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La isla bajo el mar

by Isabel Allende

3.87 · rating details · 4,545 ratings · 1,060 reviews

Para ser una esclava en el Saint-Domingue de finales del siglo XVIII, Zarité había tenido buena estrella: a los nueve años fue vendida a Toulouse Valmorain, un rico terrateniente, pero no conoció ni el agotamiento de las plantaciones de caña ni la asfixia y el sufrimiento de los trapiches, porque siempre fue una esclava doméstica. Su bondad natural, fortaleza de espíritu y...more

Hardcover, 512 pages

Published August 25th 2009 by Vintage

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May 31, 2011

Kim marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Recommended to Kim by: npr.org

Thursday evening, May 6th, I had the good fortune to attend a talk and reading by the most famous living Latin American author. Isabel Allende read from her new novel Island Beneath the Sea at the Atlanta History Center to an auditorium full of fans. She was a delight!!

It had been years since someone had read to me and I had quite forgotten what a pleasure that can be. Author Allende reading her new book in her wonderful Latin American accent made for one of the most pleasurable e...more

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Sep 14, 2010

Claire Grasse rated it

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Recommends it for: practically no one

The flyleaf review on this book promised that it was written with all kinds of "native wit and brio." sic. Well, I fear this surfeit of wit and brio was somehow waylaid between press and the bookstand, because I'm halfway through, and now hoping I can find the grim stamina to just hang on and finish this book that somehow manages to feel damp and depressing, even in the cheeriest of chapters.

Allende uses language beautifully. She paints vivid word portraits of places and t...more

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May 20, 2010

Jeanette rated it

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Shelves: all-fiction, historical-fiction, caribbean, five-star-fiction

Take the rich historical settings of Haiti and New Orleans. Toss in voodoo ceremonies, zombies, bloody slave uprisings, forbidden loves, pirates, spies, fortune-tellers, hurricanes, epidemics, and a pinch of scandal. Place all of this is Isabel Allende's gifted hands, and what's not to love?

This book took some time and concentration to get through, but when I got to the end I found myself wanting more, more, more. I wanted to know what happens to Tete and Zacharie and Maurice and th...more

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Sep 07, 2011

Hayfa Qahtani rated it

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هذا الصباح انتهيت من آخر رواية للقراءة حتى بداية العام ٢٠١٢ ان شاء الله .
لو كانت هناك نجمات اكثر لفعلت واخترتها لملحمة ايزابيل اييندي ، التي صادفت واكتشفت بكثير من الدهشة أن قراءاتي خلال اغسطس كلها كانت عن الاستعباد وسطوة الرجل الأبيض .
هذا الكتاب للتاريخ ، للقلب ، للعائلة بمعناها البيولوجي والمعنوي .
الوصف وكم التفاصيل التي تجعلني مثل كلّ مرة وقراءة لايزابيل اسمع وارى واشمّ، سافرت مع تيتي بين هايتي ولويزيانا الامريكية ، عانيت من الحر والبحر ، وشعرت بضربات السوط والظلم الذي وقع ع...moreهذا الصباح انتهيت من آخر رواية للقراءة حتى بداية العام ٢٠١٢ ان شاء الله .
لو كانت هناك نجمات اكثر لفعلت واخترتها لملحمة ايزابيل اييندي ، التي صادفت واكتشفت بكثير من الدهشة أن قراءاتي خلال اغسطس كلها كانت عن الاستعباد وسطوة الرجل الأبيض .
هذا الكتاب للتاريخ ، للقلب ، للعائلة بمعناها البيولوجي والمعنوي .
الوصف وكم التفاصيل التي تجعلني مثل كلّ مرة وقراءة لايزابيل اسمع وارى واشمّ، سافرت مع تيتي بين هايتي ولويزيانا الامريكية ، عانيت من الحر والبحر ، وشعرت بضربات السوط والظلم الذي وقع عليها .
قرأت هذه الرواية بالتزامن مع ضوء اغسطس لفوكنر واقولها صراحة نجحت ايزابيل في خطف النجمة الاضافية والنجمات الافتراضية التي اعطيتها لها الان ومن قبل .
يدهشني النقاد وقراء الكتب عندما يتحدثون عن كتاباتها ويفضلون بعضها على الاخر ، بالنسبة لي هي وغابرييل ماركيز وجبة كاملة غير قابلة للانتقاء والتقسيم . وكلّ مرة يطرقون حكاية جديدة ستكون معهم مختلفة .
الرواية كلها كانت في كفة ، وفي كفة اخرى مقطع صغير تصف فيه ايزابيل توديع احدى شخصيات الرواية (سأخفي اسمها كي لا افسد القصة) توديعها لابنتها في مرضها ووفاتها، شعرت بكل كلمة لأنني اعرف جيدا ما مرت به ايزابيل مع ابنتها باولا ، هذا هو اكثر اجزاء الرواية حقيقة ،
سأحتاج لوقت طويل حتى امدّ يدي لرف الروايات ، فوكنر وايزابيل رفعوا مستوى التقبل وشهيتي كذلك .

