In the Time of the Butterflies

Rating:
Summary: A Literary Challenge
Review: By means of the sharpened scalpel of fiction, Julia Alvarez carves and shapes the central characters in this difficult and delicate novel as subversive agents who see themselves obligated by fate to participate in the ultimate demise of an oppressive regime. Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and Dedé, each one in her distinct fashion, break through the tyrannical grip that holds sway over an entire island population for thirty-one nightmarish years. Alvarez is at her absolute best here, far surpassing the previously successful HOW THE GARCÍA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS. Even the more recent SALOMÉ, in my view, doesn't come across as powerfully (especially for those readers unfamiliar with Dominican cultural history). IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES is a masterful work that illustrates the perniciousness of political oppression in every aspect of a society, written in a language of turbulent calmness. As a Dominican myself who experienced first hand the unspeakable horrors of the Trujillo Dictatorship, I admit honestly that Alvarez has presented brilliantly the case of repression and heroism more formidably than any other writer. She has officially immortalized las hermanas Mirabal as national heroines.

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Summary: For girls
Review: As mentioned in the title of my review, In the Time of The Butterflies is a book for women. Sure, there might be some guys who'd like to read it, but I doubt that most would. If you enjoy touchy-feely and descriptions of the menstrual cycle, etc., then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully and Uniquely Told
Review: Fascinating story of the Mirabal sisters who, willingly and reluctantly, become involved in the Dominican revolution against dictator Trujillo. Through their struggle these Las Mariposas (The Butterflies as they are respectfully referred as) eventually become national symbols for freedom. A story retold through the eyes and authentic voices of each of the four sisters, author Julia Alvarez does a wonderful and unique job in capturing not only their spirit but their sensitivities as well. In the Time of Butterflies is an inspirational novel worth taking the time to read.

Rating:
Summary: powerful and inspiring
Review: I haven't been this mesmerized by characters since the ya-ya sisterhood. I absolutely LOVED this book. Although you know from the beginning that the Mirabel sisters are murdered, you can't help but get attached to them. Alvarez's other book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents was great, but this book is outstanding; I didn't want to read anything else after the book so that I could continue to reflect on the characters.

Rating:
Summary: inspirational
Review: A few people have commented that this book was awful, but how can they say that when it is about three women who inspired a whole nation to fight against it's dictator.The characters are portrayed beautifly, Minerva was concentrated on the most, being the one who was the most involved. This story inspires one to pick up and fight for what ypou believe in. Everything is worth fighting for, especially your freedom.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful?! No! Terrible!
Review: It is simply apalling that this book gets such good reviews. It is nothing more than a cross between a romance novel and a feminist manifesto.
All the characters in this book are two dimensional. Alvarez applies a seven-year-old's method of describing all her characters. Each character is simply talked about and there is very little to infer or discover about them by analyzing their actions. Even Trujillo, the dictator who is supposed to feul the women's actions against him, is barely described. We only truly get to read about him in the first chapter, in which Sinita says he is a "bad man". And from there we are to believe he is a horrible man, based on what? The entire book is based upon these sisters' actions against him, and yet the antagonist is only briefly mentioned. The reader is not at all compelled to find out what happens to the sisters. It is an unforgiving drudge to read through the entire book.
Along with the characters being poorly done, the writing is awful. Even though narators change throughout the book, there is little difference between any of them. There is absolutely no change in voice. Alvarez simply uses a dirty tool to distinguish between them: Mate's story is written in the form of a diary, Patria's in a monologue, Dede's is written in third person, and Minerva's story as a journal. Apart from that, the reader can never tell who exactly they are reading about.
Lastly, the book is emormously hard to follow. There are about a thousand little subplots within the story, it is filled with thousands of details that make no sense at all. The pace is completely sporadic, in one chapter Patria, or at least I think it was Patria, loses her religion, and in a matter of 10 pages she gets it back! The loss and gain of one's religion doesn't happen that quickly!
I can't say enough about this book, the language is poor, it is filled with horrible similes: as the car's beams shined on them, they stood like animals stuck in a car's beams. A simile describes two different things, not the same thing!
Don't buy this book, read The Adventures of Huck Finn, or Moby Dick, don't burn away hours of your life with this book.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read!
Review: Julia Alvarez's, In the Time of the Butterflies is a fictional account of the dictatorship of Trujillo and the rebellion against his regime in the Domincan Republic. It follows the lives of the Mirabel sisters who through their revolutionary acts became national heroes. Alvarez uses their story as a basis and applies her own twist to the events in their lives and events in the revolution. The book is compelling and moving. I found myself attached to these women and their families. Rather than portraying "las mariposas" as the heroes they are known as today, Alvarez shows us their human side: how they related to their parents, their husbands, and their children, and most of all, eachother. Not only does this book reinforce that it only takes a few people to make a difference but it shows the importance of family and family support.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Book
Review: I personally loved the book, In The Time of the Butterflies. It was a truly moving book, and I have never read anything like it before. The deep description really gives the reader a feel for the severity of the situation that the young Mirabel girls are going through. The book portrays the courage, devotion, and love of all the sisters in their fight to overthrow the harsh government of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. They are truly heros and Alvarez does an amazing job of sending their heroic message to the reader. I consider the Mirabel sisters to be amazing role models for their courage and persistance. They fought for what they believed in no matter what the consequences, and overcame many obstacles which would've made most people give up. This truly was a great book.

