Reviews for In the Time of the Butterflies

The average rating for In the Time of the Butterflies based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-13 00:00:00 Timothy Leto Julia Alvarez has been one of my favorite authors for the past twenty years. Her memoirs, both fictional and nonfiction, are laced with poetic humor and often leave me with a smile on my face. Alvarez' family left the Dominican Republic in 1960 in the middle of the revolution to overthrow the dictatorial president Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Because her father had connections, the family was able to escape. Yet, what of those left on the island? In this fictional yet poignant account of the Mirabal sisters who came to be known as the symbol of the revolution, Alvarez reveals the fate of those left behind. Minerva Mirabal always wanted more than to be a simple country woman like her mother. In a machismo culture where few women learned to read and write, she did not have a future although her dream was to go to law school. Her older sister Patria Mercedes believed to have a religious calling, and their middle sister Dede was the obedient one who went along with the other two. By age ten, the three sisters entered the La Escuela de Imaculada Concepcion and started down the path to both a higher education and to learning revolutionary ideals. Using poetic prose, Alvarez writes how the three older Mirabal sisters and their youngest sister Maria Teresa "Mate" came of age to be modern women. No longer would they be subservient members of a machismo culture but productive members of society who would make a difference going forward. Alternating chapters from the point of view of each sister, Alvarez expresses how each came to be a revolutionary from a unique place. Especially powerful, were the diary entries written by Mate throughout her life as she grasps what joining the movement would do to herself and her family. The sisters either married a cousin as was expected or for love, and all four couples played a role in the revolution that would take down Trujillo and bring democracy to the island. Known as the mariposas and meeting clandestinely outside the home of Patria and her husband Pedrito, the guerilla movement took root. Even their young children wanted to participate despite the danger involved. Trujillo's spies planted themselves on Mirabal land, equally determined to squash the masterminds behind the rebellion. This lead the extended family to live in constant fear and had me as a reader mesmerized by Alvarez' writing, showing she is gifted in relating powerful emotions across more than one genre. November 25, 1960, the day of the real life Mirabal sisters abduction and murder, is now the International Day Toward Violence Against Women. Through the courage and unwavering attitude of the Mirabal sisters and their families, the revolution occurred less than a year later. Alvarez points out in her postscript that even Dominicans living in the United States knew of the bravery of the Mirabal girls. In this powerful book which I rate 4.5 bright stars, Julia Alvarez tells her readers "Vivan las mariposas" so that we never forget these courageous Mirabals.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-06 00:00:00 Remo Stampfli �I believe in the power of stories to change the world.� Julia Alvarez says this in the opening of her note at the end of this compelling, all encompassing novel. It�s based on the true story of three sisters who lost their lives because they bravely stood up for their ideals of a better life for themselves, their family and the people of the Dominican Republic as part of the revolutionary movement against a dictator, Rafael Trujillo. I already believed in the power of stories, but this beautifully written, heart breaking and ultimately uplifting book drove home for me just how impactful and important well done historical fiction can be. In alternating narratives, spanning several decades, the Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and Dede, the fourth sister who survives, come to life in these pages. It was easy to love them as young girls and see how they developed through the years, becoming privy to their individualities as well as their bonds with each other, the men in their lives. This is an engrossing story of a family in a place and time of political upheaval, of which I knew next to nothing about. How these women in a place and time when these are not things that women do, become involved in a political revolution, as resistors to Trujillo�s regime, smuggling arms, building bombs depicts the conviction and bravery of the real sisters. This is evident in the meticulous research that Alvarez must have done as the numerous articles I read online showed. It�s about family, country, culture and a revolution. The Mirabal sister were three among many who were killed under Trujillo�s rule, but they became a symbol of the revolution and the inspiration behind the United Nation declaring November 25th, the day on which they were killed as �an international day to eliminate all violence against women.� It�s a personal story for Alvarez, whose family escaped the regime for New York just months before the sisters were murdered. It�s a beautifully written, gripping story. I will most definitely read other books by her. Thanks so much to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy of this 25th Anniversary edition.