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Jan 10, 2012

KOMET rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: isabel-allende, fiction-general, fiction-du-haiti

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I read a novel, I hope that I will be presented with a compelling story peopled by characters with whom I can relate, be they kind, virtuous, noble, loving, selfish, hateful, or vindictive. In that respect, "Island Beneath the Sea" won me over completely.

The story is centered around 3 families and spans the years 1770 to 1810. Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island of Saint Domingue in 1770, as a man aged 20, to assume ownership and responsibility for a plantation ...moreWhen I read a novel, I hope that I will be presented with a compelling story peopled by characters with whom I can relate, be they kind, virtuous, noble, loving, selfish, hateful, or vindictive. In that respect, "Island Beneath the Sea" won me over completely.

The story is centered around 3 families and spans the years 1770 to 1810. Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island of Saint Domingue in 1770, as a man aged 20, to assume ownership and responsibility for a plantation his family has established there (Saint-Lazare). He is a young man with egalitarian ideas, as well as an atheist. He mixes in as best he can with the stratified society that defines Saint Domingue, France's wealthiest colony, largely based on sugar and slave labor. "Toulouse Valmorain spent the first years lifting Saint-Lazare from devastation and was unable to travel outside the colony even once. He lost contact with his mother and sisters, except for sporadic, rather formal letters that reported only the banalities of everyday life and health. After his failure with two French managers, he hired a mulatto as head overseer of the plantation, a man named Prosper Cambray, and then found more time to read, to hunt, and travel to Le Cap. There he had met Violette Boisier, the most sought after cocotte of the city, a free young woman with the reputation of being clean and healthy, African by heritage, and white in appearance..."

Valmorain and Violette had a passionate relationship til he, on a visit to Cuba to visit his business associate, a Spaniard named Sancho Garcia del Solar, introduces him to his younger sister Eugenia, freshly arrived from a nunnery in Madrid. Valmorain and Eugenia marry and return to Saint Domingue. But Saint Domingue does not quite agree with delicate and high-strung Eugenia, who begins to display the dementia that would determine her fate.

To help with running the house, Valmorain, with Violette's help, makes inquiries for a slave girl to comfort and assist his wife with the everyday running of the house. Thus he purchases, in the early 1780s, a scrawny, spirited 11-year old girl named Tete (aka Zarite). Tete --- the daughter of a African woman she never knew and a white sailor who impregnated her on the slave ship that transported her to Saint Domingue --- "survives a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo."

By this time, while Violette and Valmorain are no longer lovers (she has married a courageous and principled French army officer named Relais who is utterly devoted to her), they maintain a tenuous, friendly contact.

