History Literature / TheHouseOfTheSpirits

* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler: Surprisingly-but not so much for a GenreSavvy reader-Esteban García develops one to Alba. Too bad that [[IgnoredEpiphany he slams her into an isolation cell]] after figuring this out.]]

* CycleOfRevenge

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Esteban Trueba's bastard son, product of the rape of Pedro Primero's daughter Pancha, has a son who eventually turns Esteban's life into a living hell. To add insult to injury, he's the one that gets him a job with the police just to shake him off]].

* BastardBastard: Esteban García is such a [[SarcasmMode fine illegitimate child]] that he could compete with [[Series/GameOfThrones Ramsay Bolton]]. The [[{{Irony}} irony]] is that he's more like Esteban Trueba than any of Trueba's legitimate progeny, embodying all of Trueba's worst qualities.

* CuteMute: Clara, from her sister's death until Esteban proposes to her. [[spoiler: Ironically, [[TellHimImNotSpeakingToHim she never directly speaks to him again after he hits her.]]]]

* CuteMute: Clara, from her sister's death until Esteban proposes to her.

* BastardBastard: Esteban García is such a [[SarcasmMode fine illegitimate child]] that he could compete with [[Series/GameOfThrones Ramsay Bolton]]. The [[{{Irony}} irony]] is that he's more like Esteban Trueba than any of Trueba's legitimate progeny, embodying all of Trueba's worst qualities (Angry, violent, vengeful, sexually abusive, etc.).

* BastardBastard: Esteban García is such a [[SarcasmMode fine illegitimate child]] that he could compete with [[Series/GameOfThrones Ramsay Bolton]]. The [[{{Irony}} irony]] is that he's more like Esteban Trueba than any of Trueba's other progeny, embodying all of Trueba's worst qualities (Angry, violent, vengeful, sexually abusive, etc.).

* BastardBastard: Esteban García is such a [[SarcasmMode fine illegitimate child]] that he could compete with [[Series/GameOfThrones Ramsay Bolton]].

Well, that's were we're going. You're coming with me.

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: Nívea del Valle. It was in the car accident that also killed her husband Severo, if you were wondering: a piece of shrapnel broken into the car they were in, hit Nivea in the neck, and beheaded her. [[spoiler:Said head flew through the window and was lost, and Clara only managed to find it with her powers ''several'' months later (and when she was about to give birth to Blanca!).]]

* PsychicPowers: Clara [[ISeeDeadPeople talks with spirits]], [[AuraVision can see people's auras]] and [[TeleKinesis moves objects with her mind.]] She's so skilled at the latter task that she can ''pay the piano without touching it''.

** Enforced by Clara inside the Trueba family as she said that namesakes messed with the proper understanding of his life books. That was the reason why Esteban couldn't name one of his sons after himself.

* PluckyGirl: Alba. Also [[spoiler:Tránsito Soto]]

* PosterGalleryBedroom: A non-traditional one-Alba's bedroom is a full mural painted by herself since she was a little girl, depicting her most important moments of her life. [[spoiler:This is foreshadowing of TheReveal that she has been TheNarrator all along]]

* [[spoiler:PutOnABus: Nicolas, after his eccentricities embarrass the Truebas way too much. Pedro Tercero and Blanca, when he becomes a fugitive and they both leave the country. (Ironically, it's ''Esteban'' who bails him and Blanca out).]]
* RapeAsDrama: Unfortunately, the male lead had the bad habit of assaulting peasant girls. [[spoiler: He gets paid back when his bastard grandson rapes his legitimate granddaughter as a specifically as a revenge.]]

* RomanAClef: The novel began as a letter Ms. Allende was writing to her agonizing grandfather, albeit she didn't finish it until way after his death. At some point she had to change the name of a character because she inadvertently gave him the last name of its real live inspiration/counterpart.

* StayInTheKitchen: Esteban has always believed in this, till senility and his love for his granddaughter change a little his views and wishes for Alba economical independence.

