The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende

How long does a man spend dying? What does it mean to say “for ever”? Pablo Neruda

Barrabás came to us by sea,

no music that might lead to lust or abandon;

He himself was a firm believer in the value of a good thrashing to vanquish the weaknesses of the soul

Severo del Valle was an atheist and a Mason,

The girl’s strange beauty had a disturbing quality

her slow movements and silent character,

on which occasion the responsibility of her beauty would become her husband’s.

dreaming of new beasts to embroider on her tablecloth, creatures that were half bird and half mammal, covered with iridescent feathers and endowed with horns and hooves, and so fat and with such stubby wings that they defied the laws of biology and aerodynamics.

Marcos sank into a deep depression that lasted two or three days,

San Antonio, patron of lost objects.

This would have been one of the most painful moments in Clara’s life if Barrabás had not arrived among her uncle’s things.

If you take him away, I’ll stop breathing and I promise you I’ll die.”

the few times I sat down to rest, not by choice but forced by the tedium of Sunday afternoons,

There I ate, slept, and wrote for two long years, with no greater distraction than the handful of books I read and reread, a stack of old magazines, some English grammars, from which I pieced together the rudiments of that magnificent language,

I’m much happier when I’m alone.

Thanks to a cloud of violet disappearing behind a gate,

within the limits of the honesty in which I had been raised,

and in any case poison was a method only whores and fishwives would resort to, a lowly technique that had not been seen since colonial times; even crimes of passion were nowadays resolved face to face.

The night was clear and full of stars. I felt the cold pierce my bones, cut off the circulation in my hands, and seep into my soul.

that I had eaten chickpeas

!! He says this like it’s a bad thing 😄

cravings that were impossible to satisfy,

that were incapable of reflecting the intensity of my feelings or the pain

never is a long time.

“Hot tea,” he offered. But I pushed it away and walked out with great furious strides, cursing, among the lines of tombs and cypresses.

Only then did she slide back into her bed, feeling within her the silence of the entire world. Silence filled her utterly.

the ugliness of resignation

He decided that from that day on, no matter how tight his circumstances, he would always pay for the small comforts that made him feel rich.

“My life is changing,” he said softly. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

he felt as if he were walking in his sleep.