The Soul of a Woman: Rebel Girls, Impatient Love, and Long Life

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In 1967 she started working as a journalist for Paula a newly launched feminist magazine which defined a change for her. She was struggling with the boredom that marriage and motherhood offered her and she honestly thought at the time that they could change the world and its views on women in just ten to fifteen years. However, as she observes, it is a fight we are still trying to win today. An obstinate and defiant character was accepted in my brothers as an essential condition of masculinity, but in me it could only be pathological. Isn't it always thus? Girls are denied the right to be angry and to thrash about. We have to love ourselves a lot and love others without calculating how much we are loved in return. This is the stage of kindness." This is a memoir on feminism. Allende doesn't preach, she doesn't lecture; she merely relates stories about people she knows. She invites us to join the fight, because not everything can be handled elegantly and without noise. Enough of partial solutions! Later she writes “Now it’s been proven that the happiest people are married men and single women.” Has it? By whom? Which study is that? And how did they define or quantify happiness? Further along, she opens a paragraph with “The poet and activist Sylvia Plath” and later attributes a quote that originates with Allen Saunders to John Lennon.

The Soul of a Woman”.... [a tribute to feminism]....is intimate, pulsing with depth, breadth, life, and love.....even great moments of humor. What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods. In fact, as a young woman, she honestly believed that because her views were so progressive she was destined for a life of spinsterhood. She stood out from the crowd and was often seen in a less than positive light because of her thoughts. My problem with the book lay in some of Allende's comments on feminism which felt a little generic and off-hand at times particularly on the subject of the burka and how women wear it purely out of fear of men. This seemed to contrast with her more careful attitudes towards sexuality and gender pronouns and was disappointing to see. And whilst this is part memoir examing Allende's relationship with feminism. I found some of this generalisations did not hit the mark right and some of them were problematic when she spoke about wider feminism. The book as a whole also felt a little disjointed and unplanned which could be because I read an uncorrected proof. I really loved Isabel Allende’s latest book, Long Petal of the Sea, so I was very interested in learning about the author herself. She certainly has much to say. She has lived through many difficult times and happy days and describes these so well. The seven decades she has lived have given her this perspective. If I was to sum her life up in one word it would be passion. That comes from having a purpose in life, letting go of things that are not really important, and loving those she cherishes.Feminism, like the ocean is fluid, powerful, deep, and encompasses the infinite complexity of life; it moves in waves, currents, tides, and sometimes in storms. Like the ocean, feminism never stays quiet." ~ Isabel Allende, The Soul of a Woman Being in the later years of her life, she also reflects on that era, on the post retirement years and her attitude towards them, how she sees that she has changed, what she is and isn't prepared to compromise on. As a child, Isabel Allende watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, provide for her three small children. As a young woman coming of age in the late 1960s, she rode the first wave of feminism. She has seen what has been accomplished by the movement in the course of her lifetime. And over the course of three marriages, she has learned how to grow as a woman while having a partner, when to step away, and the rewards of embracing one's sexuality.

Latin America’s feminist movement was always slower on the uptake then other countries so it’s only fair to assume that there may still be a long way to go before women are seen in the same way as their male counterparts.My FAVORITE Chilean writer. I’m thrilled to know she is living in the Bay Area. I’m SUCH A FAN....I went to listen to Isabel speak 3 different times at book readings. Love everything about this tiny spitfire talented woman. It was an honor to read this book and gain so much wisdom from reading about a woman who has lived many years. It makes her more valuable to me. She has seen much, learned from life, and has a lot of wisdom to share.