Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Cemetery of Untold Stories

I liked this a lot. It reminded me of my favorite read of last year, Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo. I loved the speculative element and the way the stories intertwined. However, I REALLY need to start checking trigger warnings because HOO BOY there was a scene that caught me off guard.

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astoriareader's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS

Alma is a successful writer, but she has some unfinished stories.
She decides to stop writing. She recently inherited some land in the Dominican Republic, where she grew up, so she decides to move back there.
On the land, Alma buries her unfinished stories in a cemetery of untold stories. She hires Filomena to care for the cemetery, and Alma also builds a casita on the land where the cemetery is.
As Filomena cares for the cemetery, two of the characters from the untold stories tell her their stories. We also learn Filomena’s story.

MY THOUGHTS

Magical realism with some historical fiction.
Really enjoyed this one. Strong writing & super unique idea that was seamlessly executed. Alvarez is a rich storyteller, and I was so invested in what happened.
Loved getting a glimpse of some of Dominican Republic’s history and culture as well.
I enjoyed Alvarez’s mix of Spanish words throughout the book as well. It made all the stories feel more authentic.
The only reason I am going 4 stars instead of 5 stars is the ending was just okay to me. With such an amazing book, I would have loved a stronger finish.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️magical realism with some historical fiction. amazing character development, strong writing. unique premise and beautifully executed.

Thanks to Algonquin Press and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now.

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taural41's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can see how this book is not for everyone, but it was very much for me. Reflecting on my reading experience, the word that keeps coming back to me is “lovely” - it was a lovely, surprising, and quiet reading experience. Lovely because the writing and cadence, even the frequent peppering of Spanish, flowed so beautifully for me. Even as terrible, brutal things were being told, something about the rhythm and the prose made me experience the beauty of the worlds and stories being laid out for me rather than feeling gutted by the brutalities taking place. I know the lyrical words won’t be enough far every reader, but for me, they made the whole experience truly lovely - there is no other word. Surprising because I was not expecting to love this book, I picked it up as a curiosity, trying to explore my reading tastes. Surprising too because I had thought I valued a fast-moving plot and likable characters, but here there was very little plot to be found, and I found myself caring not at all. At one point, about 2/3rd’s of the way through I realized that I didn’t care what the ending was at all - no matter how it ended it couldn’t ruin in for me because I was so enjoying the ride. As for likable characters, so many characters are so deeply flawed, broken, hurting, or hurting one another. They are not what I would call “likable”, but I loved their stories all the same. Finally, quiet because this wasn’t a loud or busy novel, even as it has so many characters, so many voices, even stories within stories - a kind of atmosphere of quiet and stillness somehow still prevailed for me. Quiet too because something about reading this story helped me to connect with who I am as a reader and the kind of stories that I love, and that experience left my soul feeling deeply satisfied and quieted. A lovely, surprising, and quiet reading experience. My deep gratitude to the author.

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izzyrbell's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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btwnprintedpgs's review

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adventurous hopeful informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

If you love character driven books focused on memories and stories, you'll absolutely love this atmospheric book that merges magical realism with historical and political fiction along with contemporary family drama.

Alma is an author who inherits a property in the Dominican Republic after her father passes. There, she decides to build her cemetery of untold stories - stories long abandoned and in need of a resting place. Where else do untold stories go? Through this, she inadvertently brings together four main characters - Alma, herself, with her messy family still alive and bickering; Filomena, who is hired on as the groundskeeper and who's own story is full of turmoil and loose ends; Alma's dead father, Manuel Cruz, who's story as an immigrant and refugee comes through in his own voice and through Alma's attempt to write it; and Bienvenida, the second wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, as she finds her voice again within the cemetery walls.

This is not a story with a lot of plot. Instead, it walks us through lives that are vastly different, but interconnected in ways that will surprise you. There were a lot of threads, and I will admit that at some points the story lost me with the number of characters that were introduced, but over time, it was fascinating to see how interwoven these narratives were. I loved getting to know these characters, I learned, I gasped, I had to pause the audio in utter shock. There was a lot to get my head around, and it was so interesting to listen to a story like this.

Two points of contention. The first is that there are a lot of characters. A lot. So when we're bouncing from POV to POV, through and across time and country, it gets a bit overwhelming on audio. However, when I picked up the physical book, this was one of those books where they didn't have quotation marks for when people spoke, but it was easy to flip back should a time jump totally take me by surprise. I think both the audio and the physical (or digital) would be good to have on hand, because I really do feel like the audio had a magic of it's own to it, but having the story in front of you made it easier to follow along.

All in all, this was a very haunting story, with ghosts of all sorts coming to life in this cemetery. I know that this book won't be for everyone, but if you want something to get lost in, this is a very strong contender, as you'll be hooked by the narrative and captivated by the characters' stories and voices as they all come to life.

TW: murder, political turmoil, infidelity, child death, sexual assault, genocide, racism; mentions death of a parent, abandonment, dementia, emotional abuse, deportation, homophobia

Audio-arc gifted via Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.

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kimwritesstuff's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is so heartbreaking, for any readers who cannot handle graphic child loss, this would not be a book for you. I definitely had to put this book down and walk away a few times because it is a very heavy read. With that being said, it is a heartbreaking story that ties together the history of the Dominican Republic and multiple characters.

Alma is the primary character, and she is an author who has used her family's stories as the basis for her books. When both of her parents die, she inherits a parcel of land in her homeland of the Dominican Republic. She decides to move home and create a cemetery of sorts for her untold stories. These stories create both real and fictional historical characters. Through the construction of the cemetery, we learn more about the first wife of El Jefe, a brutal dictator in the Dominican Republic's recent history, and the history of Alma's own father.

The secondary plot of this story follows Filomena, the across-the-street neighbor of Alma who becomes the caretaker of the cemetery. Filomena grew up in a rural campo and later was a live-in maid/caretaker for a wealthy family. Her story is outside the main story until closer to the end, where it starts to intertwine. The beauty of this novel is how the characters touch each other's lives and the rich as well as brutal history of the Dominican Republic.

This book is a brutal read in places. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is that I found this book to be a little bleak. I wanted more hope at the end of the novel. I also really hated Perla and her storyline, though it does serve as a way to show the crooked prison system and how it can be bought.

Overall, this is an achingly beautiful story that could have used a little more hope.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

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