Hi all,

I am writing to ask you all to think about helping me with the following question: Whether you are a Spanish speaker or not, I would like to know how Sandra Cisneros' use of Spanish in her novel Caramelo, as well as Julia Alvarez' use of Spanish in her novel In the Time of the Butterflies, affected your reading of the narratives. Both authors tend toward using only well-glossed and easily-accessible Spanish, and for that reason many readers on Goodreads have not commented on Spanish language use (as they have in, say, Junot Díaz's The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao which contains lengthier and untranslated Spanish language entries).

So, what does the Spanish do for you in these two narratives? Does it feel authentic? Does it feel redundant? Does it hinder/help the flow? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks.