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A review by novabird
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
4.0
If you multiply by zero, you still get zero, and a thousand heartaches.
Like Dede who is haunted by the death of her three sisters, we too as readers experience a similar sense of the power of memory. Alvarez, in a simple clear style invokes memory with the physicality of the sisters themselves and those that they interact with. Each of the sister’s voices is distinct, telling the Trujillo history of the Dominican Republic and about its people. Alvarez so deftly tells us the story that it transports the tale into the here and now.
Some other quotes:
- We’ve traveled almost the full length of the island and can report that every corner is wet, every river over-flows it banks, every rain barrel is filled to the brim, every wall washed clean of writing no one knows how to read anyway.
- Sometimes I really feel it here, especially late at night, a current among us, like an invisible needle stitching us together into the glorious, free nation we are becoming.
- In fact, I would go so far as to say that by reading books, entering other realities, and then taking those adventures back into our lives, we are freedom fighters.
Definitely worth reading, I would give, "In the Time of the Butterflies," a higher rating if only there had been left any records of what the sisters were like or what they experienced and this had been accounted for in the novel. Working with what she has, Alvarez still gives us a realistic account without any sensationalization. 4.5
Like Dede who is haunted by the death of her three sisters, we too as readers experience a similar sense of the power of memory. Alvarez, in a simple clear style invokes memory with the physicality of the sisters themselves and those that they interact with. Each of the sister’s voices is distinct, telling the Trujillo history of the Dominican Republic and about its people. Alvarez so deftly tells us the story that it transports the tale into the here and now.
Some other quotes:
- We’ve traveled almost the full length of the island and can report that every corner is wet, every river over-flows it banks, every rain barrel is filled to the brim, every wall washed clean of writing no one knows how to read anyway.
- Sometimes I really feel it here, especially late at night, a current among us, like an invisible needle stitching us together into the glorious, free nation we are becoming.
- In fact, I would go so far as to say that by reading books, entering other realities, and then taking those adventures back into our lives, we are freedom fighters.
Definitely worth reading, I would give, "In the Time of the Butterflies," a higher rating if only there had been left any records of what the sisters were like or what they experienced and this had been accounted for in the novel. Working with what she has, Alvarez still gives us a realistic account without any sensationalization. 4.5