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by: Julia Alvarez
List Price: $15.00Amazon.com's Price: $10.20 You Save: $4.80 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780452274426
ISBN: 0452274427
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: August 01, 1995
Publisher: Plume
Sales Rank: 4119
Studio: Plume
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A fictional account of the young lives of Mirabal sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, otherwise known in the Dominican Republic as Las Mariposas, describes their suffering and martyrdom in the last days of the Trujillo dictatorship. Reprint. Tour. PW.
Amazon.com Review:
From the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents comes this tale of courage and sisterhood set in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship. A skillful blend of fact and fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as 'las mariposas,' or 'the butterflies,' in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.
Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as 'the butterflies' near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life.
In the Time of the Butterflies is an American Library Association Notable Book and a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award nominee.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Courage versus Tyranny
The book recounts the life of four sisters during the time of Rafael Trujillo during part of a regime that spanned many years and controlled the Dominican country on the island of Hispaniola. Haiti occupies the remaining part of Hispaniola and played a part in Trujillo's murderous legacy since he slaughtered thousands of Haitians. Trujillo's government epitomized the harsh dictatorship, utilizing torture, murders, absolute power, and the suppression of free speech and civil rights. His sexual abuse ... Read More
Rating:  - Have your Spanish to English translator nearby
A very fine read, but it's helpful if you know a little Spanish. He lapses into it throughout the book, especially when speaking about sex it seems. Often one can discern the translation from context, but not always. If you liked "In the Time of the Butterflies", by Alvarez, you'll surely like this. I did.
Rating:  - A great read
A great read, no matter what your politics are. Instead of making political figures into demons or little plaster saints as we're all so fond of doing, Alvarez draws them as real women who are sometimes heroic and sometimes just trying to get the kids to bed. A gripping story with believable characters and a window on a time and place I knew little about.
Rating: - a story every American needs to know
As a "Gringo" I am forever grateful to Julia Alvarez for bringing this important story to a larger audience. Actually I saw the film first, and then read the book -- in any case it is a story every American needs to know, so that, as Dede Mirabal says, we don't repeat history. To my way of thinking, the overthrow of Trujillo came late and was more legitimate than the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. It's too bad the U.S. framed communism as an enemy rather than a friend of democracy!
Rating: - Excellent
It was a beautiful story about something that I really knew nothing about. I laughed and cried and learned a lot.
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