A review by kimwritesstuff
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

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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