A poignant story and beautifully written.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Violeta is the first daughter born into a family of 5 boys. She makes a huge impact in the family. She lives during the tail end of the Great War and the Spanish Flu. Then the Great Depression hits and hits her family hard. The family survives, but leaves scars in the family. Violeta tells her tale through the form of a letter to a loved one, and the tale is beautiful and well told.

This was a very good sweeping novel about Violeta. It goes through many decades and encompasses the Spanish flu and on. Since it is not a super long book that has a very long timeline, some areas are quickly pass through. Also, I think some things were lost in the translation.

Received an ARC of this book and couldn't be happier. Written as a letter to her grandson, this reads like a real memoir of a South American woman who experiences so much history in her 100 years. Although the country isnt named, its based upon similar history of many countries and rang true to life. I enjoyed spending time with Violeta and the special people in her life.

Wonderful author. This book was very different from A Long Petal of the Sea, which I loved. This book is a letter to a grandson detailing her life. Unfortunately I found it flat and without much passion or emotion. The narration seemed very detached from the events describing and defining her life. The story begins with the Spanish flu epidemic and ends a hundred years later with the Covid 19 epidemic. The story takes the reader from a childhood raised by an Irish governance, a parental suicide during the 1930s, a marriage with a whirlwind, but abusive affair, parenthood, addiction and finally old age. All the while the narration fails to pull the reader into her story.

It's a woman telling the story of her life, and much like in every life: there are interesting moments and then there's everything in-between. Along with the people who stay, the people who go, and those who change your life.
I like that it feels autobiographical, but the thing when deciding to read an autobiography is that you first have to care about the person or want to know about a moment in their life. I never felt like I really knew who Violeta is and any major moments in her life felt like passing thoughts.

I was only sorry to see both the book and the life of Violeta end. The history of the twentieth century into the twenty first served as a background for what I think was the true history, that of an amazing woman, Violeta, as told by Isabel Allende.

Watching Violeta reinvent her life over many decades reminded me of how so many women have done just that. People of passion, particularly it seems to me, women, have chosen to accept changes in their lives and philosophies to shape a better one. Watching Violeta’s spirituality develop and transmutate over the defining moments and periods in her life was a joy for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for inspiration and good reading in their own lives.

Another great book by Allende. I loved Violeta's story and in many ways it reminded me of my family's own history.

It was also the first time that I read a book of hers in English and even though I enjoyed the experience, I missed her words in Spanish.

This is my first time reading something from Isabel Allende. The cover and premise had me excited for a compelling, emotional read.

I'm sad to say I was disappointed.

The strength of this story is in the lyrical rhythm in which Allende writes. Sentences ebb and flow, and you can almost feel the cadence as you read. I suspect this is even more pronounced in the audio version.

But the story... The story. The lack of a descriptive setting made it difficult to engage and picture myself there. The events are detailed in extreme specificity - but with little to no emotional connection to either the characters or the place, I found myself skipping entire chapters searching for something interesting. The narrator, Violeta, is so detached and flat that I nearly forgot she was there. And in the end, it just wasn't enough to keep me reading.

Violeta was born in 1920 and died a century later. This novel is a long letter to her grandson, telling him about her full and adventurous life in an unnamed South American country. She comes into the world during the first world war and at the start of the Spanish flu epidemic in that area; her father is wealthy and influential, the father of five sons and now a daughter, and a successful business owner.

But some bad business decisions catch up to him, and Violeta and her parents, her mother’s two single sisters, and her Irish nanny must move out of the city and take refuge in a distant settlement with relatives of a friend. Violeta lives there for a long time, in humble conditions, and it is there she marries for the first time, to a German man whose family owns a hotel. She isn’t interested in marriage or the typical life expected of a woman in those days, but she eventually gives in and weds this nice man. Yet it is a rakish pilot who flies missions in and out of the country who finally grabs her attention, and they begin a longtime affair that produces two children.

The story follows Violeta as she navigates her tempestuous love life, raises her children, and works with her older brother in developing some successful business ventures of her own. She lives at times in her home country, both in the village and in the big city, and at times in Florida and other parts of the United States as life events and her children’s needs take her to the West. Her fortunes change, as does her commitment to stand on her own and break off with the dangerous man in her life, as he becomes more deeply entangled in illegal ventures.

Author Isabel Allende tells Goodreads that the book was inspired by her own mother, who died in 2018 at age 98.
“My mother was an extraordinary woman who did not have an extraordinary life. When I started writing Violeta, I was imagining what my mother could have been. She was a very good artist and never became the great artist that she could have been because she was the wife of a diplomat. What interested me was the fact that my mother lived almost a century—a very interesting and important century where we had two world wars—and she lived in Chile, where there was the dictatorship. So the goal of the book was, of course, Violeta’s life, but also to address the times that she lived.”

Violeta thus is a sweeping novel about one woman’s life and about the century she lived through. It includes a pandemic, natural disasters, wars, economic upheavals, the drug trade and its devastating effects, and political concerns both in South America and the United States. It provides a little sampling of history. I found it fascinating to look back on the events and social mores of each decade in those places and compelling to have such an intimate first-person account from a woman who experienced her shares of heartaches, joys, love, passion and disappointments.

