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drron's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
rumpfie's review against another edition
4.0
Slow beginning. End amazing. Goosebumps. Andy R. you must read.
nikolettefries's review against another edition
5.0
“¿Fue para esto, el sacrificio de las mariposas?”
This book was so good I’m even mad that the content is not fully real. The amount of times I felt my own heart aching for the struggle always surprised me. This was such a ride. I struggle a lot with long books but I had to force myself to drop this one every single night cause I was too attached to the story. Every year I get this urge of reading about Las Mariposas and to get every single detail I can grasp to try to understand… I don’t even know what but this fictional point of view of each one was just so pleasing to read. Absolute favorite.
This book was so good I’m even mad that the content is not fully real. The amount of times I felt my own heart aching for the struggle always surprised me. This was such a ride. I struggle a lot with long books but I had to force myself to drop this one every single night cause I was too attached to the story. Every year I get this urge of reading about Las Mariposas and to get every single detail I can grasp to try to understand… I don’t even know what but this fictional point of view of each one was just so pleasing to read. Absolute favorite.
marocuya's review against another edition
5.0
Great book. I have always admired the Mirabal sisters and this helped me get to know them a little better. Kind of makes you think, how soon forgotten are those that try to make a difference in society and how few those people are becoming as the years pass.
kdtoverbooked's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
An interesting story about a place and time that I knew almost nothing about. It was ultimately a sad read but it was very slow and I didn’t find myself drawn into the writing the way I can get with other historical fictions.
lunamonica08's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
phoenixsparks's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
megshrews's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Miscarriage
spenkevich's review against another edition
4.0
‘It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.’
Rafael Trujillo’s 31 years of power in the Dominican Republic is considered one of the most violent reigns in the Americas. An estimated 9,000-20,000 Haitians were executed under his command and his heavy handed rule was known for frequent violations of civil rights and freedoms. In the Time of the Butterlies by Dominican-American author and poet Julia Alvarez is a fictionalized account of the Mirabal sisters—code-named mariposas—who famously organized against Trujillo and the assasination of three of the four sisters shocked the world and made them a symbol of feminist resistance. Told in the voices of each sister framed as a recounting from the surviving sister, Dedé, who bookends the novel, Alvarez chronicles them from childhood to active participants in the resistance, spanning from 1943 to 1960 with Dedé’s portion set in the 90s. In the Time of the Butterflies is a deeply moving portrait of family, love and courage in the face of unspeakable horrors, beautifully told by Alvarez to highlight the cruelty and violence of dictatorships but to also shine a light of hope and give voice to the human spirit of resistance as was demonstrated by these young women even in the face of inevitable death.
Mirabal sisters
I’m lucky to live in a community where each year we have a community book reading and events for the NEA’s Big Read. This was the novel chosen for 2019 and I was honored to help out with some of the planning for the art events in which the local schools participated in. I love this book and it was an excellent chance to have a hand in turning reading into visual expression to further examine the novel’s ideas and messages. This is a great book for a community read, particularly how it emphasizes the role of women and demonstrates the strength of unity to make change even up against a violent powerhouse. Through being told in rotating voices of the sisters through their years, it also gives voice to a wide variety of ages and shows how children can have astute observations and ideas as they observe the world around them and recognize problems. Far too often through history and even the present does society overlook the voices of women and children who are just as oppressed, if not more, by the forces they speak out against as anyone else. This is a powerful book with a powerful message and Alvarez makes it so engaging as to truly grab hold of your heart and mind to inspire and uplift.
‘And that’s how I got free … and realized that I’d just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country.’
The Mirabal sisters are well known for their actions and Alvarez has created a loving tribute to them here. Daughters of a landowner who fell into a great deal of money, it also is a reminder that those who have must make sacrifices for those who do not or there can never be real change. This is mirrored by the actual direction shift of the Catholic Church, as is covered in the book, when the Catholic Church having moved from being supporting of Trujillo to denouncing him as resistance to him increased. It is casually observed that the church’s former silence was also what allowed so many atrocities to continue unchecked thus far, with the mariposas also recognizing their silence would also imply complicity. Several of the sisters initially wish to cast a blind eye over the problems facing their country, knowing they are secure, but the heavy amalgamation of injustices and the urging of Minerva, the third and most headstrong of the sisters, open their eyes and they look inwards to ask what can they possibly do. The shifting perspective allows multiple vantage points for the main events of the novel, offering a variety of opinions on them. The voices could perhaps have been a bit more varied, but having the Maria sections written as her diary is a nice touch and each sister is well nuanced and fully realized with personality, opinion, desires and dreams. It is clear Alvarez cares for these characters and her heartfelt treatment ensures you certainly will too.
