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Julia alvarez' "In the time of the butterflies" tells the story of four sisters - The Mirabal Sisters- growing up in the Dominican Republic. Three of which as a known fact from history have died tragically at the hands of a cruel dictator. As the result of their deaths it librated the DR. As Julia Alvarez tells the story of the four sisters through the eyes of each one, she humanizes them so people know what these girls did can be achieved by anyone. The story goes through there lives as children to adult hood and how they became La Mariposa (The Butterflies). The book tells the story of how each sister dealt with the revolution and dealt with the dictator Trujillo. How the view of this one man slowly changed in each one of them. “At home, Trujillo hung on the wall by the picture of Our Lord Jesus with a whole flock of the cutest lambs.“ (pg 17) From the whole family seeing him as the equivalent to god to them all realizing the damage he does to the people of DR. Reading about their view of Trujillo change through the book is almost like watching the whole Dominican Republic realize slowly who Trujillo was. Just like the sisters, a whole country is not all at once going to say he is a bad man and needs to be stopped. They have to realize it for themselves. Just like the Mirabal sisters did. The book does a great job of this by starting the story off when they are small children as you watch them grow, you watch there ideas and beliefs grow. Especially there understanding of what is going on in the country they live in. It happens the fastest to Minerva, who in result of her friend Sinita and the secret of Trujillo, her eyes are opened at a young age to the cruel man who is Trujillo. Alvarez tells the story of the sisters through certain years through the eyes of one sister at a time. The book separates into three parts, each containing four long chapters. “In the Time of the Butterflies” is a book was good but it took a long time for me to see how good a book it is because of how long all the chapters are. Recalling and looking back at the beginning chapters, I feel those chapters are necessary to get you to feel the emotion at the end of the book. Without them it would not build the emotion of fearing for the three sisters who die, you knowing that this event will happen but as you read does not end the way you expect it to, nips at you, probably the same way it would bother Dede, the ending makes you wonder what the girls were thinking in there last moments before they were killed, as it ends with how life went on after there death. Julia Alvarez accomplishes what she sets out to do in “In the Time of the Butterflies.” In Alvarez’ Postscript she writes. “As for the sisters of legend, wrapped in superlatives and ascended into myth, they were finally also inaccessible to me.-- we lost the Mirabal’s once more, dismissing the challenge of their courage as impossible for us, ordinary men and women.” (pg 324) She wanted to take the idea that what these girls did from impossible to real, she wanted to humanize the Mirabal’s because she did not want the same “god making impulse” that created a tyrant to affect what the sisters did and make it feel unreachable. She wanted to show that it was a hard task for even them that it had its dark moments and none of it was for merit. Alvarez shows what it truly takes for the Mirabal’s to become La Mariposa. It was never a big action of heroic’s but the realization of what was going on and the need to stop and put and end to the “era of Trujillo” Early in the story, Alvarez makes the sisters relatable through humanizing them. “But this is March. !Maria santisima! Doesn’t she have seven more months of anonymity?” (Alvarez 3) Alvarez write through the voice of Dede. Dede does not want to be bothered by this women who is Alarez for an interview but she excepts anyway. When Alvarez write Dede like this it automatically humanizes her showing that after so many years of not having piece about her sisters she is still irritated by it and only puts on a show when she knows around what time of year all the reporters come around. “ They are sitting in the cool darkness under the anacahuita tree in the front yard, in rockers, telling stories, drinking guanabana juice.” (Alvarez 8) When Alvarez starts the story of the Mirabal sisters when they were young, she starts it of with a very human moment of the Mirabal family just sitting around a tree with love and attention from the girls father. Those few pages tell how the father see’s his little girls and what they all will be doing in the future. Something everyday people do, thinking of the future and the future of others and where they will be. Not the whole thing but most of it. maybe it gives a decent review idkRead full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I haven’t finished it yet, but I do enjoy the book. The sheer number of characters is hard to keep up with. Not for light readers.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I purchased this book because my daughter needed it for a high school class. We have both already read it and really enjoyed it. It has been read many times and our previous copy was falling apart which necessitated the purchase of a new one. The book is a compelling story of life under a dictator. Based on true events we were drawn into the story and found it hard to put down. We recommend it highly.
My son is doing honours world literature and he needs to read this as a summer assignment Good value
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Good story teller
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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