House of Mist by Maria-Luisa Bombal

 

Summary (from the publisher): House of Mist stands as one of the first South American novels written in the style that was later called magical realism. Of this story of a young bride struggling with her marriage to an aloof landowner—and the mysteries surrounding their life together—in a house deep in the lush Chilean woods, Penelope Mesic wrote in the Chicago Tribune that Bombal showed "bold disregard for simple realism in favor of a heightened reality in which the external world reflects the internal truth of the characters' feeling . . . mingling . . . fantasy, memory and event."

Review: House of Mist is a Chilean mystery that is said to be written in the style in what is now known as magical realism. However, I would describe it as a gothic romance. Amazingly, it was originally written in Spanish. Rather than simple translate it, she rewrote it in English. The book follows a young bride struggling in marriage to her distant husband and isolated at his home deep in the Chilean woods, surrounded by a dense mist. 

This book was amazingly atmospheric. The plot of this has such a mysterious and dreamlike quality. I wouldn't describe this as scary, but it is eerie and haunting: "crouched in the shadows like huge, frightened beasts, the mist was actually pushing forward to meet the carriage (4)."

The early chapters, where our protagonist meets a fellow orphan while wandering around outside in her garden, reminded me so much of The Secret Garden! But later chapters, with the mysterious and haunting house and the specter of the first wife, reminded me a lot of Rebecca. I did feel so sorry for our narrator and leading lady, Helga. She is an orphan who seems like second choice to everyone, including her future bridegroom. Indeed, she goes through both psychological and emotional torment. Despite being overlooked and mistreated by virtually all characters, she remains sweet and loving and mostly longs to live her live and be loved in return. 

The book plays on dreams to play on the main character and the reader's understanding of reality and events. Repeatedly, our main protagonist questions reality and her experiences. Not all is at it appears and memories are at times dreams - or are they? There were several twists in this that I did not anticipate at all. I can't say I loved the characters or that I was rooting for Helga's marriage. I also didn't love all of the plot choices. But the writing was lovely and it was so wonderfully atmospheric that I really did enjoy it overall. 

Stars: 4