In the meantime, Saint Domingue becomes engulfed in revolution and civil war in the wake of the French Revolution. The lives of Valmorain and his family, Violette and Relais, and Tete are turned upside down. Eventually, most of the main characters, in order to survive, have little choice but to leave Saint Domingue as best they can.

After a sojourn in Cuba, Valmorain (now widowed) and his family --- with Sancho's help --- emigrate to New Orleans in the Louisiana Territory circa 1795, where he works painstakingly to re-establish his wealth and position in society. Tete, by now a young, attractive, and desirable woman, shows herself to be strong, resilient and resourceful, despite the limitations and indignities slavery has placed upon her life. By way of contrast, Valmorain becomes a rather debased person as the novel progresses, though not altogether heartless.

"Island Beneath the Sea" stands out as a moral tale on slavery, racism, love, and the vagaries of the human heart. From me, it comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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Apr 24, 2011

Myonlycookie rated it

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Shelves: fiction

I always love Isabel Allende, and was intrigued to see her branch away from the "unnamed South American countries" (or sometimes named South American countries) story lines. Just to see her tackle a (slightly) different subject matter.

Island Beneath the Sea is an epic historical novel, following the story of Zarite, a slave. The novel begins in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), with Toulouse Valmorain, French, and the acquisition of his plantation. From there Zarite and Toulouse...more

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Aug 03, 2011

Enrique028 added it · review of another edition

I must admit that although liking Isabel Allende's books, I approached this one with caution just because It would be my first to read in English instead of Allende's and my native spanish. Also by reading the synopsis I couldn't quite work out what the story was about and having read nil about it nor in spanish or english well I was doubtfull.

But I was wrong. It is an excellent stoy, told in third person and with like-diary notes by the so-called main female lead in this book : Zarite, also kno...moreI must admit that although liking Isabel Allende's books, I approached this one with caution just because It would be my first to read in English instead of Allende's and my native spanish. Also by reading the synopsis I couldn't quite work out what the story was about and having read nil about it nor in spanish or english well I was doubtfull.

But I was wrong. It is an excellent stoy, told in third person and with like-diary notes by the so-called main female lead in this book : Zarite, also known as Tete.

I was , have to say, surprised and fascinated by the amount of facts and interesting data about Haiti [then known as Saint-Domingue] ast the end of the 18th century. Just when the French Revolution was about to happen...when Marie-Antoneitte was decapitated and then when Bonaparte takes central stage. But all that is just a distant and foreign affair for our characters back in LeCap and the Sugar Plantations in Saint-Domingue. The story is cruel with very little twists and many horrible things going on. It's a story about slavery and how slaves were treated and how blacks were treated. The richness in detail is sometimes mesmerizing but as I said before because it is a cruel story , it is also empty of emotions, which come few and very sparse.

There are a few characters that manage to empathize with everyone but in this story nothing is black and white and everyone is at many points bad or good or just in for the ride to get something out of it. Although Zarite-Tete is the main lead, I feel she is more like the vessel to tell the story, perhaps her being a slave, her character is depicted as submissive and naive, but she could have rebelled herself and be more alive. While that sounds like a complaint about the book and her, it is none of it, because her book persona fits where it needs to fit in all this mess of a sorrowfull story. In contrast, Violette is full of life, it is a well define female character that ants to take over the world and also very sympathetic. Hortense is a vile character that perhaps was common in thar period and Rossette, the child and the teenager are very dull but she needs to be. On the male side, Toulouse Valmorain is one of the most conflicted and awfully complex characters I have read. I didn't like him. Nor his actions which most times were excused by the servitude of Tete. If I have to pick a male character my heart goes to Ettiene Relais, Dr Parmentier and Maurice Valmorain. They represent an ideal in some extend but also each of them managed to rise above the rest, and that includes the women in the story. I wasn't quite crazy about Rossette and Maurice storyline, not only because of the actual relationship between them -which won't reveal cuz it is a major spoiler- but I was a bit offended by it and that isn't easy. Thumbs up to Allende for writing about it and giving a very credible excuse for it happening.

