The Soul of a Woman

"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."

The Soul of a Woman is part memoir, part discussion of feminism where Allende talks about love, loss, passion and sense of self.

I thought some of the most interesting aspects were when Allende spoke about her age and the way older women are viewed and behaved. She spoke about how she lacks the same concerns she did when she was younger about competing, people pleasing, looking good. How she is less afraid. How we have a generation of older women raised in an era of emerging feminism and women's rights who are passing on this legacy to their children and grandchildren.

Allende is incredibly self-assured and it gave me great comfort to see a woman so comfortable in her older age. Comfortable in her sense of self and awareness. Allende talks about how she is still learning; how her grandchildren have made her think about personal pronouns, how she has witnessed great changes in her time.

I feel like the voices of older women are so often silenced and so this was great to read in that sense.

"Age should not limit our energy or creativity or our willingness to participate in the world."

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.

Overall I was little disappointed with this one and whilst I loved Allende's fire and her writing style so will definitely be picking up her novels. I couldn't appreciate all she said.

Thanks to netgalley and Bloomsbury for the uncorrected proof.