Ines of My Soul
Registered by 
perryfran
of Elk Grove, California USA on 9/10/2008
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
perryfran of Elk Grove, California USA on 9/10/2008 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Book Description:
In the early years of the conquest of the Americas, Ines Suerez, a seamstress condemned to a life of toil, flees Spain to seek adventure in the New World. As Ines makes her way to Chile, she begins a fiery romance with Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro. Together the lovers will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage war against the indigenous Chileans—a bloody struggle that will change Ines and Valdivia forever, inexorably pulling each of them toward separate destinies.
Ines of My Soul is a work of breathtaking scope that masterfully dramatizes the known events of Ines Suerez's life, crafting them into a novel rich with the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.
In the early years of the conquest of the Americas, Ines Suerez, a seamstress condemned to a life of toil, flees Spain to seek adventure in the New World. As Ines makes her way to Chile, she begins a fiery romance with Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro. Together the lovers will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage war against the indigenous Chileans—a bloody struggle that will change Ines and Valdivia forever, inexorably pulling each of them toward separate destinies.
Ines of My Soul is a work of breathtaking scope that masterfully dramatizes the known events of Ines Suerez's life, crafting them into a novel rich with the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.
This was a very interesting and engrossing historical novel about the founding of Chile in the Sixteenth Century. It is told from the point of view of Inés Suárez who was instrumental in the conquest and settlement of Chile along with her lover, Pedro de Valdivia.
Allende uses the device of writing this memoir in Ines' old age as a record for her adopted daughter. She gives a very encompassing history of the conquest of Chile including the cruelty of the Spanish towards the native Indians. The driving force behind the conquest was the pursuit of gold and land, and the enslavement of the natives to work the land. Although Ines was against cruelty to the natives, she describes many instances of the horrors they endured at the hands of the Spanish. One passage notes that an admiral and his crew "sailed to a remote inlet where his sailors were welcomed with food and gifts by friendly Indians, whom the Spaniards rewarded by raping the women, killing many of the men, and capturing others they took in chains to Concepcion, where they exhibited them like animals in a fair." This is one of the more mild descriptions...others included decapitations and dismemberment of uncooperative natives. The Indians of Chile, the Mapuche, did not give in easily to the Spaniards, unlike the Inca and Aztecs. They were at constant war with them for decades. Although war with the Indians were a constant threat, Ines was a friend to the native poor and helped them out by establishing hospitals and soup kitchens.
Overall, this was a real education for me. I knew practically nothing about the history of Chile and its conquest. This novel definitely fills in the gaps. Allende states in her author's note: "This novel is a work of intuition, but any similarity to events and persons relating to the conquest of Chile is not coincidental". A real eye-opener!
Read as part of the Oldest TBR Read and Release Challenge 2018.
Allende uses the device of writing this memoir in Ines' old age as a record for her adopted daughter. She gives a very encompassing history of the conquest of Chile including the cruelty of the Spanish towards the native Indians. The driving force behind the conquest was the pursuit of gold and land, and the enslavement of the natives to work the land. Although Ines was against cruelty to the natives, she describes many instances of the horrors they endured at the hands of the Spanish. One passage notes that an admiral and his crew "sailed to a remote inlet where his sailors were welcomed with food and gifts by friendly Indians, whom the Spaniards rewarded by raping the women, killing many of the men, and capturing others they took in chains to Concepcion, where they exhibited them like animals in a fair." This is one of the more mild descriptions...others included decapitations and dismemberment of uncooperative natives. The Indians of Chile, the Mapuche, did not give in easily to the Spaniards, unlike the Inca and Aztecs. They were at constant war with them for decades. Although war with the Indians were a constant threat, Ines was a friend to the native poor and helped them out by establishing hospitals and soup kitchens.
Overall, this was a real education for me. I knew practically nothing about the history of Chile and its conquest. This novel definitely fills in the gaps. Allende states in her author's note: "This novel is a work of intuition, but any similarity to events and persons relating to the conquest of Chile is not coincidental". A real eye-opener!
Read as part of the Oldest TBR Read and Release Challenge 2018.
Journal Entry 3 by perryfran at Little Free Library - Foulks Ranch Rd. in Elk Grove, California USA on Wednesday, June 19, 2019
perryfran at Little Free Library - Foulks Ranch Rd. in Elk Grove, California USA on Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Released 4 yrs ago (6/19/2019 UTC) at Little Free Library - Foulks Ranch Rd. in Elk Grove, California USA
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