I must say, It is a fabulous book. A very entertaining and informative book.

If I have a sole complain is, the translation...it wasn't very good and it made the reading difficult at times.(less)

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Nov 21, 2010

Joffy Next rated it

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Teté è una schiava, una mulatta; altre nella sua stessa condizione finiscono col morire di stenti e fatica nelle piantagioni di zucchero. Ma la sua “z’étoile brilla anche quando la notte è nuvolosa”.
Sicuramente la componente del magico, dell’invocare i loa, Erzuli e altre divinità in un sincretismo tipico di società che nascono dalla fusione di più culture, è forte e marcata. Tuttavia non è solo il destino ad aiutare Tetè. È con le sue qualità che riesce a diventare la schiava personale della ...moreTeté è una schiava, una mulatta; altre nella sua stessa condizione finiscono col morire di stenti e fatica nelle piantagioni di zucchero. Ma la sua “z’étoile brilla anche quando la notte è nuvolosa”.
Sicuramente la componente del magico, dell’invocare i loa, Erzuli e altre divinità in un sincretismo tipico di società che nascono dalla fusione di più culture, è forte e marcata. Tuttavia non è solo il destino ad aiutare Tetè. È con le sue qualità che riesce a diventare la schiava personale della moglie del padrone Valmorain tanto da esserle indispensabile, ad imparare l’arte di prendersi cura dei malati da Tante Rose, ad approfittare dell’occasione più favorevole che le si sarebbe presentata per estorcere al padrone la promessa di libertà. Quella di Tetè è un’impotenza, una passività che nasconde forza d’animo, capacità di adattarsi a molteplici compiti e situazioni come quando, per amore dei suoi figli, si priva della possibilità di scappare sulle montagne con Gambo, l’uomo che ama, anche se questo significa non vederlo mai più e continuare a vivere con l’odiato padrone.
Le storie, poi, si accavallano le une sulle altre in un groviglio avvincente e romantico. E allora andiamo a conoscere, in una maniera quasi casuale, alla quale l’Autrice ricorre spesso, altri personaggi, altre vite. Conosciamo Violette Boisier e Loula, che approfittano degli uomini per portare avanti i propri interessi ma scopriamo essere, dietro le apparenze, capaci di affetto e compassione. Il dottor Parmentier, un uomo bianco con idee anti-schiaviste che nasconde un segreto. Sancho Garcia del Solar, che pur nella sua mondanità dimostra onestà e bontà d’animo. Fino ad arrivare a Toulouse Valmorain, il padrone, che fino all’ultimo non dimostra alcuna capacità di rimorso né di comprensione del dolore che aveva inflitto alla sua schiava. Lei sola è portatrice “di una pietra nera nel cuore”.
Rancore e odio, tuttavia, non sono affatto i sentimenti che prevalgono nel romanzo. In un mondo fatto di ingiustizia e soprusi, Zaritè si muove al ritmo dei tamburi, balla e allora dimentica tristezza e sofferenze, viene posseduta da Erzuli e va a trovare gli spiriti nell’isola sotto il mare. E continua a ballare perché “lo schiavo che balla è libero… finchè balla”.
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Feb 06, 2012

Steven Langdon rated it

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Shelves: super

Every so often, I come across an unexpected gem in my reading -- and that is true for this flowing, deeply felt novel by Isabel Allende. Zarite, the book's sensitive central character, is a young woman slave in late eighteenth century Haiti, determined to be free, despite the bonds of social control, sexual exploitation and familial duty imposed on her -- even as the historic slave rebellion in Haiti advances, providing her with the chance to achieve her escape.

Writing with...more

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Jan 08, 2012

Dave rated it

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Just finished the Book on Tape. I enjoyed very much the history of Haiti and New Orleans along with the personal perspectives of the feaux historical characters. It surely makes me appreciate how far we've come. It makes me thankful for my life and times. But I also wonder, what accepted practices of today will offend the future?

