Reviews - Before We Were Free

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295 reviews for:

Before We Were Free

Julia Alvarez

3.81 AVERAGE

yazalh's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

fromstephspages's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I didn’t know what to expect going in but but I’m loving what I experienced. This book was so bittersweet. As someone who isn’t a big fan of history, I loved the history interwoven in the story. The way the book was written allowed for such vivid imagery and curiosity as to what was going to happen next. I’m glad I read this book now because I probably wouldn’t have appreciated it as much had I read this younger.

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ace_of_spades14's review against another edition

1.25

slow-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

valmypal's review against another edition

4.0

This was a book I had to read for school and it was just amazing. Truly heartbreaking but it’s so worth the read. I really connected with Anita because half of my family is from the Dominican Republic and I know what they went through to be free. I loved this book so much.

rely's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

bethanyparker's review against another edition

3.0

Before We Were Free is another social issues book club book for my 6th graders I made myself read for their sake. It is a shorter book, so I hope to fly through it in a day or two. It was difficult to do. The reason I gave it three stars instead of two was due to the Cuban representation during this time period, which is much needed.
The reason it lost stars was due to the molasses-slow pace of the book. It's a whole lot of build-up. While I don't mind the suspense building, when it lasts 80% of the book, it's tough to stay motivated for me, so I can't imagine how difficult it would be for 6th graders.