Julia Alvarez

In the Time of the Butterflies

couldn't stop sobbing at the end of it. a few of the bigger ideas were deeply felt—the dangers of mythologizing, complicity requiring impossible forgiveness, the echoes or reverberations of a conflict leaving deep emotional scars regardless of material change. let this one radicalize you on prison abolition tbh.

alvarez's writing is sometimes a bit too twee, a bit too perfect. she's an idealist that desperately wants to be a realist. and once again she relishes a bit too much in the class divide of her characters. I wasn't sure this was working halfway through the book, but it's an effective contrast once she grips on to ideal suffering. there's light enough conflict between its ideas to keep the novel grounded. it's not about the work of revolution, but the care and mercy that rolls back into revolutionary work. the sheer difficulty to believe in something that's morally right, but socially ostracizing. and then what to do with that difficult legacy, where do we go, how do we think about those sacrifices of history, now that we're "free."

wasnotwhynot

couldn't stop sobbing at the end of it. a few of the bigger ideas were deeply felt—the dangers of mythologizing, complicity requiring impossible forgiveness, the echoes or reverberations of a conflict leaving deep emotional scars regardless of material change. let this one radicalize you on prison abolition tbh.

alvarez's writing is sometimes a bit too twee, a bit too perfect. she's an idealist that desperately wants to be a realist. and once again she relishes a bit too much in the class divide of her characters. I wasn't sure this was working halfway through the book, but it's an effective contrast once she grips on to ideal suffering. there's light enough conflict between its ideas to keep the novel grounded. it's not about the work of revolution, but the care and mercy that rolls back into revolutionary work. the sheer difficulty to believe in something that's morally right, but socially ostracizing. and then what to do with that difficult legacy, where do we go, how do we think about those sacrifices of history, now that we're "free."

Excellent book with historical accuracy, really loved how real the characters were. A great coming of age story in times of the revolution

Tammy Stelnicki

Victoria P

the mirabal sisters will always have a place in my heart and mind, they’ve moved me since i learned their history when i was young in school and they continue to move me after all these years.

their bravery makes me so proud and it breaks my heart they had such a tragic ending, they really deserved so much more. i will forever be grateful for them, for being one of my first examples of brave women, of brave dominican women. 

i see myself in them, and i know i’m not the only one. que vivan las mariposas🤍.

Carroll Lachnit

I'm listening to this in Spanish, and so can't say I get 100 percent of what's going on, but I am getting a lot of it, and it's GREAT!

Very moving--I'd like to read it now (Spanish or English) to savor all the details.

Deniz Hasanzaadeh 

b.andherbooks

A lyrically written and nostalgic historical fiction novel, focusing on the four Mirabal sisters who were part of the resistance against the dictator Trujillo. Switching back and forth between the POVs of the fours sisters, I did not really enjoy the style as I found it hard to remember which sister's chapter I was in and the gentle writing really made you feel removed from the drama and action of the events. Everything just felt very nostalgic and more like reading about a memory as opposed to being right there in the moment.

The author also assumes a lot of knowledge on the reader and I felt it was quite necessary to look up and read about Trujillo's regime. If you didn't have a working knowledge of events you could quickly become lost.

This novel was chosen as Milwaukee Public Library's Big Read book, and I'm glad I read it. It also feels quite timely, almost scarily so, as the descriptions of Trujillo are eerily similar to a certain current president.

My favorite part of the whole book was actually the afterword by the author. I wish this was instead placed at the beginning of the novel as it would have given better clarity to WHY she was writing about these sisters, and why she chose to show how one can slowly and quietly be a force of change and resistance.

A collectible hardcover edition of Julia Alvarez's modern Latinx classic about four sisters known as Las Mariposas, or the Butterflies, who fought to liberate the Dominican Republic from Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship, featuring a new foreword by Maxine Hong Kingston A Penguin Vitae Edition It is November 25, 1960, and three sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of the dictatorship of General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo. It doesn't have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas--the Butterflies. In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters--Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé--speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from secret crushes to gunrunning, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo's rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez's storytelling, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage, love, and the human cost of political oppression. Penguin Vitae--loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"--is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.

Rachel

In the Time of the Butterflies is just too perfect of a book. It is a story based on the Mirabal sisters, three of them were killed by the Dominican Republic dictator Trujillo for being part of the resistance against him. The book is told from the surviving sister's point of view, Dede, recalling the events that took place to a interviewer from the US and also told from each of the sisters, Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa telling their childhood and their role in the resistance leading up to their deaths. The author explains that their personalities, some events and dates were created to make the story. This book teaches an important part of Dominican history while being a very captivating story about the real women who stood up to a dictator.

Francine Corry

Greta Keller

Kendall Munson

Nohemi Reale

25th Anniversary Edition "A magnificent treasure for all cultures and all time.” --St. Petersburg Times It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas--the Butterflies. In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters--Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé--speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from secret crushes to gunrunning, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo’s rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human costs of political oppression.

In the Time of the Butterflies

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