There is a tiny bit of magical realism, and not overused. I don't really "get" magical realism. Here it is never used to advance the plot, but to en...more

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Oct 04, 2011

Tamara Morgan rated it

· review of another edition

A few years ago, I probably would have given this book five stars.

I have always loved Ms. Allende's work, especially her ability to weave an epic, lyrical tale that stays with me for weeks. Island Beneath the Sea was a strong example of her style, and in a setting that is new to her. (Most of it, anyway. The story starts as Haiti and the Dominican Republic are established, but later moves to New Orleans, where she revisits some of the Lafitte locations she used in Zorro.)

I t...more

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Sep 29, 2011

Laura rated it

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This was a good book to read on a plane, but, even then, I found the plot to be too predictable and too linear. I enjoyed learning more about Haiti's history during the revolutionary period, but I couldn't attach very well to any of the characters. There were many that I really liked -- like Zarite, Violette, Loula, Maurice -- but I felt like I never got to be inside their thoughts and their feelings. Yes, I got to experience their sensuality stroke by stroke in typical Allende style (which d...more

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Aug 12, 2011

Jane rated it

· review of another edition

This was one of the best books I've ever read. I love Allende's style but this was simply fascinating to learn so much of the life of both the slaves and their masters from just prior to the French Revolution in Santa Domingo and New Orleans to to be able to compare and contrast the differences in both their treatment during this era. From the owner's perspective, I don't think that he ever quite came to understand that slaves were people first and not simply property with no feelings or true ...more

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Jul 12, 2011

Kerrie Woods rated it

· review of another edition

A most enjoyable and absorbing read.

Terribly interesting historically, building on my dodgy memories / knowledge of slavery from yr 8 history (am vaguely remembering a map of the world with a triangle drawn over the sea on it..)and adding some intriguing geopolitics on France and Haiti I knew b*gger all about into the mix.

Allende conjures a rich, dense old world, and although it's very different to the one we inhabit 21st century-wise, it is possible to glimpse the beginn...moreA most enjoyable and absorbing read.

Terribly interesting historically, building on my dodgy memories / knowledge of slavery from yr 8 history (am vaguely remembering a map of the world with a triangle drawn over the sea on it..)and adding some intriguing geopolitics on France and Haiti I knew b*gger all about into the mix.

Allende conjures a rich, dense old world, and although it's very different to the one we inhabit 21st century-wise, it is possible to glimpse the beginnings of modernity through the events, discussions and people painted onto the pages of this book. The French Revolution; the Louisiana Purchase and the abolitionist movement are heavy subjects, which are handled gently through a narrative that focuses on the characters' interpretation of events, rather than the events themselves. This might frustrate history scholars, but serves overall to make the novel accessible, and absorbing.

The characters drive this novel (which will come as no surprise to previous readers of Allende, and indeed any similar South / Latin America family saga type stories). All the big emotions are in there; violence and tragedy looms large at times; there is a large (but never unmanageable) ensemble cast, hopelessly entangled over a protracted period of time. If I have a criticism, it's that this novel isn't as ambitious as some in the genre (spanning a mere 40 years and a couple of generations). The characters are skilfully drawn and faceted, and there is lots to relate to. The book is paced well, too - the historical context takes pot-shots at the characters on a periodic basis, which keeps things lively.

Allende's religious and mystical motifs are sometimes touching, sometimes malevolent, showing the dual role of faith, religion and superstition in comforting those in need and providing hope and joy to the helpless; while simultaneously 'dumbing down' dissent and providing divine justification for the Grands Blancs to continue their tyrannies. Ultimately though, this is a novel more concerned with people: their relationships; decisions; indecisions, and pragmatism in turbulent times. Faith and religion are mere supporting actors.