‘Everything is for sale here, everything but your freedom.’
Minerva comes of age watching the horrors of the regime all around her, seeing her history books replaced with false history, knowing schoolmates' parents have been detained or executed by Trujillo, and absorbs a deep sense of resistance in her heart. ‘Sometimes, watching the rabbits in their pens,’ she thinks early in the novel, ‘I’m no different from you, poor things.’ She attempts to liberate them but finds she is hurting them in the process. She learns early that not everyone wants to be free, and that sometimes harm can come from fighting for freedom, something she is wary of throughout the novel but made more keenly aware of the costs and consequences she must have courage against. When she meets Trujillo at an event she attempts to convince him to let her into lawschool but resists his advances (having learned Trujillo has a lust for young girls who are raped and kept in private homes for his pleasure, such as happens to her classmate Lina), and this lands her father in prison. This becomes the spark for her activism and the novel really takes off from here.
‘. No one had to tell me to believe in God or to love everything that lives. I did it automatically like a shoot inching its way towards the light.’
Religion is a theme that threads throughout the novel, being shown as an important part of the community and also appearing through religious symbolism and allusions, such as the aformentioned parallels between the sisters and the Church. For Patria, religion takes a deeper purpose in her character. Having refused to participate in her sister’s resistance efforts, she turns all her attention to religion and family but begins to lose faith after repeatedly having stillborne children. ‘After I lost the baby, I felt a strange vacancy,’ she says, ‘I was an empty house with a sign in front, Se Vende, For Sale. Any vagrant thought could take me.’ However, when she is able to have a child it renews her faith, (‘My faith stirred’) and this rebirth leads her into joining her sisters in the resistance through a priest-organized sector of advocacy.
The novel covers a lot of ground, but does so in very unique ways. While this is a novel full of violence, much of it takes place off-stage and the character’s minds are often on daily life as much as they are the Cause. Alvarez keeps the perspective very close to the issues of the family, thus demonstrating that the resistance is not just something you do in the streets or in moments of action, but an ongoing commitment that breathes in every aspect of your life. The novel is darkest when the sister’s are separated, with husbands and Minerva stuck in prison but also is a key look at the importance of community. Those outside support each other while their family members are incarcerated while on the inside Minerva gives all she has to everyone else in the prison. Even those who were not part of the cause, always finding new ways to help, heal, and hopefully recruit towards resisting the dictatorship.
As one would expect from the sad history of these women, this is a novel about an assassination (not a spoiler, you know from page 1). In reality, the men who murdered the three sisters were eventually held accountable, and it was confirmed that the orders had come from Trujillo himself. During his trial, one of the killers said that ‘Trujillo would have killed us all,’ had they not followed the orders, demonstrating just how much Trujillo ruled by fear and violence. In 1999, the UN designated the day of their murder, November 25th, to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to honor them and raise awareness.
In the Time of Butterflies is an affecting tale of courage and community that gives a much needed voice to these brave women who had theirs silenced far too early. In the afterword, Alvarez writes ‘I believe in the power of stories to change the world,’ and her work here is certainly an excellent addition to the sparks of change that can be found in great literature.
4.5/5
Rafael Trujillo’s 31 years of power in the Dominican Republic is considered one of the most violent reigns in the Americas. An estimated 9,000-20,000 Haitians were executed under his command and his heavy handed rule was known for frequent violations of civil rights and freedoms. In the Time of the Butterlies by Dominican-American author and poet Julia Alvarez is a fictionalized account of the Mirabal sisters—code-named mariposas—who famously organized against Trujillo and the assasination of three of the four sisters shocked the world and made them a symbol of feminist resistance. Told in the voices of each sister framed as a recounting from the surviving sister, Dedé, who bookends the novel, Alvarez chronicles them from childhood to active participants in the resistance, spanning from 1943 to 1960 with Dedé’s portion set in the 90s. In the Time of the Butterflies is a deeply moving portrait of family, love and courage in the face of unspeakable horrors, beautifully told by Alvarez to highlight the cruelty and violence of dictatorships but to also shine a light of hope and give voice to the human spirit of resistance as was demonstrated by these young women even in the face of inevitable death.
Mirabal sisters
I’m lucky to live in a community where each year we have a community book reading and events for the NEA’s Big Read. This was the novel chosen for 2019 and I was honored to help out with some of the planning for the art events in which the local schools participated in. I love this book and it was an excellent chance to have a hand in turning reading into visual expression to further examine the novel’s ideas and messages. This is a great book for a community read, particularly how it emphasizes the role of women and demonstrates the strength of unity to make change even up against a violent powerhouse. Through being told in rotating voices of the sisters through their years, it also gives voice to a wide variety of ages and shows how children can have astute observations and ideas as they observe the world around them and recognize problems. Far too often through history and even the present does society overlook the voices of women and children who are just as oppressed, if not more, by the forces they speak out against as anyone else. This is a powerful book with a powerful message and Alvarez makes it so engaging as to truly grab hold of your heart and mind to inspire and uplift.
