Rent Ines of My Soul

I like Isabelle Allende and I had no idea what this book was about before I started reading it. I was pleasantly surprised when I started, to find that it is a historical account of the founding of Chile in the 1500s. I oh-so-briefly learned about the conquistadores back in 6th grade or so, and have not learned much about any of that since. I think maybe we touched on it in high school spanish class. The whole thing was so lifelike and realistic. A lot of historical novels are kind of romantic but this was not. This is not a book that you speed through - it's pretty slow reading, but not because it's boring or bad. It's set up as a memoir by Ines, now in her 80s or 90s, who helped found chile. Naturally, while I was reading, I thought it probably was made up. When I got to the end, I found out that Ines really existed and this is, while fiction, largely based on fact. I never knew that a woman was so instrumental in founding that country and especially back then! What an amazing woman! There are a lot of sad parts - lots of cruelty, particuarly to the native americans, who they kill and enslave. I highly recommend this book!

I was disappointed after finishing this book I had really hoped it would grab my attention, transport me back in time, and make me want to read more about the time period. However, it didn't not really, anyway.The first thing I should mention is the fact that this book was originally written in another language and the translation may be part of why I didn't enjoy reading this book. If I could have read it in the original format, then, maybe I would have enjoyed it more.The story seemed to drag on and on. The battles were seem to repeat themselves over and over with little to no change. I could not really place myself in Ines' shoes and found it difficult to sympathize with any of the characters.It's really too bad, I would have loved to love this novel. It is, however, worth giving a shot.