A review by jdscott50
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

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? Yes

3.0

A writer, now late in her years, inherits property in her homeland, the Dominican Republic. Inheriting the least valuable property (near a dump, no less), no one is sure what she plans to build there. The locals are concerned about a cemetery, but they are baffled when they find out it is a cemetery for books. 

A cemetery of untold stories where the only people who can enter must tell a story. An old woman keeps whispering stories, and she is hired by the writer Alma to keep up the place and the grounds. Alma buries her stories, the ones she can't make work. We see the old woman's story, which tells a bit of the story of the country. 

This fell flat for me. I was looking for something a little more mystical and mythical, and it mostly just told the frustration of writers and people who can't make things happen.