* TangledFamilyTree: A result of frequent relationship between the Truebas and the García. Some relationship are romantic, other...[[RapeAsDrama are not]].

* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler: Surprisingly-but not so much for a GenreSavvy reader-Esteban García develops one to Alba. Too bad that [[IgnoredEpiphany he slams her into isolation cell]] after figuring this out.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Actually justified, as the action spans several decades and depicts three generations of family.

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: At the end [[spoiler: Alba doesn't know if her child is of Miguel or of Colonel García or of some random soldier who raped her during her imprisonment, but she doesn't care.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Poet is a thinly-veiled Creator/PabloNeruda. Ditto with The Candidate, later The President, is the former Chilean president Salvador Allende.

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: Nívea del Valle. It was in the car accident that also killed her husband Severo, if you wonder: a piece of shrapnel broken into the car they were in, hit Nivea in the neck, and beheaded her. [[spoiler:Said head flew through the window and was lost, and Clara only managed to find it with her powers ''several'' months later (and when she was about to give birth to Blanca!).]]

** Enforced by Clara inside the Trueba family as she said that namesakes messed whit the proper understanding of his life books, that was the reason why Esteban couldn't name one of his sons after himself.
** Blanca wished name Alba after Clara, but Clara offered the same reason and suggested to look for a synonym in the dictionary.

It sounds like your usual family drama. Well, that's because it is. Of course, all this is analyzed through three generations of Truebas, all this laced with political unrest, an earthquake and a coup d'état, between other stuff that happen on Chile... er, I mean, [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed some nameless Latin American country]].

It spawned a film adaptation in 1994, which -- despite its AllStarCast (Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/WinonaRyder, Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/VanessaRedgrave) -- received negative reviews and was a BoxOfficeBomb.

* AdaptationDistillation: The movie cuts A LOT of characters ({{justified}}, since they are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters so many]], but still).
* AllMenArePerverts: Esteban Trueba is the main culprit here, but can be noticed with a majority of the male characters.
* AllWomenArePrudes: All save one of the female characters give any indication of actually liking sex. Clara gets to the point where she just thinks it's boring. Blanca enjoys making love to Pedro Tercero but after [[spoiler: she gets pregnant and is forced to marry Jean de Satigny, she can't think of having sex with anyone else.]] Alba is shown as having a really good sex life with her boyfriend Miguel, [[spoiler: and then she's sexually abused to the extreme by her evil cousin.]]

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Truebas/García are such a big screwed-up family that plays both the humouristic side than the tragic side of thi s trope.

** Also the case with many bastard sons fathered by Esteban Trueba, up to including Esteban García's father.

* ColdBloodedTorture: What happens to any dissident the military police puts its hands on after the MilitaryCoup. [[spoiler: Very realistically portrait with Alba's experience in the clutches of a now powerful officer Esteban García]].

* TheDutifulSon: Férula is a genderflipped version. And boy, does she resent it.
* DyingAlone: Férula damns Esteban to die like a dog. {{Averted}}, because he dies in company of his granddaughter.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The '''FEW''' who get a happy ending have to work for it, ''really hard''.

* EccentricMentor: Pedro Primero. He seems to be just a rambling old man, but he can get rid of an ants plague and mend all the broken bones of Esteban without any problem. Oh, and did we mention [[HandicappedBadass he's blind]]?

* FallenPrincess: [[spoiler: Alba, as a prisoner and at the end of the book, the Truebas have lost most of their fortune and influence.]]

* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler: One day Colonel García felt witty and sent to Esteban Alba's chopped fingers to taunt him.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Alba has always the feeling that [[spoiler: Esteban García will have to do with her. She was ''horribly'' right.]]
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Esteban García has always suffered his condition of bastard and has always envied the happy and prosperous infancy of Alba. Instigated by his grandmother Pancha García, he seeks revenge...]]

