History YMMV / ThehouseofTheSpirits

* ValuesDissonance: Blanca flees from her husband because she discovers [[spoiler: that Jean is gay and takes erotic photographs]] Now, Jean ''is'' a bad spouse, because he's always mean to her and he spends all her money [[spoiler:and the pornography he owns involves his employees, with the implication that it may not have been made with their consent), but this revelation is written as though it makes him ipso facto monstrous, with Blanca feeling like she's "in the anteroom of hell".

* HoYay: Clara and Férula form a very [[HoYay 'close' bond]]. Férula feels guilty about her obsession with Clara and even [[ArmouredClosetGay goes to confession because of it.]] Esteban Trueba ends up noticing this and accuses Férula of being a lesbian and trying to steal his wife and [[spoiler: kicks her out of the house.]] Clara's [[spoiler: 'monologue' to Férula as she prepares her body for burial]] sounds very close to an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at points. The book never clarifies whether or not their relationship is simply a PseudoRomanticFriendship or a non-platonic relationship.

* EvilCounterpart: Esteban García may also be this to his grandpa Esteban Trueba.
* HoYay / HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Férula form a very [[HoYay 'close' bond]]. Férula feels guilty about her obsession with Clara and even [[ArmouredClosetGay goes to confession because of it.]] Esteban Trueba ends up noticing this and accuses Férula of being a lesbian and trying to steal his wife and [[spoiler: kicks her out of the house.]] Clara's [[spoiler: 'monologue' to Férula as she prepares her body for burial]] sounds very close to an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at points. The book never clarifies whether or not their relationship is simply a PseudoRomanticFriendship or a non-platonic relationship.

* {{Squick}}: Quite a bit of it, but almost nothing can top [[spoiler: the description of Esteban's mother Ester's ''putrefied'' legs when Esteban returns to her.]] It's so horrible that it's [[spoiler:Esteban, normally a super stoic and macho JerkAss, pretty much collapses in BerserkerTears when he leaves the room, launching into an angry and frustrated rant about how he's powerless to do anything for his mother's sake even after ten years of working himself sick to finally pull the Truebas out of poverty]].

* ValuesDissonance: Blanca flees from her husband because she discovers [[spoiler: that Jean is gay and takes erotic photographs.]] Now, Jean ''is'' a bad spouse, because he's always mean to her and he spends all her money, but this revelation is written as though it makes him ipso facto monstrous, with Blanca feeling like she's "in the anteroom of hell".
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Esteban a complex (very wrong) antagonist who has his own reasons? Or is he a badly written, Lifetime Movie type villain who exists simply to KickTheDog every five minutes?

* {{Squick}}: Quite a bit of it, but almost nothing can top [[spoiler: the description of Esteban's mother Ester's ''putrefied'' legs when Esteban returns to her.]] It's so horrible that it's [[spoiler:Esteban, normally a super stoic and macho JerkAss, pretty much [[CryCute collapses]] in BerserkerTears when he leaves the room, launching into an angry and frustrated rant about how he's powerless to do anything for his mother's sake even after ten years of working himself sick to finally pull the Truebas out of poverty]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: As part of the MagicalRealism of the novel we have Barrabáfs, the dog who won't stop growing. While he never gets to Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog levels of big, the reader is treated to an...interesting subversion of BiggerIsBetterInBed which has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is never mentioned again.

* TheWoobie: Waaaay too many.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: As part of the MagicalRealism of the novel we have Barrabas, the dog who won't stop growing. While he never gets to Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog levels of big, the reader is treated to an...interesting subversion of BiggerIsBetterInBed which has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is never mentioned again.

* HoYay / HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Férula form a very [[HoYay 'close' bond]]. Férula feels guilty about her obsession with Clara and even [[ArmouredClosetGay goes to confession because of it.]] Esteban Trueba ends up noticing this and accuses Férula of being a lesbian and trying to steal his wife and [[spoiler: kicks her out of the house.]] Clara's [[spoiler: 'monologue' to Férula as she prepares her body for burial]] sounds very close to an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at points. The book never clarifies whether or not their relationship is simply a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship or a non-platonic relationship.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The main ones being "SOCIALISM IS GREAT!" "FEMINISM!" and "AllMenArePerverts"
** It was considerably toned down in the film adaptation, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped but still is somewhat present]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: The movie faithfully presents the main storyline, personalities and motivations, but compresses a lot of the plot and removes about half of the characters. Events on the book unfold for about 50 years, but the movie storyline lasts 30 at most. The most noticeable changes are that Nicolás and Jaime are removed, and the plots of Blanca and Alba are compressed on the former. Alba still appears, but only as a small girl instead of her young adult incarnation.

* IdiotBall: Blanca, your husband was an [[CampGay extremely effeminate]] man who [[{{Pun}} straight]] up told you he didn't want to have sex with you. What were you expecting?
* MagnificentBastard: Arguably, Esteban Trueba.

** Clara. Strong, independent (even if she's a bit of a CloudCuckooLander) female character? Or is she simply a manipulative CanonSue who isn't nearly as saintly as she is intended to be?

