In The Time of Butterflies

In the Time of Butterflies

Author: Julia Alvarez

Publisher: Penguin Books (1994)

ISBN: 0452274427

pages: 321

genre: historical fiction

3 (out of 5) STARS

Annotation: Follows the lives of the four Mirabel sisters as they work with the underground movement in Domincan Republic to depose dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Summary: From the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents comes this tale of courage and sisterhood set in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship. A skillful blend of fact and fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as "las mariposas," or "the butterflies," in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.

Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as "the butterflies" near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life. (www.goodreads.com)

Evaluation: In the Time of Butterflies is a wonderful historical fiction novel. I have found that historical fiction books tend to be very dense with detail and this book was no exception. A times it got a bit slow for my liking but overall it was an enjoyable read.

Read-a-likes:

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

They Forged the Signature of God by Viriato Sencion