In summary: a thoroughly engaging journey through hot Haiti, cool Cuba and old New Orleans. Well worth a read. (less)

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Jul 09, 2011

Chandra rated it

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My expectations were high: Isabel Allende, tropical islands, slave saga...all wrapped up into one, I should have come away impressed. Sadly, I was anything but.

First, others have approached the transition from slavery to freedom so much better than this. The characters lacked heart, the story lacked meat. I kept hoping to get pulled in by the main characters, and it never happened. Perhaps to try a more original approach, Isabel Allende brings the characters into the story in a ...more

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Jul 03, 2011

Patrícia rated it

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Shelves: romance

Que sou fã da Isabel Allende não é novidade para ninguém. Por isso também não é surpreendente que considere este mais um livro a não perder.

Teté (Zarité) nasce escrava e teima em não morrer apesar de todos os esforços de sua mãe para que isso aconteça. Uma mulher escrava e mãe prefere não deixar que os seus filhos nasçam para uma vida de escravidão.

Isabel Allende é uma das poucas escritoras com a capacidade de nos contar uma história de escravidão, de sangue e lágrimas, uma h...more

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Jun 13, 2011

Deborah Milagros rated it

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Shelves: english

My Story with: I got this audio book from the local library during Spring Break, but I just finished listening to it today. Before you ask, I did renew it (so, no fines for me). It took me a little to start listening, but after half way through I finally picked up the pace. In reality it took me way longer than I was hoping, but I used a 14 yrs. old CD player without a memory.

My Listening Experience: It took me a minute to get use to the narrator tone and pronunciation. I listened to...moreMy Story with: I got this audio book from the local library during Spring Break, but I just finished listening to it today. Before you ask, I did renew it (so, no fines for me). It took me a little to start listening, but after half way through I finally picked up the pace. In reality it took me way longer than I was hoping, but I used a 14 yrs. old CD player without a memory.

My Listening Experience: It took me a minute to get use to the narrator tone and pronunciation. I listened to the book’s English translation with Creole, Spanish and French vocabulary. It was a little difficult to understand the names and places the first time over, but after couple of times you get used too it. In general the narrator provided a great experience and sense of individuality to each character and situation.

After Listening: The story itself, as many of Isabel Allende books, starts with a bang and brings you in quickly, but by the end it was lacking a direction and a well deserve resolution. If this was her first or second novel, it will be a five on my rating. Since I started reading her work when I was 14 yrs. old, I expected more from her. Maybe she is planning a sequel or simply she concentrated on the main character without considering relevant the secondary characters stories.

There are many characters with intrinsic stories that call for more development. It will be great to present them as a group of short stories in which the reader can learn a little more about what happens next with them since they are only mentioned loosely by the end of the book.

The material was well researched and the characters felt real. So real I did some research myself after I finished reading to see if I could find anything else about some of them (especially the Valmorain descendant). The époque, life styles and locations were a main component and backdrop for the novel.

What I like the most: the story itself was great and worth many volumes. It was easy to imagine yourself looking at the story developing from a corner.

I wanted more: information on what happens to some of the characters after Zarite narrates her final thoughts.

Who should read it: Any Isabel Allende lover. Plus, anyone wanting to learn more about Caribbean history and its relationship with its colonial origins.

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May 30, 2011

Lynette Yetter rated it

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Article first published as Book Review: Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende on Blogcritics.

Isabelle Allende's novel, Island Beneath the Sea, is a timeless tale about the nature of power and how even the most powerless of people - a fictional 18th Century African slave woman named Zarité or even me or you - can become powerful in unexpected ways.

Power is explored in many of its different manifestations. The power of money. The power of violence. The power of social st...more

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May 09, 2011

Lydia Presley rated it

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Shelves: 2011, fiction, historic-fiction

I'm not unfamiliar with sweeping sagas or stories of slaves - but I am unfamiliar with many of the events that were taking place around the time period of this story. I'm not sure what made me interested in picking it up, but whatever it was.. I'm glad it did.

