The Soul of a Woman: Rebel Girls, Impatient Love, and Long Life

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I feel like the voices of older women are so often silenced and so this was great to read in that sense. Later she writes “Now it’s been proven that the happiest people are married men and single women.” Has it? By whom? Which study is that? And how did they define or quantify happiness? Further along, she opens a paragraph with “The poet and activist Sylvia Plath” and later attributes a quote that originates with Allen Saunders to John Lennon. Isabel Allende’s The Soul of a Woman spends some time considering the body’s failings in relation to ageing, but this memoir is mostly focused on and informed by rage about the patriarchy – a rage sparked when Allende’s mother was abandoned by her husband. Divorce not being allowed in Chile at the time, Allende’s father agreed to an annulment on the proviso that he never have anything to do with his three small children. Her brothers were allowed to vent their anger, but when Allende did the same thing, her mother consulted doctors to find out what was wrong with her daughter, suspecting colic or a tapeworm. Allende retrospectively diagnoses herself as an early bloomer: “I was a feminist in kindergarten.”

Being in the later years of her life, she also reflects on that era, on the post retirement years and her attitude towards them, how she sees that she has changed, what she is and isn't prepared to compromise on. Isabel also explores ideas that cover literacy, child brides and females solid as a commodity for men.The Soul of a Woman is part memoir, part discussion of feminism where Allende talks about love, loss, passion and sense of self. For example, Isabel walked away from the church at fifteen not because she didn’t believe in God but because she couldn’t be part of something that limited the feminine role. She struggled with the inherent machismo of religious organisations and openly disagreed with the way that females were treated as second-class members of the congregation. The fact that men were always going to remain as figures of authority without women ever truly being seen as equal was something she felt she could not be a part of. He views were so strong and unmoveable on this matter that she simply couldn’t stay. First book I've ever read from this author and I was mindful of our same age and that she and I have a long view of women and their oppression over many years but her view is more personal based on her life and experiences since she grew up Latino and not in the U.S. I grew up in the U.S. and had good, bad and ugly experiences with men through the years but I also had a loving 46 year marriage to a very powerful man who loved women and was respectful to all. So this problem is not just men versus women but the types of men and the types of women who interact with each other. Humans basically, that can get it wrong at times!

Fictional female characters that boast bravado in storylines from the Middle Ages is one thing. Real flesh and blood, fire-breathing females in real life is another. And that compels us to look over our shoulders in gratitude for those who came before us and the realization to take on a willingness to forge ahead for today's little girls who will become tomorrow's stoic women. What part will we play? When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating," begins Isabel Allende. As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, provide for her three small children without "resources or voice." Isabel became a fierce and defiant little girl, determined to fight for the life her mother couldn't have. Determined to be financially independent, Allende entered the world of journalism before she was 20. But being deeply romantic, she soon married her first husband and had two children, vowing to become a good wife and mother even though she was “dying of boredom, [her] brain turning into noodle soup.”A stunningly intimate memoir . . . Allende is that rare writer whose understanding of story matches her mastery of language.” — Entertainment Weekly Overall, "The Soul of a Woman" is a powerful and inspiring book that will resonate with women of all ages. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities and richness of being a woman in the 21st century. Where women should cover themselves from head to foot, so the weak men wouldn't be tempted. Where you are called a whore if you put a little make up on your face; where your worth is measured by the covering on your head, by your child-bearing ability, by your self-denial, docility and becoming resigned to being owned by someone else. Soul of a Woman is the debut studio album by American singer Kelly Price. It was released by Island Records on August 11, 1998 in the United States and debuted at number fifteen on the Billboard 200. The album's most popular single and Price's biggest hit was " Friend of Mine", which tells the story of a woman whose husband cheated on her with her best friend.

Years ago, a successful woman would have hidden behind a male pseudonym (e.g. Mary Ann Evans wrote as George Eliot) and even today females often hide their gender by using only their initials (e.g. J.K. Rowling) making them non-gender specific in the hope that they will appeal to a wider audience. The book’s mix of quirky stories and historical facts resonates with the genre of magical realism, with which Allende’s name is associated and which is often unfairly maligned, particularly when practised by women writers. The House of the Spirits, perhaps Allende’s most famous novel, may begin as a story involving clairvoyance and other magical happenings, but it ends with the novel’s young female protagonist fighting against a violent junta. The novel is based on the overthrow of Chile’s democratically elected president Salvador Allende, Isabel’s uncle, in 1973. The coup forced Allende’s family into exile. Intriguingly, while Allende refers to the horrors of Chile’s past, she never mentions her uncle. Isabel Allende is believed to be the most widely read Spanish-language author and yet, she still faces struggles to be recognised in the same way that her male peers are. In this book alone, she exposes the fact that it took the collaboration of several Chilean leaders for her to be awarded the National Literature Prize. This prestigious prize has been awarded to just a handful of women since it was launched in 1942, but why?

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My FAVORITE Chilean writer. I’m thrilled to know she is living in the Bay Area. I’m SUCH A FAN....I went to listen to Isabel speak 3 different times at book readings. Love everything about this tiny spitfire talented woman.