* HoYay / HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Férula form a very [[LesYay 'close' bond]]. Férula feels guilty about her obsession with Clara and even [[ArmouredClosetGay goes to confession because of it.]] Esteban Trueba ends up noticing this and accuses Férula of being a lesbian and trying to steal his wife and [[spoiler: kicks her out of the house.]] Clara's [[spoiler: 'monologue' to Férula as she prepares her body for burial]] sounds very close to an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at points. The book never clarifies whether or not their relationship is simply a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship or a non-platonic relationship.
* IdiotBall: Blanca, your husband was an [[CampGay extremely effeminate]] man who [[IncrediblyLamePun straight]] up told you he didn't want to have sex with you. What were you expecting?

* {{Squick}}: Quite a bit of it, but almost nothing can top [[spoiler: the description of Esteban's mother Ester's ''putrefied'' legs when Esteban returns to her.]] It's so horrible that it's [[spoiler:Esteban, normally a super stoic and macho JerkAss, pretty much [[CryCute collapses]] in BerserkerTears when he leaves the room, launching into an angry and frustrated rant about how he's powerless to do anything for his mother's sake even after ten years of working himself sick to finally pull the Truebas out of poverty.]]
** Nearly all of the graphic sex scenes. Mostly due to the fact that almost all of them are [[RapeAsDrama nonconsensual.]]

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency?: White actors Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/GlennClose and Creator/WinonaRyder as the main roles of Clara, Esteban, Férula and Blanca. They were surrounded by almost all Latin-American people in the background. Granted they are meant to be rich high class people, who in Latin-America tend to be much whiter than the rest of the population, but still.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: As part of the MagicalRealism of the novel we have Barrabas, the dog who won't stop growing. While he never gets to Clifford the Big Red Dog levels, the reader is treated to an...interesting subversion of BiggerIsBetterInBed which has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is never mentioned again.
* EvilCounterpart: Esteban Garcìa may also be this to his grandpa Esteban Trueba.
* HoYay / HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Ferula form a very [[LesYay 'close' bond]]. Ferula feels guilty about her obsession with Clara and even [[ArmouredClosetGay goes to confession because of it.]] Esteban Trueba ends up noticing this and accuses Ferula of being a lesbian and trying to steal his wife and [[spoiler: kicks her out of the house.]] Clara's [[spoiler: 'monologue' to Ferula as she prepares her body for burial]] sounds very close to an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove at points. The book never clarifies whether or not their relationship is simply a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship or a non-platonic relationship.

* {{Squick}}: Quite a bit of it, but almost nothing can top [[spoiler: the description of Esteban's mother Ester's ''putrified'' legs when Esteban returns to her.]] It's so horrible that it's [[spoiler:Esteban, normally a super stoic and macho JerkAss, pretty much [[CryCute collapses]] in BerserkerTears when he leaves the room, launching into an angry and frustrated rant about how he's powerless to do anything for his mother's sake even after ten years of working himself sick to finally pull the Truebas out of poverty.]]

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency?: White actors Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/GlennClose and Creator/WinonaRyder as the main roles of Clara, Esteban, Ferula and Blanca. They were surrounded by almost all Latin-American people in the background. Granted they are meant to be rich high class people, who in Latin-America tend to be much whiter than the rest of the population, but still.
* TheWoobie: Waaaay too many.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The main ones being "COMMUNISM IS GREAT" "FEMINISM!" and "AllMenArePerverts"

* UnfortunateImplications: This book has an obvious feminist slant, but it is really easy to see how it gets {{Anvilicious}} to the the point that it becomes a complete '''parody''' of what feminism actually is like. Nearly ALL of the male characters have repeated, very detailed mentions of how [[AManIsNotAVirgin much sexing up they do, ]] including a graphic description of a [[UpToEleven male]] [[UnfortunateImplications DOG]] (and his poor victim [[BiggusDickus becomes stuck in him]] and can't be removed without injury!) and a flash forward to show how two characters (who are young children at the time) [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment end up later having graphic sex with a prostitute (this is never mentioned or explained again)]]. The main male character is a [[StrawMisogynist misogynistic]] asshole who ends up [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] an absurd amount of women, many times for ''no'' reason at all. Nearly EVERY male character is victim to AccentuateTheNegative and AllMenArePerverts, while women are often reduced to poor woobie victims.
** Jean de Satigny is an extremely sterotypical character, fulfilling the [[NationalStereotypes 'effeminate, sissy Frenchman' stereotype]] and the drug using CampGay who spends far too much money on extravagant things and [[spoiler: shoots kinky gay pornography in the basement]]. Most people would probably consider this stereotypical to the point of being EXTREMELY homophobic, but it's played completely straight.
** There are two ([[HideYourLesbians one not explicitly described as such]]) gay characters in the novel. Ferula has an intense adoration for her sister-in-law Clara and [[SleepCute curls up next to her while she is asleep]] (whether or not that could be considered [[StalkerWithACrush kind of creepy]] is your decision). Jean de Satigny is a [[CampGay walking gay stereotype]] who as said above literally ends up [[spoiler: shooting kinky gay pornography in their basement]]. This gets disturbingly close to DepravedHomosexual, not to mention they both [[spoiler: [[BuryYourGays die]] LONG before the end of the novel]]