* FunnyForeigner: Jean de Satigny
* GenerationXerox: Seen it FromACertainPointOfView, Esteban Trueba and [[spoiler:his grandson, Esteban García]], are NotSoDifferent.

* HeroicBastard: It's easy to forget that Alba is actually the illegitimate daughter of Pedro Tercero Garcia and Blanca Trueba, since her grandfather dotes on her and has named her his official heir. This makes her in an interesting contrast with her fellow illegitimate child Esteban Garcia, who is not only a BastardBastard but also twice her cousin and [[spoiler: her {{Archenemy}} ]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Esteban Trueba's bastard son, product of the rape of Pedro Primero's daughter Pancha, has a son who eventually turns Esteban's life into a hell. To add insult to injury, he's the one that gets him a job on the police just to shake him off]].

* CrapsackWorld: After the MilitaryCoup, the country is practically {{Mordor}).

* KissOfDeath:

* [[SelfMadeMan Self-Made People]]: Esteban goes from an ImpoverishedPatrician miner to a very rich landowner and a Senate member [[spoiler:before losing almost everything]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:Pedro Tercero goes from a poor farm boy to a well-known guitar player and musician idolized by the local youth]]. [[spoiler:Tránsito Soto goes from an ugly but plucky teen prostitute to a beautiful and smart HookerWithAHeartOfGold ''and'' then to a financially fluent and ''very'' well-positioned MissKitty]]. [[spoiler:A villainous example is Esteban García, who from being a bastard farm boy ends up an high-ranking colonel of the military regime. This last one will fall pretty hard on the Truebas.]]

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Blanca grew into her [[AloofDarkHairedGirl looks]], and was depicted as genuinely ugly when she was born.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Falling to the cynical side.

* StrawMisogynist: Esteban.

* BananaRepublic
* BastardBastard: Esteban García.
* BerserkButton: Don't talk to Esteban about communist ideals.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: Oh, the Truebas
* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler:By the end of the book, almost the whole family is dead (Jaime, Clara, Esteban Trueba himself) or in exile (Blanca, Pedro Tercero, Nicolas). And so are their friends (Amanda). But at least Alba is free from the military and has hopes for a good future as she rests from her ordeals and waits for Miguel's return.]]

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Clara del Valle.

* ChildByRape: Possibly the case with Alba's baby.
** Also the case whit many bastard sons of Esteban Trueba, up to including Esteban García's father.

* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: What happens to poor Alba in the clutches of Esteban García]].

* CrapsackWorld: After the coup.
* CreepyChild: Esteban García ''smiles'' and takes Pedro Tercero's chopped fingers while Esteban Trueba's throwing up. Previously he had also tried to ''gouge out'' the eyes of the corpse of his great-grandfather. Wow.

* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler: Jean de Satigny turns out to be one of these.]] Later in the book he takes [[spoiler: kinky, gay pornography featuring sex between his servants]]
* DirtyCommunist: You will hear Esteban rambling a lot about this.

** [[spoiler:Férula herself dies alone; her family only finds out that she's dead after her spirit visits them during a family dinner. This was deliberate: after Esteban kicked her out, she refused to have any contact with the Truebas-to the point that Clara can't use her powers to find her.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Esteban García gets a few before [[spoiler: the golpe.]]

* FallenPrincess: [[spoiler:Alba, as a prisoner.]]
** Also, [[spoiler:Férula and Esteban's mother Esther.]]

** [[spoiler: Alba also gets three fingers chopped off by Esteban García and ''sent to her grandpa''.]]
* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler: Thanks to Colonel García.]]

It spawned a film in 1994, which, despite its AllStarCast (Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/WinonaRyder, Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/VanessaRedgrave), received negative reviews and was a BoxOfficeBomb.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10b709a051974f63361adae6732082c3.jpg]]

''The House of Spirits'' is a 1982 novel, Creator/IsabelAllende's first and most famous.