‘And that’s how I got free … and realized that I’d just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country.’
The Mirabal sisters are well known for their actions and Alvarez has created a loving tribute to them here. Daughters of a landowner who fell into a great deal of money, it also is a reminder that those who have must make sacrifices for those who do not or there can never be real change. This is mirrored by the actual direction shift of the Catholic Church, as is covered in the book, when the Catholic Church having moved from being supporting of Trujillo to denouncing him as resistance to him increased. It is casually observed that the church’s former silence was also what allowed so many atrocities to continue unchecked thus far, with the mariposas also recognizing their silence would also imply complicity. Several of the sisters initially wish to cast a blind eye over the problems facing their country, knowing they are secure, but the heavy amalgamation of injustices and the urging of Minerva, the third and most headstrong of the sisters, open their eyes and they look inwards to ask what can they possibly do. The shifting perspective allows multiple vantage points for the main events of the novel, offering a variety of opinions on them. The voices could perhaps have been a bit more varied, but having the Maria sections written as her diary is a nice touch and each sister is well nuanced and fully realized with personality, opinion, desires and dreams. It is clear Alvarez cares for these characters and her heartfelt treatment ensures you certainly will too.
‘Everything is for sale here, everything but your freedom.’
Minerva comes of age watching the horrors of the regime all around her, seeing her history books replaced with false history, knowing schoolmates' parents have been detained or executed by Trujillo, and absorbs a deep sense of resistance in her heart. ‘Sometimes, watching the rabbits in their pens,’ she thinks early in the novel, ‘I’m no different from you, poor things.’ She attempts to liberate them but finds she is hurting them in the process. She learns early that not everyone wants to be free, and that sometimes harm can come from fighting for freedom, something she is wary of throughout the novel but made more keenly aware of the costs and consequences she must have courage against. When she meets Trujillo at an event she attempts to convince him to let her into lawschool but resists his advances (having learned Trujillo has a lust for young girls who are raped and kept in private homes for his pleasure, such as happens to her classmate Lina), and this lands her father in prison. This becomes the spark for her activism and the novel really takes off from here.
‘. No one had to tell me to believe in God or to love everything that lives. I did it automatically like a shoot inching its way towards the light.’
Religion is a theme that threads throughout the novel, being shown as an important part of the community and also appearing through religious symbolism and allusions, such as the aformentioned parallels between the sisters and the Church. For Patria, religion takes a deeper purpose in her character. Having refused to participate in her sister’s resistance efforts, she turns all her attention to religion and family but begins to lose faith after repeatedly having stillborne children. ‘After I lost the baby, I felt a strange vacancy,’ she says, ‘I was an empty house with a sign in front, Se Vende, For Sale. Any vagrant thought could take me.’ However, when she is able to have a child it renews her faith, (‘My faith stirred’) and this rebirth leads her into joining her sisters in the resistance through a priest-organized sector of advocacy.
The novel covers a lot of ground, but does so in very unique ways. While this is a novel full of violence, much of it takes place off-stage and the character’s minds are often on daily life as much as they are the Cause. Alvarez keeps the perspective very close to the issues of the family, thus demonstrating that the resistance is not just something you do in the streets or in moments of action, but an ongoing commitment that breathes in every aspect of your life. The novel is darkest when the sister’s are separated, with husbands and Minerva stuck in prison but also is a key look at the importance of community. Those outside support each other while their family members are incarcerated while on the inside Minerva gives all she has to everyone else in the prison. Even those who were not part of the cause, always finding new ways to help, heal, and hopefully recruit towards resisting the dictatorship.
As one would expect from the sad history of these women, this is a novel about an assassination (not a spoiler, you know from page 1). In reality, the men who murdered the three sisters were eventually held accountable, and it was confirmed that the orders had come from Trujillo himself. During his trial, one of the killers said that ‘Trujillo would have killed us all,’ had they not followed the orders, demonstrating just how much Trujillo ruled by fear and violence. In 1999, the UN designated the day of their murder, November 25th, to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to honor them and raise awareness.
In the Time of Butterflies is an affecting tale of courage and community that gives a much needed voice to these brave women who had theirs silenced far too early. In the afterword, Alvarez writes ‘I believe in the power of stories to change the world,’ and her work here is certainly an excellent addition to the sparks of change that can be found in great literature.
4.5/5