Island Beneath the Sea was the perfect book at the perfect time. I didn't feel like reading something off my bookshelf, or something of the genre's I'm most comfortable in and I wanted something with depth, substance and grit ...more

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Mar 16, 2011

Perla added it · review of another edition

انتهيت من قراءة - الجزيرة تحت البحر -
منذ عام وأكثر لم أقرأ رواية بهذا الطول قراءة كاملة دون حذف لبعض التفصيلات التاريخية كما حدث مع روايات واسيني الأعرج, أظن ايزابيل ألليندي تلتقي معه في نقطة الزخم التاريخي لكن براعتها الأنثوية تعينها في سرد هذا المعلومات كلطائف مشهيّة , جميلة جدًا روايتها هذه وليست ببعيدة عن رتم انيس حبيبة روحي, هنا شحنت ايزابيل لغتها بدافع المساواة وإزالة التفرقة العنصرية واختلاف اللون والجنس, منتهى الرقة والقسوة تمدجان معًا في منصات بيع العبيد, مزارع القصب, وحشيتهم الت...more

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Feb 02, 2011

Andrea Blythe rated it

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Shelves: fiction

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Tete is purchased as a young girl by Toulouse Valmorain's as a gift for his new wife and works as a domestic slave within the household. A series of events binds both Valmorain and Tete together, and carries them from war the war torn Saint-Domingue to Cuba and finally to Louisianna. All the while Tete longs and plots for her freedom, taking and holding on tightly to what joys, hope, and passions she can obtain as a slave.

The scope of this ...more

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Nov 19, 2010

Sarah rated it

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Shelves: 2010

Really more of a 2.5, it was improved by a slightly stronger ending and the occasional pleasure Allende's traditinal lyrical writing style. But most of this book pissed me off. It read like Allende's first draft; the plot was all over the place and she would introduce a major plot element several chapters the events were supposed to have happened. Allende's main character, and most of the other characters, were two-dimensional, which makes sense because the whole book felt like it was written...more

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Sep 21, 2010

Andy rated it

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This novel follows the lives of two characters; Toulouse Valmorian, a French aristocrat who moves to Haiti in the late 1700s to run a plantation and Tete, a young slave he purchases to care for his new bride.

Allende paints a compelling view of slavery in Haiti and shows how it corrupts the souls of the slaveowners and contrasts that with the dignity that many slaves retain despite the brutality inflicted upon them.
Allende also focuses on the children who are born from the rape of...more

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Sep 17, 2010

Judy rated it

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Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: 21st-century-fiction

I am an unabashed fan of Isabel Allende and have read all of her novels. Recently she has toned down the magical realism that was such a strong flavor in her early books and I don't guess she has ever topped The House of the Spirits, but as a storyteller she always excels. Truthfully the magic is still there because the people whose stories she tells believe in it as part of life.

Island Beneath the Sea, set in late 1700s Saint-Domingue (which became Haiti) is the story of Zar...more

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Aug 07, 2010

Teri rated it

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I read this book in less than a week while visiting my sister in Toronto. Because it's a book club topic for a group I was lucky enough to join once and because I hope to participate again this month, I was glad to read it. Even better, it's set in Haiti and since the DemOC PAC talk from Amy Wilentz, I keep finding Haiti books cross my path! This novel is set during the time of the sugar cane plantations of the French colony which I hesitate to spell(but it's in the book's blurb)but which became...more

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Jul 07, 2010

Eileen Souza rated it

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Shelves: north-america

This was an excellent book, that I would probably have given 5 stars, were it not for the fact that it took me over a week to read - meaning that I actually could put it down.

