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

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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! As a young female journalist in the 1960's when feminism brought the strength of woman together, she felt comfortable in her own skin fighting for woman's issues and confirming how rising together can push boundaries towards change. From the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea comes a passionate and inspiring meditation on what it means to be a woman. Em tom muito autobiográfico, traz de volta a crítica aguçada, o discurso que consegue ser sincero e acutilante ao mesmo tempo. O espírito Allende está todo aqui. Mas é um espírito muito mais experiente, menos rígido.

I could go on and on from all the notes I wrote with the things that stood out for me but that would be the whole book. I highly recommend it.Isabel also explores ideas that cover literacy, child brides and females solid as a commodity for men. When women get together, they are more intimate and share more easily. In remote villages where women experience much hardship, they still sing and dance. Their spirit can not be held down. Isolation is what does that to people. Nowadays, agism is politically incorrect, as sexism and racism have been for decades, but nobody pays any attention. There’s a monumental anti-aging Industry, as if aging were a character flaw”. Allende feels proud of her gender. Most women seem to share that sentiment though Allende knows she is one of the fortunate few to have experienced both the joys of motherhood and professional success. For a woman to feel valued in other ways than through youth and beauty has been for ages a herculean, if not impossible, task. For the longest time, even Allende was convinced that her average looks were detrimental. Because of Chilean prudery, Panchita never knew her own beauty and though she also created beauty, it was never praised by others. Allende is convinced that beauty inside and out goes hand in hand with sensuality and passion. Leading to purpose, these vital human qualities are the key to youthfulness. sex, money, discriminatory laws, drugs, virginity, menopause, contraception, alcoholism, abortion, prostitution, jealousy... to name a few”.

Allende is incredibly self-assured and it gave me great comfort to see a woman so comfortable in her older age. Comfortable in her sense of self and awareness. Allende talks about how she is still learning; how her grandchildren have made her think about personal pronouns, how she has witnessed great changes in her time. The Soul of a Woman”.... [a tribute to feminism]....is intimate, pulsing with depth, breadth, life, and love.....even great moments of humor. 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.”My problem with the book lay in some of Allende's comments on feminism which felt a little generic and off-hand at times particularly on the subject of the burka and how women wear it purely out of fear of men. This seemed to contrast with her more careful attitudes towards sexuality and gender pronouns and was disappointing to see. And whilst this is part memoir examing Allende's relationship with feminism. I found some of this generalisations did not hit the mark right and some of them were problematic when she spoke about wider feminism. The book as a whole also felt a little disjointed and unplanned which could be because I read an uncorrected proof. Being born into a culture that caters to men and where woman have no voice, Isabel witnesses this unfairness firsthand. She watches as her mother struggles with three young children after her husband abandons them, only to become dependent on other men. This becomes the driving force behind Isabel's determination to fight for the kind of life her mother never had and it branches out to her strong beliefs in feminism. The Soul of a Woman does not radicalise feminism but highlights that females deserve an equal chance in life. Feminism is not something that only a few hardcore radicals fight for. As a female, anyone facing oppressing needs to go out and on a daily basis and fight for their rights – this is what feminists are truly about. Embracing all of the positives of being a woman, Allende shares her life story while sharing her beliefs on what it means to be a feminist in a variety of ways, incorporating some of the women she’s met and felt deeply inspi Allende] executes this epistolary memoir with the same authenticity and poetry that grace her fiction. . . . Allende is a survivor worth reading and emulating.” — The Dallas Morning News