Rating: 
Summary: Tragic and haunting
Review: In the Time of the Butterflies is political history rendered read through fiction format and through the gifted poetic, lyrical writing of what we can now claim as a national treasure: Julia Alvarez.
The Mirabel sisters, born into a conservative and pious Catholic extended family, were martyred during the last days of Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The book chronicles their movement, over time, from the pampered bosom of an upper-class family into the cause of revolution. Alvarez, having lived it herself, captures the atmosphere of what it's like to live in a police state, in which the population exists under the threat of atrocities and horror that dare not be acknowledged. As the sisters' fervor turns to tragedy, Alvarez writes movingly of their courageous desperation.
Mesmerizing, and as the end of this book approaches, you know what's coming and don't want to read it. I found myself kind of looking out the corner of my eye at the page, reading only half a page at a time, putting it aside, reading again...
Spectacular accomplishment.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Work
Review: From page one, I was swept up in the world of four sisters, fighting a dictator in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez's writing is very rich and wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: It was for a very important cause
Review: Julia Alvares did a wonderful job with the development of her characters. She explored the point of view of most of the characters and gave us all a chance to judge for ourselves. We were able to familiarize ourselves with each of the characters. This is a story about struggle and pain, but also of family togetherness and support. In this novel peole were very limited by Trujillo, but somehow the Mirabal sisters were able to slide a few past him. It goes to show you that you can still have dreams and asperations when things seem as if they are not going anywhere. The Mirabal sisters' bravery seems to be contageous and soon the people that are living under these terrible dictator conditions begin to wonder whether they are truly stuck. With this inspiration people were able to open their eyes. This novel served a great purpose. It allowed for outsiders to have glimps of the terrible things that these people lived through. This is a novel that needs to be read. Alvares is a great story teller, and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.
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Summary: Not just another latinamerican dictatorial account.
Review: Many people have written about dictatorships in latinamerica. Suffice it to say that this is one of the better ones. I love Garcia Marquez, but I think this book is better than his Autumn of the Patriarch.Naturally, if you have the chance to read the Spanish original version, much better. However, the current translation is very good.
Rating:
Summary: In the Time of the Butterflies
Review: "In the Time of the Butterflies" was an amazing story. I enjoyed every page. Usually, I am not someone who likes to read about historical happenings; but this novel is all about history and it was amazing. I liked the stucture Julia Alvarez used. She wrote it as each sister telling their side of the story. It was very intersting. Especially how she wrote Maria Teresa's side. She wrote it as her journal. Reading this novel, I not only got the pleasure of reading out of it, I also learned about happenings and the emotions of the people who lived in Dominacan Republic at the time.
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Summary: My Personal Thoughts
Review: I enjoyed the story in itself. The tale of the Mirabal sisters is fascinating any way it is told. I would have much more enjoyed the book if it were written differently. The way the book was written became very confusing because each sister told a different story at a different point in time. You would finish reading a section about Dede then the whole aspect of the story shifts to Patria. You then would have to wait till it was Dede's turn to tell the story but it was a different point in time so you never heard the ending to her last section. This happen frequently in the book leaving gaps in the story that lead to disappointment in the end. Julia Alvarez is a terrific writer in the sense that she can literally place you in the characters shoes. One cannot help themselves to laugh or cry just as the character did in the book. I do praise her sense of emotion that she poured into the book. It will truly be an unforgettable story.
Rating:
Summary: The Garcia Sisters and Their Story
Review: Julia Alvarez tells a heroic tale of 4 sisters living in a dictatorship and their reaction to to their dictator's actions toward people who go against the government. This is a suspenseful journey through all four of the sister's lives.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Testimony
Review: The mastery of the writer of this historical moment in Latin America makes it extraordinary reading. It is both a spontaneous and lively account of the political tragedy of one country that could well be all. This is very good literature due to its originality and the freshness of beginning young lives captured by the author.
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Summary: BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES is a fictionalization of the very true story of the four Mirabal sisters who worked to undermine the Dominican Republic's most notorious tyrannical regime leader, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters were known as 'les mariposas' or 'the butterflies' in the underground movement. With its themes of feminism, equality, struggle against oppression, and an underlying theme of love found, lost, and regained...it is exactly the sort of text that speaks to me. Alvarez's respect for the topic and her careful and well-planned approach are evident, and are beautifully matched by her wit and poetic language. Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: an academic burden, became an enjoying read
Review: What began as a dreaded required reading for AP English III, became a book that I had trouble putting down while I was reading it. Not only was it very easy to take in, but Ms. Alvarez's writing style is interesting, especially how the point of view changes from sister to sister and each one writes in her own style, i.e. addressing a diary, the reader, etc. At first reading the first thirty pages or so of this novel I couldn't help but feel like I was reading a Women's Enertainment made for TV movie. Which I feel was deserved, by the descriptions of the emotional dillemas of these pre-pubescent girls and the use of the menstrual cycle almost became a motif throughout the story, but that put aside the tales of these different girl's and the inception of their hatred for the evil Trujillo regime is compelling and the will Minerva is inspiring. Throughout the novel the girls not only wrestle with political idealism, but also relationships, religion and the roles that humans have in society. In the Latin American culture emphasis on family and religion is very much apparent, but some aspects of the male role in the family portrayed in the novel, is somewhat confusing to a person who was raised by United States values, one of these roles was the frequent involvement of men with other women, while they are married. Which is a turning point in the father's relationship with the girl's. Ok, no more rambling and giving away the finer points of this novel's plot. Overall this was an excellent book about the Mirabel sister's who inspired a nation to do what is right. It is a fun read and seminally thought provoking. The only complaint I have is the somewhat cheesy dialogue between the sister's and other characters, and the depiction of the male and female's role in latin american society seems rather unrealistic.
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