Review: The Soul of a Woman

 

I added this memoir to my To-Be-Read list when it came out in March of 2021, shortly after finishing one of Isabel Allende’s most recent novels. I am a devoted fan of Isabella Allende’s fiction, but this is my first time reading any of her nonfiction work. And, though The Soul of a Woman is categorized as a memoir, it reads more like a feminist manifesto.

Allende uses its 174 pages to describe how her childhood shaped her feminist perspective and how that perspective informed her adolescence, her first marriage, and her career as a journalist and novelist.

Compared to her fictional work, this memoir felt more fluid in structure—less linear and more like a warm cup of tea and a good conversation with your aunt or grandma. There is some chronological ordering at the beginning, but Allende gracefully glides from topic to topic as the book progresses with little concern for conventional structure.

She writes about her work as a journalist and columnist at Paula magazine in the 1960s, her relationship with her mother, her own children and grandchildren, love, sensuality, aging, and, eventually, violence against girls and women. She also writes about several other women whom she admires including her late literary agent Carmen Balcells, the “godmother of…this great Latin American boom,” Olga Murray, founder of the Nepal Youth Foundation, and photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair.

Overall, I’d give this book 4 out of 5 stars. This memoir is short, insightful, and easy to read. I also enjoyed the various poems Allende chose to feature throughout the text. Additionally, the book feels very timely given the state of women’s and reproductive rights in the U.S., even though it was written before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

The only thing I took issue with was that Allende sometimes presents her ideas or opinions in a very matter-of-fact way without giving evidence or information to support those ideas. A good example of this would be this quote from page 109:

“Mass murderers in the United States—almost without exception, white men—have misogyny in common along with a proven record of domestic violence, threats, and assault on women. Many of these psychopaths have been marked by traumatic relationships with their mothers.”

It’s not that I take issue with this statement on its face. It’s more so that I take issue with the dissemination of any and all potentially misleading or inaccurate information. I appreciate Allende’s passion, but I also wish that statements like these were backed up by some sort of data or verifiable research.

However, I know that this may seem like a nitpicky critique to some, and it didn’t distract from the joy or insight I received while reading this memoir. I highly recommend this memoir to all readers.