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The House on the Lagoon (Spanish title: La casa de la laguna) is a 1995 novel by Rosario Ferré.

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The house has seen so many stories
It is the story of the family that built the Big Fancy House referred to in the title (three houses, to be exact). Said story is told by Isabel Monfort and her husband, Quintin Mendizábal.

This book was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Tropes present in this book

  • Abortion Fallout Drama: Carmita, Isabel's mother, becomes pregnant relatively soon with her second child. Gabriela, Carmita's mother pressures her to have an abortion so she doesn't end up trapped with two small kids. It goes wrong, making it impossible for Carmita to have any more children and messing with her mental health.
  • Anachronism Stew: Within the story Isabel writes. She includes details like Buenaventura eating a hot dog and the polluted waters of the capital's bay. Quintín points out that at that time, hot dogs were not available at the island and the water was not polluted yet.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: Quintin reads Isabel's account of her ballet studies and deduces that she was responsible for masterminding the reveal of her instructor's Teacher/Student Romance with her classmate Estefanía Volmer to the public, ending in his divorce and being driven out of town in disgrace. He worries about what she is capable of doing if she were to think he didn't love her anymore.
  • Blemished Beauty: Isabel's cousin Margarita comes home to live and care for Isabel's son, Manuel. Margarita is beautiful but a large birthmark on her face mars her beauty. Isabel's husband Quintín thinks Margarita should get the mole removed so that their son does not grow up taking ugliness for granted. At first Margarita is reluctant because she feels the mole brings her good luck, but finally agrees. Sadly, she dies shortly after the surgery.
  • Break the Haughty: Rebecca decides to present a version of the dance of the seven veils to her group of artist friends. When her husband spots her dancing half-naked, he beats her severely and imposes a tyrannical regime in the house, making everybody take a cold shower each morning and attend mass every day. He also forces Rebecca to abandon her artistic aspirations.
  • Driven to Suicide: Ignacio and Carlos (Isabel's father)
    • A nameless young boy with a crush on Isabel. Quintin gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and he dies by suicide later on.

  • Ethnic Menial Labor: Whenever a Mendizábal daughter has a baby, she must have a nanny. These nannies and additional posts are filled by members of Petra's family.
  • Excrement Statement: Abby, Isabel's paternal grandmother, dislikes Spain and everything Spanish, regarding that nation as "the most backward country on earth". In her own words:
    "If I ever travel to Europe, the only reason I would visit that country would be to relieve myself, and then I'd leave."
  • Going Commando: Estefanía does this often. She is completely shameless about bending over and revealing her derriére to an entire audience at a coronation ball.
  • Hired Help as Family: Petra ends up becoming a mother figure to Isabel.
  • I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: How Quintin explains away having sex with Carmelina in a situation that at best involves Questionable Consent.
  • Impoverished Patrician: Juan and Calixto are members of Spanish nobility but their families' fortune has dwindled by a lot. By marrying the Mendizabal daughters, they are able to become the Idle Rich.
  • If I Can't Have You…: Doña Ermelinda, after Rebecca tries to embarrass her in public by knocking off the former's turban off her head, refuses to allow her daughter Esmeralda marry Rebecca's son Ignacio. During Esmeralda's wedding night to Ernesto, Ignacio gets ahold of a gun and shoots at the door of the house they are staying. The bullet ends up damaging her hand and requiring an amputation of her finger. She is forced to abandon her aspiration to become a fashion designer.
  • Let the Past Burn: The novel ends with Manuel staring into the house on the lagoon burning down.
  • Old Retainer: Petra Avilés.
  • Parental Favoritism: Straight with Rebecca, who spoils Ignacio and her daughters in comparison to Quintin. Deliberately averted with Isabel, who treats both her biological son and her adopted son equally.
  • Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Manuel starts participating in pro-independence activities to please his girlfriend. He ends up joining an extremist group of nationalists called the AK-47. This enrages his father, the statehood-supporting Quintin, to the point he revises his will so that Manuel will not get any of his money.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: André, the Russian ballet instructor, and Estefanía Volmer. Never mind that he is married. He is driven away from town in disgrace after their romance is revealed during the recital.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Both spouses. Isabel has been writing the family's history (both on her side and Quintin's). Quintin is incensed at her point of view and adds notes with his own version of events.

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