voy a seguir leyendo. La voz de Ines entra y sale y no tiene un estilo fijo, y su manera de hablar es como una mujer de nuestra epoca. Es dificil creer que se trata de una senora pobre de los anos 1500. Los asuntos que guian sus acciones no me convencen.

Los acontecimientos que relata son horrorosos, y no es claro como sabria Ines los detalles y la gente que protagoniza en esta historias.

Quisiera que me gustara el libro, porque tengo una tradicion de admirar a los cuentos de Isabel Allende. Pero este me esta perdiendo. Prefiero que Isabel escriba algo que tome lugar en nuestra epoca de hoy para oir de vuelta su propria voz.

Para mi es la misma Isabel Allende Maravillosa para escribir, la senti como cuando la casa de los espiritus.

En esta historia, la de Ines Suarez que desde joven fue de caracter fuerte y siguio lo que ella le tenia fe. Ines Suarez tomo parte en la conquista de Chile por parte de los eapañoles, tal como lo describe una persona aqui si narra situaciones un poco crueles pero hay que recordar que en la guerra.. si hasta en estos tiempos existen anomalias.. para empezar la guerra misma.

te involucras en la vida de Ines Suarez, una mujer fuerte y de un gran corazon que fue compartido en 3 ocasiones con toda su alma. Como lo dice Allende en el prologo, los dialogos han sido adaptados a los tiempos actuales para mayor comprension, vale mucho la pena leerla y ... pues ojala escribiera mas seguido!!!

Conozco a muy pocos autores que pueden "atrapar" a su audiencia en las 15 primeras palabras. Isabel Allende es una de estos autores.

Es cierto que las descripciones son a veces muy violentas, pero ¿de qué se sorprende la gente? La conquista de Suramérica (como cualquiera conquista) no fue nada romántica.

Inés del Alma Mía es una fabulosa historia. Existe muy poca información sobre la real Inés Suarez, así que el trabajo de imaginación de Isabel Allende para dar vida propia a su protagonista fue de verdad increíble.

Un lector se quejaba que el libro fuese escrito con palabras demasiadas modernas... cierto. Pero muy pocos de nosotros hubieramos entendido el Español del siglo XVI y el estilo de Isabel Allende se habría perdido trás las palabras.

Isabel Allende no ha perdido nada de su talento, imaginación y "sátira".

(No creo que sus libros les gusten mucho a los hombres, porque es demasiada honesta sobre su carácter. Nada que nosotras no sepamos.)

Extremely disappointing. No character or story development just consistent descriptions of fighting and suffering. If I had read it without knowing who the author is, I would not have believed it to be a work by Isabelle Allende.

Once more Isabel Allende has not disapointed her readers. Wonderful story. A book that once started cannot be put down until is finish.

Trust worthy to read.

As with "La Hija de la Fortuna" and "Retrato en Sepia", Isabel Allende uses her masterful storytelling abilities to blend in history and fiction, resulting on a very captivating novel. Allende's writing style is especially easy to read in the Spanish original for non-native Spanish speakers.

I read the Spanish language version, and I am an avid reader of Spanish language literature.

I am a great fan of historical fiction, and from that point of view, this was a great read. However, the purpose of the memoirs Ines is writing to her daughter was not only to document her life and history but to help her daughter understand the great love she had for Valdivia. On this front, I don't think the book works very well. I was extremely disappointed by the ending. I won't spoil it for readers except to say I didn't believe it at all (because I don't think the content of the story made it believable).

I feel that this book lacks much of what draws me to great Spanish Language literature in general - emotional content. Factually it was quite interesting, and I enjoy Allende's Spanish. However, the only parts of the book that had any emotional strength were the times Ines digressed from her history to address her daughter directly regarding her own impending death. It's too bad Allende didn't put that kind of emotional content in Ines' relationship with Valdivia. There was simply too much distance in the relationship for this to be considered a story of a great love.

However, I would highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction. It is interesting as Allende matter of factly expresses through Ines ideas of the day, and I am glad she does it without any preaching. For example, the fact that Valdivia wants to create an almost Utopian community in Chile, but he doesn't seem to care how many people he has to kill to do it. Or the comments reflecting the then-current opinions of the Spaniards on the New World and its indigenous inhabitants - the perceived barbarism of the latter with the actual barbarism of the former. She does a good job of letting the facts speak for themselves.

I truly wish that there had been more to the love story itself. Then this would truly have been a great book.

[[ASIN:006116156X Ines del Alma Mia: Novela]]
[[ASIN:0061161543 Ines of My Soul: A Novel (P.S.)]]

El libro es bueno, soy lectora de Isabel Allende desde hace años pero luego de Paula, no habia leido un libro de ella que realmente me gustara, este libro es bueno, entretenido, me recuerda a los libros de sus inicios, empiezas a leerlo y no puedes soltarlo. Sobre lo que dicen del lenguaje en que esta escrito, ella misma advierte que se tomo la libertad de modernizar el castellano del siglo XVI para que fuera de mas facil lectura. No le di 5 estrellas por que senti que le faltó algo al libro al final, aunque la lectura fue entretenida.

I cannot say enough how great this book is. I read it sooo fast! It is set in wild frontier Chile, with a strong woman character which is hard to find in novels; it has history, adventure, love, action. Great book!