The House of Spirits is a 1982 novel, Creator/IsabelAllende's first and most famous.

* KissOfDeath

* MagicRealism

* RapeAsDrama

* TangledFamilyTree

* VillainousIncest: Esteban García, [[spoiler:illegitimate grandson of Esteban Trueba, rapes his father's half-sister's daughter Alba. [[MoralEventHorizon Many times]] ]].

* PsychicPowers: Clara [[ISeeDeadPeople talks with spirits]] and [[TeleKinesis moves objects with her mind.]] She's so skilled at the latter task that she can ''pay the piano without touching it''.

* PosterGalleryBedroom: A non-traditional one-Alba's bedroom is a full mural painted by herself since she was a little girl, despicting her most important moments of her life. [[spoiler:This is foreshadowing of TheReveal that she has been TheNarrator all along]]

* JerkAss <- -> {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}}: Esteban.

** Also the case whit Esteban García, and a lot of unnamed bastards of Esteban Trueba.

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Esteban García has always suffered his condition of bastard and has always envied the happy and prosperous infancy of Alba. Instigated by his grandmother Pancha Garcia, he seeks revenge...]]

* HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Ferula, so much, especially on [[AmbiguouslyGay Ferula's part.]] [[CrazyJealousGuy Esteban]] notices this, which leads him to [[spoiler: kicking Ferula out of his house]]

* MaidenAunt: Ferula. And she's ''damn'' bitter about it.

** Also happens to [[spoiler: Transito Soto. She started as an ugly yet plucky teen hooker, then was seen as a kinda prettier but still not super special-in-looks prostitute, but when in her 30's she was incredibly beautiful as well as ''very'' [[HighClassCallGirl well-positioned and cultured]].]]

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Rosa was very talented at sewing and needlepoint, and she chanelled said skill via sewing a HUGE tapestry through the years.

* BastardBastard: Esteban Garcìa.

* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: What happens to poor Alba in the clutches of Esteban Garcìa]].

* CreepyChild: Esteban Garcìa ''smiles'' and takes Pedro Tercero's chopped fingers while Esteban Trueba's throwing up. Previously he had also tried to ''gouge out'' the eyes of the corpse of his great-grandfather. Wow.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Esteban Garcìa gets a few before [[spoiler: the golpe.]]

** [[spoiler: Alba also gets three fingers chopped off by Esteban Garcìa and ''sent to her grandpa''.]]
* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler: Thanks to Colonel Garcìa.]]

* ForcefulKiss: Alba at fourteen gets a '''VERY NASTY''' one by [[spoiler: Esteban Garcìa]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Alba has always the feeling that [[spoiler: Esteban Garcìa will have to do with her. She was ''horribly'' right.]]

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: At the end [[spoiler: Alba doesn't know if her child is of Miguel or of Colonel Garcìa or of some random soldier who raped her during her imprisonment, but she doesn't care.]]

* MemeticMolester: [[spoiler: Esteban Garcìa]] is one in-universe. Poor, poor [[spoiler: Alba]].

* [[SelfMadeMan Self-Made People]]: Esteban goes from an ImpoverishedPatrician miner to a very rich landowner and a Senate member [[spoiler:before losing almost everything]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:Pedro Tercero goes from a poor farm boy to a well-known guitar player and musician idolized by the local youth]]. [[spoiler:Tránsito Soto goes from an ugly but plucky teen prostitute to a beautiful and smart HookerWithAHeartOfGold ''and'' then to a financially fluent and ''very'' well-positioned MissKitty]]. [[spoiler:A villainous example is Esteban Garcìa, who from being a bastard farm boy ends up an high-ranking colonel of the military regime. This last one will fall pretty hard on the Truebas.]]

* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler: Surprisingly-but not so much for a GenreSavvy reader-Esteban Garcìa develops one to Alba. Too bad that [[IgnoredEpiphany he slams her into isolation cell]] after figuring this out.]]