Rating:
Summary: In the Time of the Butterflies, a great dramatic tragedy...
Review: I was first introduced to the movie by a cousin. I liked it so much that I searched bookstores for the book. It's about a family, the Miribals (sorry if I misspelled), who lived in the Dominican Republic under the rule of Trujillio, a dictator. Minerva, the third child, was strong willed. She wanted to be a lawyer in a place where it was not only illegal but unheard of for women to become lawyers. Her sisters, Patria, Dede, and Maria Teresa, supported her and her beliefs. Minerva convinces her father to allow her to go to school. She meets a girl, Sinita I believe, whose family was killed by the dictator. Also her cousin's friend, Lio, outspokenly opposes the dictatorship. In the Miribal household, Trujillio was honored, but from the day Minerva found out his "true identity" she was convinced to defeat him. She gets in trouble with Trujillio but her father is sent to prison where he is tortured and dies upon release. To save her father from prison Minerva makes a deal with the dictator, that if she got the highest number on a dice that her father would be released and she'd be allowed to attend law school. If she lost then her father was released and she would become Trujillio's prisoner. She wins. When at law school she meets her husband and gets involved in an underground rebellion group. Her underground name is Butterfly. Eventually her sister Maria Teresa gets involved and both are sent to prison. To get the ending, read the book!

The one thing I didn't like about the book (and the movie) is that you really need to read/watch the book/movie twice to fully understand what's going on completely. The characters multiply and have their significances and it gets hard to keep them straight (at least for me) the first time, but when I was getting through the book the second time I began to remember and it all cleared in my head.

I'd recomend this book to anybody who loves to read!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This was the first book I read by Alvarez, and my favorite. I don't know if it was because it was my introduction to her magnificent style or because it is the best book she has written, but I treasure every flowing piece of imagery or insightful thought that Ms. Alvarez has managed to seamlessly construct into a very beautiful novel.
I don't know what drew me to this book first; I think it was the title. I thought it was so beautiful and sweet. After reading the back of the book and learning the subject (life under the dictatorship of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic), I found the title all the more poignant and bought the book.
While this might not be the most accurate tale of the Mirabal sisters, it is more true to them than a factual account might be. This is not a book of the four sisters, three of which were killed on one night, but of the three martyrs that became nationalistic legends and staples of Dominican history. And through that, it's a story of beauty and youth and the slaughter thereof, and, perhaps most importantly, what war and oppression does to the youth of a country.
Every word of Alvarez's is handled with reverent care and a delicate, bittersweet form of grace. The divine hangs above every line of this novel, never plunging into it, just hovering.
I know this sounds pretentious, this whole review, but I am incapable of explaining Alvarez's style in any other way.
I don't think anyone could read this novel without having some sort of pure emotion stirred. As for the comments of others about its centering only on the females... while this could be taken as a feminist book or some sort of social commentary on the status of women, it's a lot more than that. The views are mostly from women but they are not presented as women but as people. Saying that this is overtly feminine is like saying that Shakespeare is only a genre writer because he very rarely writes a believable female character. Kurt Vonnegut must be useless, he hardly ever writes about women. Franz Kafka doesn't even merit commentary, he was just a men's writer. Dickens? You betcha. If this was a book about women, it would be different. But this is a book about people.
And war. And God. And poverty. And sex. And fear. And love.

And more.