Violeta by Isabel Allende is a wonderful sweeping epistolary novel about the life of its namesake character and her long life spanning from 1920 to 2020. I had somehow never read any Allende books, but I absolutely adored this novel! Violeta is headstrong, smart, and flawed. I loved how strong her personality is. I especially loved the parts about her children and devotion to her family.

It was mesmerizing to hear about all of the changes and upheavals she endured during her life in South America and the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s fascinating to consider the political turmoil so many countries faced during the 20th century, with the battle between socialist, communist, and authoritarian regimes in so many countries. I became so enraptured with Violeta’s vibrant life and her family. I listened to the audiobook, which was skillfully narrated by Yareli Arizmendi. I truly loved this novel!

Thank you Random House / Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This prolific writer brings us another story set in South America. Violeta is 100 yrs old when she begins to tell her life history to her grandson Camilo. She was born in Chile in 1920 just as the Spanish Flu epidemic is striking. The youngest of five boys, she is spoiled to the extreme until her family hires a young British governess.
I loved her older “Daughter of Fortune” and “House of Spirits” and did enjoy her recent “A Long Petal of the Sea”, but through wars and her husbands and lovers I just found this one left me kind of flat.

"The journey of life has long and tedious stretches, step by step, day by day, without anything exciting happening, but memory is made up of the unexpected events that mark your course."

This is the story of Violeta, from her birth to her death and everything in between, written by Violeta herself. We follow her tumultuous life in an unnamed South American country, we meet the varied and wide cast of characters of her life, and come along for many of her ups and downs, flings and romances, and successes and regrets. I love a book spanning decades, especially when it contains captivating characters and includes hints at what's to come peppered in; this was a textbook recipe for a book I enjoy. While it was my first Isabel Allende novel, it won't be my last.

What an epic story of loss, love, family and hope. Violeta was a moving and dynamic story filled with so much emotion and complex characters.

I'm a huge fan of Allende's books and the way she captures the atmosphere, culture and traditions of the country and community she writes about, and the way she wove all of this together in Violeta through the characters and setting was just superb!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine Books for this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is told through a letter. A memoir written to someone she loves above all others, her grandson.
Violeta is the sixth child born in the family and the first daughter. A storm ushered in her birth in 1920.
Many events mark her long life, ripples of the Great War are still being felt, the Spanish flu arrives on her South American shores almost at the time of her birth.
She is a sheltered,shy child who listens to her father. As she grows we see her being delighted with many modern marvels being discovered and being dealt blows with great tragedies in life.
No one leaves this world unscathed in some way.
Fascinating memoir of one hundred years of life spanning from the Spanish Flu pandemic to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now that's a lot of living!

Pub Date 25 Jan 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

In Violeta, the title character tells the story of her life, from its beginning during the Spanish Flu epidemic, to its ending during the outbreak of Covid. One thing I really liked was thinking about how much has happened in the past hundred years. Technology, attitudes, and culture have all undergone tremendous change. I also learned much about South America - through the eyes of Violeta we see political upheavals, earthquakes, as well as the typical daily lives of people both rich and poor. The scope was epic and I enjoyed reading the book. I did feel like it was somewhat emotionally detached - I didn't feel for the people, but I was quite interested in them.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this book!

I enjoyed this book. The reader is brought into Violeta's world through a series of letters written to her grandson. The Author writes beautiful prose, which at times, can be somewhat wordy and drawn out. I enjoyed the history backdrop which brought the story to life. She lived through World War II, the Cuban revolution and dictatorship in Chile.
Violeta was born during the Spanish flu outbreak, which brought similar comparisons to recent events, involving mask shortages, stay at home orders, the question of vaccine efficacy.
I enjoy books like these, which draw on history to explore recent events and mark the similarities.
This is the first book I have read by this Author. I look forward to reading her other books.
Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review it.

Isabel Allende does not disappoint in this multigenerational story of the conflicts in Chile. We watch as Violeta matures and has relationships that teach her what is important/

This was a beautiful story told in letters from Violeta to her grandson. Her story is book ended by two pandemics, but they play a very small role in the story. The novel was beautifully written with fleshed out characters and vivid descriptions. However, I felt a slight disconnect from the characters and the book was a bit drawn out at the end.

I received an advanced readers copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So, let’s get right into it.

I am a massive fan of Allende and have read almost all of her works. I fell in love with her novels and works of non fiction all throughout college while studying politics. As a latine woman myself, there is something about Allende’s progressive thinking and humor that really resonate with me, as a reader and a woman alike.

I was extremely excited to receive an ARC of Violeta, because Allende never disappoints. Spoiler alert, Violeta was anything but disappointing.

To me, Violeta felt very similar to Allende’s work Paula, though this time the story Allende tells us fictional. Nonetheless, Violeta pulled at my heart strings and covered 100 years of love, war, pain, and loss in an entertaining 400something pages. Allende has a way of making you wonder what’s going to happen next, and how her characters will respond — but the reason I enjoyed this in Violeta was because everything that happened was raw and real. From love and lust to dealing with loss, I feel as though almost every reader of Violeta could find something to relate to.

Overall, I enjoyed Violeta and would recommend it to anyone!
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