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In the Time of the Butterflies| Media: | Paperback | | Author: | Julia Alvarez | | Publisher: | Plume Books | | Release date: | 01 August, 1995 | | List price: | $14.00 |
| Our price: | $11.20 that is 20% off! |
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| In the Time of the Butterflies |
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Average rating:  |
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Interesting story . . . |
Julia Alverez did a nice job with this historical fiction novel. It was creatively written and Alverez obviously took great pains to intricately weave the story together. The Mirabal sisters - Patria, Dede, Minerva and Theresa Maria (Mate) - - came alive for me as I read the novel. The story was certainly detailed, with most of the intricate details about the Mirabal sisters coming from the imagination of Alverez.
In a nutshell, the story was about the Mirabal sisters - and, in particular, Minerva Mirabal - who were incensed by the injustices meted out under the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. The sisters were a part of a plan to lead a revolution to overthrow the dictator Trujillo.
I give the book a "three star" rating - - not because the story line was not captivating. It is just that sometimes the way in which the story was told was confusing. Some parts of the book did not flow very easily, and I had to keep jumping back in the book to remind myself who a certain character was and the role they played in the lives of the Mirabals. The story was told by each of the Mirabal sisters, and each one had a different way of creating for the reader a picture of what was happening. For instance, Mate used only diary entries to push the story along, while Patria told the story from the vantage point of her religious convictions and her devotion to her family. Dede sometimes told the story from the a retrospective view, as she was the only surviving sister. The switch between styles took some getting used to.
Additionally, certain sub plots (while they served to give an overall picture of the Mirabal sisters and their mettle) seemed undeveloped - for instance, the Mirabals' father's infidelity and his second family.
I also give the book a "three star" rating because it was somewhat unclear to me why Trujillo thought of the Mirabal sisters as such a monumental threat that they needed to be murdered. It seems that Trujillo had the sisters "under control" such that they were not a significant threat.
Had the book flowed a little better, I would have given it 5 stars. |
| In the Time of the Butterflies - Julia Alvarez |
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Canned reviews |
| This is a touching and poignant work, but I get really tired of reading a bunch of canned reviews on the Amazon.com website. The first two reviews I read on this book contained identical elements. |
| Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies |
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A frightening tale of courage and rebellion... |
Using her talented writing skills Julia Alvarez makes the lives of the three Maribal sisters come to life off the page and into the minds of readers everywhere.
Through characeterization she manages to give each of the sisters a separate personality. She has Minerva and her smarts, Patria who is motherly, Dede the outsider, and Maria Teresa the sweet one.
The facts that Alvarez presents about the lives of the sisters and the lives of the Maribals in the Trujillo regime are also accurate.
The research and recreation involved in making this story cohesive after using all the facts makes Alvarez diserving of international acclaim. |
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