Violeta by Isabelle Allende

 Another book by Isabelle Allende and this just proves why she is the best at what she does. This specific book made me start a whole path through discovery not only on myself but on what I want people to remember me as. I want to be remembered as someone who was caring to the people they loved, who was hardworking and determined till the very end. Isabelle Allende made me want to do more for myself.

The beginning is so nice that we feel like we are transported back to our childhood homes, we imagine how she was surrounded by such beauties of nature. It is truth that the beginning is in the middle of a pandemic and the way she survives such a hard time shows how resilient her family was and how hard the whole group worked just to keep afloat. She is a quick learner and thanks to that she can catch up to all the other learning qualities of any children.

The people that surround her are the proof that it's by nurture that we become who we are. Violeta became who she was because of the teachings of everyone around her. Her mother was loved and taken care for so she showed that same love for everyone that she adored. She saw the love her brother showered her in and she not only gave it back but she went through a long path paying it back. Even though she crossed some lines along the way, her brother never put her down as a woman or as his sister, he allowed for her to do her own decisions and for that to happen during those times was a great deal of love.

She grew up as someone who knew what love was and what was lust, she could differentiate the two and how she felt love for a person and how she could feel desire for another. She lived a life full of love and that can be seen not only on the husbands that she had but on the way she described her romantic encounters. Some of her husbands loved her more for what she symbolized then what she was. Violeta was a symbol of stability she offered as much, she loved the husband as a wife would with love and that made them infatuated with her, her second husband was an idiot and I think most will agree with me, her character developed immensely thanks to the bad relationship.

She became the power woman that we see at the end. She learns to take care of business by herself, she is well off in financial terms, she is happy with her son. She is sad for the daughter's faith, the daughter fell into the father's dark hands and its beautiful glow of money, drugs and whatever more she could want. Her mother tried to educate her and love her but there is only so much she could do.

However I do love how the author included the reality of time amongst the story, the middling of politics in her story makes the book real, Violeta's worries became a reality and we as the reader put ourselves as her neighbours who see her worried not only for her outspoken son but her daughter who is lost to the world.

When we finally get to know who she is addressing is a very sad part because it's the moment where after all this separation between mother and daughter, they reconcile only to then be separated. And this one has no remedy.

Again she has the support of someone who adores her and thankfully she is not totally alone, Camilo is there now. Camilo is the grandchild who she is addressing this book to. Camilo's progress is described in detail and all the care that Violeta has for him is not left behind.

Violeta does not stand still as things start to settle, she makes a stand for women, and she makes a stand for the ability to vote. She suffers great loss during this time. From one of her former lovers to an old friend and family. Each leaving her in body but keeping their teachings within her.

She is a woman with a story that inspires the rest to continue moving forward, she never stopped moving no matter the age.