The story takes place in Saint Domingue (present day Haiti) during the time it was a French colony, and through the time where it became it's own country. It also provides story in New Orleans, during the time it was a Spanish, French, and then US territory. These are periods of time and locations that I do not ...more

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Jul 05, 2010

Alan rated it

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I've loved Isabel Allende since college. According to the New York Times, they had to create a whole new genre of fiction for her, "magical feminism," because magical realism was all male. This book, however, does not have that magical quality that her earlier writing has. It reads more like a newspaper account of the life of a slave as she moves from pre-revolutionary Haiti through the revolution and on to New Orleans with her master after he loses his plantation on Haiti.

...more

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Jul 01, 2010

Tynan Power rated it

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Shelves: fiction, historicalfiction, audio

Extraordinary book about race, slavery, Haiti and New Orleans, as well as what it means to be family, by blood, by fate and by choice. It begins in 18th century Haiti (prior to when it was called Haiti) and ends in New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase. In the first part of the book, it chronicles the slave revolts that led to the creation of Haiti as the first independent black ("negro") nation. In the second part, it keeps Haiti in the background while following the main character...more

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Jun 30, 2010

Gail Cooke rated it

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For fans of television’s popular series Law & Order S. Epatha Merkerson is a familiar name. However, although her six year stay as Lt. Anita Van Buren on that program brought her many accolades, it is only a small part of her resume.

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Merkerson was a dance major at Wayne State University until a friend asked her to come to attend the friend’s drama class. It was there that she discovered what she truly wanted to do. So, after graduation she headed for ...moreFor fans of television’s popular series Law & Order S. Epatha Merkerson is a familiar name. However, although her six year stay as Lt. Anita Van Buren on that program brought her many accolades, it is only a small part of her resume.

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Merkerson was a dance major at Wayne State University until a friend asked her to come to attend the friend’s drama class. It was there that she discovered what she truly wanted to do. So, after graduation she headed for New York City to carve out a career as an actress.

It was not too long before her gifts were recognized - she earned a Tony nomination for best actress for her role in The Piano Lesson as well as the Drama Desk Award and the Helen Hayes Award. Television and screen roles followed.

Many of us recall not only Merkerson’s first-rate performances but her voice - a tad husky yet clear, resonant. Listeners will thoroughly enjoy her reading of Isabel Allende’s spellbinding ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA.

Set in the French colony that will later become Haiti and using the revolt of 1804 plus several historical figures in her narrative the multi talented author relates the story of Zarite, called Tete. Her life is a mirror in which we see reflected the horrors of slavery, and the brutality of the lives endured by those who worked on the sugar cane plantations.

Tete is the mulatto daughter of a mother she never knew and a white sailor. When Toulouse Valmorain arrives in 1770 he intends that his visit will be brief. However, he inherits his father’s vast holdings - plantations and hundreds of slaves. He buys Tete as his wife’s slave little knowing how their lives will intertwine. Days are perilous during the slave revolt and although Tete hates her master she has borne him two children, so she escapes with him to New Orleans to protect her offspring.

It is there in an entirely different world that Tete attempts to create a life for herself.

As is her wont Allende has created complex, fascinating characters, unforgettable people whose lives have been caught up in situations not of their own doing. Tete’ is a remarkable figure, struggling against almost insurmountable mores and odds.

- Gail Cooke(less)

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May 30, 2010

Maryan rated it

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Allende has bought to life a tale of slavery woven through the history of Haiti and New Orleans covering 40 years from 1770. Though this theme has been written about before she brings a warmth and compassion to her story.
In what was Saint Domingue, a young mixed race girl, Tete, is sold to a French sugar planter to care for his histrionic and ill wife Eugenie Valmorain. This saves her from the brutality of working in the cane fields, however not from her owner who believes he is benevolen...more

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About Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean-American novelist. Allende, who writes in the "magic realism" tradition, is considered one of the first successful women novelists in Latin America. She has written novels based in part on her own experiences, often focusing on the experiences of women, weaving myth and realism together. She has lectured and done extensive book tours and has taught liter...more

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